Phil Maggi | Interview | New Album, ‘The Encrimsoned’
Phil Maggi is a sound artist and film-maker from Liège, Belgium with a brand new album out, ‘The Encrimsoned’ released on the legendary avant-garde label Sub Rosa.
Maggi is the founding vocalist of the heavy-rock band Ultraphallus, the creator of electronic avant-pop combo Iva Bedlam and has developed an extensive body of work as a solo musician with releases on labels including Idiosyncratics and Sub Rosa Records. He also participates as an improviser in the Qumrân Grounds project and is involved in numerous other collaborations. With his various projects, he has shared the stage and/or collaborated with Keith Rowe, Philippe Petit, Oxbow, KK Null, Tuxedomoon, Thor Harris, Hey Colossus, Nadja, Moe, Hati, Batur Somnez, Jerusalem In My Heart, Sote, Phill Niblock among others. He has also closely collaborated with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart), Brooklyn hip-hop legend SENSATIONAL, Eugene Robinson (Oxbow), Thisquietarmy, Yannick Franck (aka RAUM), Maja Jantar, Oren Bloedow (Elysian Fields), ssaliva and many more.
‘The Encrimsoned’ is the final volume in an epic diptych inspired by the “imaginal” ideas of French philosopher Henry Corbin, which began with the 2018 release ‘Animalwrath’.
“I like to share elements of composition and improvisation in music”
It seems that you really took a lot of time to manage to release such a complex album as ‘The Encrimsoned’. Tell us what was the initial idea behind it?
Phil Maggi: I’m always struggling to envisage and conceive the “best album ever.” For that, I need to invite collaborators. I like to share elements of composition and improvisation in music. That’s what I learned from artists like The Residents and John Zorn. But also, I’m often dictated by intuitive processing, so the ideas often come when I’m making music, not before.
I generally start with certain sounds and see how everything grows on me. ‘The Encrimsoned’ was made between 2018 and 2020. But it’s true that with Covid everything took a long time. ‘The Encrimsoned’ is inspired by my vision of art and philosophy, influenced by the writings of Henry Corbin, a French philosopher who created the concept of the “Imaginal” and who explored the meaning of imagination. How to “imagine” a structure through sound has been one of my guiding credos for a long time now.
Tell us about the collaboration with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart).
I met Radwan around 2015, I supported his band Jerusalem In My Heart in Liège, my home city, and we immediately had a good connection, so we’ve shared the stage together several times since. It was obvious to me that I should work with him on a track after our first collaboration on my album ‘Animalwrath,’ where he sings on a track called ‘A Sparrow Sings’. This time it turned out to be ‘Will the Night Ever End’ (a track taken from ‘The Encrimsoned’). He sings and collaborates with a lot of people and likes to share connections. We’ll be together on stage, in Liège, at Kultura on the 27th of April, I’m going to sing with my band Ultraphallus and he’ll be there with Oiseaux-Tempête. Radwan has good ears and it was easy to work with him on both tracks.
Where was the album recorded and who produced it?
I really like to have different producers and collaborators on the same album, so the second part of ‘The Encrimsoned’, including ‘Will the Night Ever End’ and ‘The Hidden Pole’, was recorded at Hotel2Tango studios in Montreal whereas Radwan produced ‘Enchantment,’ the first track on side B. The first part of the album, including the twenty minute title track, was recorded in Brussels with Gabriel Séverin and he helped me to produce it too. So, all in all, different parts of the album were made in Brussels, Liège, and Montreal.
“I like to start with intuitive improvisations and try to connect sounds together”
Can you share some further words about the creation behind it?
It’s still difficult to talk about my creative process but all I can say is that I feel really easy and comfortable with my music. I like to start with intuitive improvisations and try to connect sounds together. When I’m assembling the basic parts of a track, I like to imagine which sounds are missing and I create them. These improvisations become a composition through editing and construction. I start with keyboards, field recordings and samples. The guest musicians are invited to contribute after that first part of the process. Behind the sound creation, there’s a lot of inspiration that feeds into it all, often sourced from what I read. Sounds are just the tools for conveying the stories I want to tell.
How would you compare it to your previous releases?
‘The Encrimsoned’ is a natural evolution, even if it is the second part of a diptych which started with my previous album on Sub Rosa, ‘Animalwrath’. The album incorporates the same philosophical concepts as ‘Animalwrath,’ based on the “Imaginal” theories of Henry Corbin, and also works with the same kind of configuration in terms of guest musicians. Another album, which I finished a few months ago, but which hasn’t been released yet (I’m searching for the right label to release it) has the same “guest musician configuration” but it’s formally different. It’s more inspired by dreaming and is called “Mosaic King.”
Would love it if you could share some words about your background, how you first got interested in music and what led to Ultraphallus?
I started to listen to music very early on the radio and felt very connected to pop music when I was a child. But the first band I was interested in was Depeche Mode. I’m still very impressed by the band today and Dave Gahan inspired my voice significantly. My father gave me a tape recorder when I was ten and it solidified my relationship with music. I remember the Ennio Morricone soundtrack for ‘My Name is Nobody’ and I still recall other formative musical memories and the passion it instilled in me. I suddenly become a melomaniac, always wanting more and more music. Rock, metal and pop were the first styles of music I was into but I was too curious and I started listening to specific forms of electronic music, noise and death metal, but also traditional music and soundtracks. Really, from around 1990 until today, I’m still compelled by discovering new music. Ultraphallus is my first non-amateur band, and with the project I’ve realized an old dream ; creating a metal band and expressing myself alongside friends through loud, heavy music. I’m still proud of this band.
How do you approach music making in Ultraphallus? Are you planning to release something new?
I’m the founder of the band and I really know how the music has to sound. So I’m like a film director with this project. I try to manage everything with my friends and collaborators in the band. They’re excellent musicians, with a singular approach to sound. We released our new fifth album ‘No Closure’ on the 21st of April via the Belgian label Jaune Orange and the French label Head Records.
What can you tell us about your project Cities A.D. with Sébastien Schmit?
Cities AD is still currently fresh in our minds, as we recently released an album ‘Ombre Claire’ on cassette and performed a few concerts in 2022. We are preparing new material, but we love to take our time with the project. When we have a few ideas, we share sounds remotely without any pressure. It’s been very interesting to work on a new band in both French and English, with two singers, percussion, and electronics. We hope to get something new out next year.
Are Idiosyncrasia and Eve and the Sickness among your first projects?
Absolutely. Idiosyncrasia is a kind of durational performance duo and it was a very important project in my musical evolution from 2002 to 2009. I performed extensively, alongside my partner-in-crime Yannick Franck (aka Raum, who now runs the Antibody label) and it was really intense, full of singular moments. I really learned a lot from that period.
Eve and the Sickness was a duo formed during the creation of Ultraphallus and the early sessions for Ultraphallus. I’d describe Eve and the Sickness as an outlet for dark ambient improvisations. Yannick Franck’s Antibody label has just re-released the album ‘The Absolute,’ which was initially released on CD-R in 2004. It’s deep and dark music. I was on voice, sounds, and samples and Gabriel Marguerie played guitars and samples too.
Tell us about Iva Bedlam. How did that come about?
Iva Bedlam is my new baby. I wanted to create a new type of project, with another version of ‘myself’, a feminine part of me, and to collaborate with visual artists, especially dancers and filmmakers.
It’s electronic music with vocals, inspired by Coil, Autechre, Scott Walker but also the pop, r’n’b, and hip-hop that I’ve been listening to every day for the last few years. Iva Bedlam, for now, is a DIY project and I’ve released three albums so far, just on Bandcamp.
You also participate as an improviser in the Qumrân Grounds project?
Qumrân Grounds is an improvisatory project, formed by three good friends who love to work together : myself, Pavel Tchikov, who’s part of the band Ogives, and Tom Malmendier, a drummer involved in numerous projects who has recently played with Fred Frith as well as several other artists, he’s a prolific collaborator. This kind of improvisation is new for me but it’s comforting to be involved in a continual process where I’m encouraged to constantly make music.
What’s next for you? What are some plans?
Ultraphallus will release a new album this year, I have some new plans for Iva Bedlam including the project’s first live performances. I’ve got my solo album ‘Mosaic King’ ready for release which will be out there when I find the right label. After that, I suppose I’ll try to sleep but I’ll continue to make music until I die. Anyway, my life is not just music, there’s also love, my family, my job, and my friends. There’s a lot to do, and these are some of the different parts of the big plan: L I F E.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
I’m very impressed by Kendrick Lamar and his last album ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’. I love all the Autechre albums, especially the recent material. My favourite album of all time is ‘Not Available’ by The Residents. And I’m still inspired by bands like Muslimgauze, Coil, Ministry, Love, The Beatles, Depeche Mode, Fœtus as well as traditional Iranian Music. Alim Qasimov in particular is a true, deep master of the human voice and he changed my life.
Gabriel Fauré’s ‘Requiem’ is my favorite classical music piece. Kate Bush and David Bowie also made two of the greatest albums of all time with ‘The Dreaming’ and ‘Blackstar’. I’ve probably forgotten a lot of other music…
Finally, I do warmly recommend Weyes Blood, an artist I discovered a few years ago. I’m still in love with her music.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
Enjoy the music. Support your local artists and never forget this Residents quote: “Ignorance of your culture is not considered cool.”
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: Geoffrey Meuli
Phil Maggi Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Sub Rosa Label Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp
