CJ Mirra is a newly emerging but highly accomplished electronic musician who has recently been scooped up by Hive Management – joining a roster that includes artists like Elite Force and Speedy J – after being noticed for his work scoring cold water surf films, shot from the desolate beaches of the North Sea. His debut EP, ‘RBG Flowers’, is due out next month, following the free release of ‘Urchin Howl’ (featured at the end of this interview), which became the soundtrack to the first Instagram surf movie by director, Chris McClean.
If you’ve come across his music already, it’s quite possible you’ve been keen to find out more, although it’s even more likely that you’ve hit a brick wall, because there’s a not a whole lot of information about him to glean from the web. In fact, there isn’t any. So Rob Hughes gave the guy a shout to find out more about the enigma that is CJ Mirra…
You’re quite a mysterious artist online – you have your own website and Soundcloud page but they don’t really reveal much about you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Medium height, slim white male, currently obsessed with recordings of water, from heavy ocean waves to dripping drain pipes. I’m trying to capture that same sort of fluidity in my approach to music at the moment, which is fitting because I’ve spent the last month soundtracking surf films. It’s a nice contrast because I’m living in London now and spend my time watching, trying to write music that works with these beautiful, stark shots of remote North Sea surf locations.
How has your career progressed recently? Tell us about some of the highlights?
You’ve caught me right at the beginning so there’s not too much to tell but so far I’ve enjoyed playing a live gig for a Ghanain coffin maker called Paa Joe. I’m working on a piece for the soundtrack of a feature documentary he’s having made on his work.
I’m also really hooked into this cold water surf film stuff. There’s such an ethereal quality to the whole scene it’s great to try and capture that atmosphere on instruments. You should check out Chris McClean’s films; he is the director who got me on board.
How did you start off in the industry? Did DJing, production or promoting come first? What gave you that initial push and how did you get to where you are now?
Definitely production – just making sounds again and again. It was when Chris [McClean] got in touch after hearing some early tunes that it ended up being available to people.
Your music has a very unique style and would be hard to categorise. How would you describe it?
The first official release, ‘RGB Flowers’ is a deep wave, over-saturated electronica track. It’s all pretty light-filled and free at the moment.
Do you play these kind of tracks when you’re DJing, or do you opt for more traditional dance floor fodder such as house, techno or bass music?
I’m working on two sets: one weird upbeat dance set and another largely beat-less ambient set. There’s plenty of places to go for classic fodder; I’m more interested in working out how the stuff that’s well off the centre translates.
What kind of setup are you using to DJ at the moment? What are your reasons for these choices?
Laptop with simple controller running [Ableton] Live, cassette player, keyboard sampler, delay pedal, crackly dub mixer. These combine to make it multilayered and more fun. I’m working with an artist called Electric Magnetic on the live show to make something a bit different to a basic VJ set – he collects analog vision mixers and creates a lot of his source footage himself with mirrors and lenses and a whole workshop of gadgets. He did a recent Boiler Room session for The Wire magazine and a great band called Kogumaza.
How about in the studio? Is there much crossover in terms of the way you work live and in the studio?
They are quite separate at the moment but that might change with a new setup I’m working on. It’s rarely the same process from track to track. I’ve got a bit of nice analog gear – some synths, tape machines, delays and [re]verbs but it usually all ends up in a sampler before arranging it into something. The last thing I made was inspired by Vincent Gallo’s ‘Recordings of Music for Film’ and it was guitar only; very loose, unedited and straight to tape.
What kind of qualities do you try to bring out in your sound, whether you’re playing in a club or making your own sounds?
I’m not sure, it always seems to make sense when I’m in the studio reacting to the sounds. It’s quite an instinctive process rather than searching for something in particular. Working to visuals is easier because you’ve got your frame and you gotta work within it. There’s a constant pendulum swinging between wall of sound and oceans of space in my own stuff – I like listening to music that transports you somewhere else, so I try and get that into my own sound.
Which other producers and/or DJs do you really rate at the moment and why?
[James] Holden’s latest is mesmerizing. It’s quite addictive because it has such a strange palette of sounds you feel like you are actively exploring it with each listen. I got a sneak listen to Neon Jung’s new album and it’s incredible; bass and atmosphere in a world of its own. He has got a release on Lone’s Magic Wire label.
Who’s throwing the best parties at the moment?
Dollop just did a great run of nights at the Barbican. There’s also a couple of Blackout nights coming up, which are club nights in the pitch black and you have no idea who’s playing. It’s great because it’s not just an amazing sensory experience but is deliberately going against the hype and celebrity culture that exists, which often gets in the way of experiencing music.
What’s next for CJ Mirra?
A short run of shows in Germany and my first official release, both happening in late October. There’s also a feature I’m soundtracking for 2014 and I’m working on a couple of EPs, too.
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