A Fresh Interview with Arcane Asylum
- BuzzSlayers
- Jul 14, 2025
- 6 min read
A new album release from Arcane Asylum brings out a fresh and diverse set of soundscapes in the form of cinematic, edgy but vast undertones that each set moods that blend elements of alternative-pop, glitch, rock, and plenty more from the electronic world all while maintaining this almost graceful approach that cane come through alluring and haunting at times.
The Beautifully Broken (Remix) is an experience when listened to in full, which is certainly the way it was meant to be heard.
You can get a small feel or idea of what the record offers by listening to a few tracks, but doing only that will not give you anywhere near the full spectrum of what the full album offers, and that's important because, again, this is an experience. It's an escape and one that you can quickly get engulfed by.
The record kicks off with a track called "Angels with Dirty Faces", which hits those spacious underbellies well but also gives character. The track boasts something that pulls you in and wraps itself around you, keeping you right where it wants to.
You have heavy-handed beats with distanced vocals that are quite intense but pushed back and drenched in reverb. It gives the song layers, and between the synths, beats, and vocals, used like an instrument, the track has such a lush set of textures that come through.
There are also glitched-out and decimated vocals coming in and out of the track, adding to those textures and building the experimental fixture the base of the song stands on.
This is something that works amazingly well, and the song does quite a good job of introducing you to the record, as it holds to some of the staples you will be hearing on the full release.
Again, this won't give you everything. The full album gives you all the surprises lurking around the corners, outside-the-box production that hits hard, and this blend of graceful and beautiful, flowing tones and arrangements that are unique, but still have this composition that feels right.
Each track stands alone and can give a whole different mood, but the record connects with the listener. It connected with me. I grew up loving experimental music and film. This record gave me bouts of nostalgia because of that.
The album is a damn near perfect example of a release built with fewer boundaries than you may be used to, and that's something special.
Creating music that has no walls built around it is pretty rare, so when it comes along, it grabs you.
Songs like "The Human Kind" give full-bodied and almost theatrical tones that work together and build an atmosphere of their own.
Using strings, synths, and mending melody, color, and edge, the track feels like an adventure of sorts, and I love how it hits with that energy.
That's another thing. This album provides such an amazing flux of energies and intensity. Certain tracks give you high intensity while others are almost calming.
No matter which track you dive into, you are getting a completely infectious energy, and that may be most important.
This is music that makes you think. Songs can cause memories to pop into your head, moods to change, or let you feel something you may not have felt in a long time, but either way, your mind will go where it wants to.
It's like a book. When you read a book, you get loads of detail, setting the mood and letting you start to imagine in your head. This record has the same effect. It creates the soundscape that lets your mind run free in a sense. It gives you that mood, textures, sounds, colors, and energies. Your mind does the rest.
Each person who listens to this record will take it in a little differently. We all need more music like this. It lets you think and feel.
If you pop on some headphones and soak this record in, you will be pulled away from wherever you are and put into this other world for a bit.
You can indeed escape into this record, and it feels awesome to do just that.
Blissful and experimental electronic music with an alternative undertone, pushed to the edge of the boundary and gleaming with personality and richness in sound architecture.
When you pull those headphones off, you have to reacclimate yourself to reality once again.
I loved this brilliant escape of a record and with this release, we wanted to talk with Arcane Asylum to find out where this all came from and what may be net.
Here is what happened.
Buzz Slayers: Where did this record come from?
It’s really an accumulation of the past three years of work. Some of the tracks are brand new, while others are reworks of older pieces that I’ve breathed new life into. Back in the day, I used to make mix tapes for myself and close friends, this record followed a similar process. I didn’t overthink it; I just selected tracks that felt like they belonged together, that shared a thread. It’s very much like a modern-day mix tape, just with my own creations.
Buzz Slayers: I am hearing some great production here! Can you give us some of your biggest musical influences?
Thanks, I appreciate that. I’ve been collecting records and obsessing over music for as long as I can remember, so my influences are vast. But on the production side, the biggest would have to be Nine Inch Nails, especially The Fragile era, with Trent Reznor, Alan Moulder, and of course Flood, their soundscapes and attention to sonic texture have always blown me away. That approach to layering and imperfection is something I carry into my own work.
Buzz Slayers: How did this all start for you as a band?
ARCANE ASYLUM began in London back in 1991. It started with me and Gerry Owens (who later went on to form Skindive and Lluther, and now composes for film trailers). We were part of that early London industrial scene, playing alongside bands like Judda, PULSE (with John White from KMFDM), PIG, Cubanate. The lineup grew to include John Kernan on keys and Santos De Castro on drums. We gigged heavily, then paused in the mid-90s. I revived ARCANE ASYLUM at the end of 2022 here in Germany, inspired to pick up where I left off.
Buzz Slayers: How did the remix come about? Was it hard to write a record like this?
It was actually very natural. I just started playing around with sounds, letting things evolve organically, pushing for a kind of beautiful imperfection, even though everything is built from a vast collection of sample libraries. It’s more about feeling than precision for me.
Buzz Slayers: Do you play live shows at all?
We played a lot of gigs in the early days around London. Now, I’d love to take the new material out with a full audio-visual experience, maybe even in spaces like museums or galleries, somewhere that suits the atmosphere of these sounds. It’s definitely on the radar.
Buzz Slayers: Who is in your headphones right now?
I’m an endless listener. Music is a huge part of my daily life. Right now, it’s Forest Swords, Rosa Damask, The Allegorist, Johnny Beth… the list goes on, but that’s what’s spinning currently.
Buzz Slayers: Now that this record is released, what is next for you?
Creating never stops. I’ve got lots of new ideas and tracks already waiting to see the light. I don’t see the point in letting them sit on my hard drive. Even if the audience is small, music deserves to be out in the world.
Buzz Slayers: What kind of advice would you have for other bands getting their music out there?
Don’t sit on your music. Release it. Have fun with it. Most importantly, make and share the stuff you love, not what you think will please everyone else.
Buzz Slayers: What can you say people might expect from this album?
Everyone experiences music differently. I’d say put on some good headphones and give yourself the space to really listen, you’ll pick up all the little hidden gems buried in there. And try to listen without distraction.
Buzz Slayers: Thanks so much for this guys!!
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