A Fresh Interview With aRCANE aSYLUM

The release of two EPs from aRCANE aSYLUM is quite a brilliant one as they come together in such an industrial and cinematic sense with immense synthesizers, intense moments, industrial-style vocals at times, and this whole sense of atmosphere.

These two EPs were released back-to-back, and each portrays different attributes that can be taken in certain ways.

Violently United is the first of the two, and the follow-up is called Deeply Divided.

Both of these give off plenty of edginess and hard-hitting moments coming from percussive instruments, grueling synthesizers, fat bass lines, and an overall dark edge that again, almost always breeds that cinematic feel but with a lot of harshness.

You can hear the tension between these records and how they complement each other in different ways.

For me, the records could be taken both personally and socially.

These are releases that make perfect sense in terms of the state of the world in the present day. Things are chaotic, unstable, and there is a lot of tension between different people standing on either side of certain lines.

There is such a thick ideology behind these releases, but when you listen closely, it all makes a lot of sense.

The scattered and almost chaotic aesthetic of the records displays the same in emotion.

This correlates with the state of the world and that chaotic element that's in the air these days. We see it everywhere in the media, in real life, and on TV.

It seems like everyone's got a side to stand on, and even ones that don't stand on any particular side, don't exactly know what to do with themselves. They just sit back and watch all this chaos go down.

We are currently living in quite a state of unrest. I don't mean to shake things up here but these EPs are very representative of those kinds of states.

What hits me hardest about it is that the music represents that emotional and intense backbone more than anything else.

You can feel the chaos and intensity throughout these records in the form of those heavy-hitting industrial and electronic soundscapes that are provided.

While one EP represents more of the state of the outside world, the other hits more of an emotional state coming from oneself. In other words, one is the state of the outside world, and the other is the state of the person experiencing it

Such a brilliant idea, and displayed with attention to detail in all facets

You can read our full in-depth review of the Violently United EP HERE.

As you listen through both of these releases, take some moments to read our interview with the project below.

After listening to both releases, we had to find out the details. We wanted to know how this all came to be, if the sentiment I was feeling was its actual proper portrayal, and more.

So, take a deep dive into these right now and read through the interview.

Don't forget where you hurt all of this first.

Buzz Slayers: Hey and welcome back! Both new EPs came through with unique styles and a lot of buried emotion coming out. Why decide to release these two back to back and how do they connect exactly?

It wasn’t a strategic decision, it was a natural creative evolution. I was writing constantly, and both EPs were forming side by side. VIOLENTLY UNITED felt external, raw, industrial, and confrontational. DEEPLY DIVIDED was internal, reflective, emotional, and quiet in its tension.

They came from the same burst of energy but spoke two different emotional languages. Releasing them close together made sense because they complete each other. One is about the outer world breaking apart; the other is about what happens inside when the dust settles. They’re two sides of the same mirror.

Buzz Slayers: Are the EPs more personal or political?

Personal, but the personal always bleeds into the political. I don’t write slogans, I write feelings. But those feelings often come from observing the world: tension, division, resilience. VIOLENTLY UNITED channels collective chaos, while DEEPLY DIVIDED deals with the private aftermath, that quiet dissonance you carry when everything around you feels unstable.

It’s all filtered through emotion first. If it feels true, it finds its place.

Buzz Slayers: What kind of studio equipment or DAW programs do you use to create a lot of these sounds?

I work in Ableton Live 12 as my main DAW, with a mix of analog and digital instruments. My go-to hardware includes a Novation Launchpad, a MOTU Ultralite Mk5 interface, and a few modular synth elements I’ve been experimenting with.

On the software side, I use Kontakt libraries like Ashlight and Cycles, plus a lot of granular and glitch-based tools. I’m drawn to the unusual, not the polished, mainstream libraries, but the strange, imperfect ones that sound slightly off. I love mangling and reshaping them until they feel alive again. The imperfections are what make a sound feel human.

Buzz Slayers: Who have you been listening to lately?

It’s a real mix. Recently I’ve been listening to The Royal Ritual, HEALTH, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Hildur Guðnadóttir, and Boy Harsher, artists who create worlds, not just songs. I still revisit the roots that shaped me: Cabaret Voltaire, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan (via Tubeway Army), Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten, that post-punk/industrial energy still feels vital.

And I’ve got my ears open to new artists too. YARD, an electropunk band from Dublin, are hitting hard right now. They’ve got that raw, fearless urgency that reminds me why I fell in love with electronic music in the first place. It’s exciting to see Irish artists pushing boundaries like that.

Buzz Slayers: Do you go out and perform in any kind of live setting?

Not yet in the traditional sense, but I’m planning something special, more of a live audiovisual experience than a standard gig. ARCANE ASYLUM isn’t just about sound; it’s about immersion. I want people to feel like they’ve stepped into the world of the music, surrounded by visuals, projections, and light that move with the pulse of each track.

Buzz Slayers: Is film a format that inspires you at all?

Absolutely. Film is at the heart of how I think about sound. Directors like David Lynch, Ridley Scott, and Denis Villeneuve influence not only the imagery but how they use silence and sound design to create tension.

Even if I’m not composing to actual footage, I’m still thinking in scenes and atmosphere, building tension and pacing as if the music were already part of a film. That’s why I’m so drawn to sync licensing and film scoring, much of what I create could easily drop into a scene and feel like it was written for it.

Buzz Slayers: Do you mix your own stuff as well?

Yes, I do. Mixing is part of my creative process, it’s where I sculpt the atmosphere, decide how close or distant the listener feels, and shape the emotional weight of every sound. It’s storytelling through space and texture.

That said, I love collaborating and learning from other sound professionals. Working with David Michael Lawrie, a fantastic producer and award-winning sound designer on The Royal Ritual remix Pleasure Hides Your Needs (Arcane Asylum Remix) opened my eyes to new ways of layering emotion and depth.

And going further back, Gerry Owens was instrumental in shaping who I am as a producer. We co-founded ARCANE ASYLUM together in the early ’90s and stayed under that banner for five years before he went on to form Skindive and later Lluther, and now composes for film, TV, and games. He’s an amazing Irish artist, and I learned a lot from our time side by side, everything from sonic discipline to emotional storytelling through production. Those collaborations stay with you; they shape how you hear and how you mix.

The Art of Imperfection

I’ve always believed that music should feel alive, not polished into silence. Even though I use technology every day, including sample libraries and digital instruments, I tend to reach for the unusual ones, the obscure, the broken, the ones that sound slightly out of place. Those are the sounds that make you listen twice.

I’m not chasing perfection. I’m chasing tension, movement, and character, a sound that fights back a little. The cracks, the distortion, the breath before a note, that’s where the emotion hides. It’s the friction between order and chaos that makes something feel human.

Even when everything starts in the digital world, I try to make it breathe, to feel like it’s been touched, lived in, and scarred a bit by time. That’s the art of imperfection.

Buzz Slayers: Is any part of your recording process improvisational? Songwriting-wise, do you go with the flow as you’re recording at times?

Definitely. A lot begins with experimentation. My wife calls it “fiddling with buttons,” and she’s right, sometimes the smallest accident leads to the biggest breakthrough.

I’ll often start with no agenda, just sculpting textures or rhythms until something takes shape. Some of my favourite moments come from that space of discovery, the point where sound takes over and guides you instead of the other way around.

Buzz Slayers: Do you normally have a particular vision before recording? For example, were both EPs planned out this way?

Not fully. I usually start with a sense of mood or theme, a colour palette, an image, an emotional temperature and let the process surprise me. With VIOLENTLY UNITED and DEEPLY DIVIDED, I realised halfway through that they were part of the same story.

One became the external conflict, the other the internal one. They revealed themselves as they formed, which is how I like it. It keeps the work honest.

Buzz Slayers: Do you have something new up your sleeve now? Are you already working on more?

Always. I write every day, it’s like breathing at this point. COLDER is the next big collection, continuing the darker, more haunting tone that began with The Looking Glass.

Alongside that, I’m releasing two companion singles that hit a completely different gear "Where The Dark Things Go" and "This Is The End Of The F**ing World*. Each contains four tracks, alternate edits, and exclusive unreleased material that dives deeper into the experimental side of ARCANE ASYLUM.

Where The Dark Things Go sits in the world of electronic dance and dark disco, energetic, bass-driven, with a streak of aggression and attitude reminiscent of KMFDM’s “Vogue (12'' Mix)”. It’s got groove, edge, and that late-night pulse that refuses to quit. The single also includes Free Fall, a slow-burning piece that leans toward power electronics and ambient tension, taiko-infused percussion, distorted synth layers, and a dark, cinematic undercurrent.

This Is The End Of The F**ing World* moves toward experimental techno and deconstructed electronics, think Luke Slater’s “Bolt Up,” The Knife’s “Full of Fire,” or Juno Reactor’s “Conquistador II.” It’s high-energy, layered, and unpredictable; one moment it drives like a machine, the next it fractures into something chaotic and abstract. The release also features Future Chaos - Revisited Pt 4, which channels dark IDM and left-field experimental textures in the spirit of Flying Lotus’s “War at the Door,” and Over And Over And Over - I Don’t Think We Are Ready To Move, a haunting abstract-IDM crossover similar to Scanner, Leg Puppy x Josefin Öhrn x Dicepeople, and Sophia Saze.

Together, these singles bridge the world of the EPs with the raw intensity of the dance floor, two bursts of adrenaline before the chill of COLDER sets in. I’ve got hundreds of sketches waiting for the right home, and I love reanimating older ideas when they suddenly make sense. That’s what keeps it exciting, the constant evolution.

Buzz Slayers: What can people expect from both EPs and these new singles?

From VIOLENTLY UNITED and DEEPLY DIVIDED, expect contrast, one roars, the other breathes. From the new singles, expect motion. They carry the same DNA but transform it into rhythm, impact, and release.

Where The Dark Things Go and This Is The End Of The F**ing World* are built to move, bodies, emotions, frequencies. They’re the physical expression of everything I’ve been exploring sonically: tension, collapse, rebirth, energy.

Together, all of these releases tell one continuous story, about conflict and reflection, chaos and calm, destruction and renewal. You can play them back-to-back or out of sequence; they still speak the same language.

Buzz Slayers: What’s next for you?

Right now the focus is on COLDER and those two singles, but I’m also diving deeper into visual collaborations, sound installations, and sync/licensing opportunities. My music has always been cinematic, and I want to bring that sound to film, series, and art projects.

There’s no finish line. Every release opens another door. ARCANE ASYLUM and A Silent House are living, evolving projects, an ongoing story told through sound.

YOUTUBE

BANDCAMP

WEBSITE

INSTAGRAM