Hello! First of all, I’d like you to introduce your band for the people who aren’t familiar with it.
Hello, alright. My name is Juan Herrera, and Lost Reverie is a solo project that was conceived at the beginning of the year 2007. At first, I aimed for a sound that moved somewhere along a kind of minimalistic metal and progressive rock (in the sense of interesting structures and variable tempos). Over time, I added other elements such as ambience breaks, a lot of guitar harmonies, and most specially, keyboards. Yeah, originally keyboards weren’t part of the plan.
What ideas surround Desiderata? What’s the story of its creation?
I think that, in a way, Desiderata started along with Lost Reverie itself; it just took me some time to find it. And a long time it was, since Desiderata was originally going to be released in two EPs, an idea which devolved into the uncommon – as far as I know – idea of a “Double EP”. Finally I decided to go the album route… I think we all wanted that in the end, really. Desiderata ended up being an album that might be characterized as thematic or even conceptual, inspired on love relationships.
What is the relation between the names of the songs and the music they represent?
It’s kind of a cycle, and the titles of each piece are one of the factors that move it, although it’s not always that obvious, as happens with “Umi” and “Ame” (Japanese for “sea” and “rain” respectively). The sea represents stability, the earthly, tangible things; rain represents the divine (in a spiritual sense, not so much religious), the idealized, romance. The rest of the compositions have other, related themes, like unrequited love (“Us”), a broken relationship (“Drift”), the new day, the subsequent nostalgia for what we lost (“Morning” and “Photographs”), and the memories of past loves (“Memento”). “Sue” is a very soft semi-acoustic love song. This whole “concept” is also reflected in the mood of compositions: “Umi”, for example, is quite upbeat (at least for the standards of the album) and for the most part uncompromising, just like “Morning”. “Ame” tends to change instead, at times reminding of the colors of autumn and ending in what a morning after a stormy night would feel.
Your music is enveloping and complicated; it’s got strong influences from genres like post-rock, metal, ambient, and certain evocations of classical music. Do you give each of these influences featuring in your work a specific use, a specific place, or do you seek a “whole greater than its parts” type of sound?
In general, I look for the full cohesion (or almost full) of my influences, but sometimes the distinction of the more violent genre-changes are entirely unconscious, and sometimes they’re pretty intentional in order to emphasize certain emotions and things like that. And well, I have a lot of “what if I put something like this in here…?” moments sprung from curiosity. When Lost Reverie was still in its beginnings, this happened more often: one of the tracks I recorded as demos is a composition based on progressive metal but strongly influenced by vals and even some tango. I think I’d like to do something like that again for the next album.
What kind of emotions do you seek to evoke in your audience? Do you think that high technical elaboration is incompatible with the display and projection of emotions?
I think that what I’d seek to awake is the sensation of hope, an important element of Lost Reverie’s music, but which can go unnoticed among the more “pessimistic” feelings. The second question is interesting. Personally, I lean towards the emotional side, although I feel that technical elaboration – both instrumentally and in the production of the album in general – is important (but not necessary) to make the music a little bit more engaging. Limits exist, though; I dislike it when a composition consists only of random technicality with no meaning whatsoever to support it.
What can you tell us about your influences?
At the beginning, a great inspiration for the project was Steven Wilson’s work, especially Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. Another one was Opeth. Afterwards I started listening to other artists whose influence might be noticeable or not, like Oceansize, Bass Communion, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, dredg, Pelican, Savatage, Devin Townsend, Mono… and there are others which might come off as a bit odd, like Ai Otsuka (yeah, J-Pop!), X-Japan, Joao Gilberto, Jason Becker and Marty Friedman, Nick Drake... I’m also inspired by the things that happen to me, the people I meet, and moods like melancholy, yearning, nostalgia, etc.
Would you like to have more members in your band?
Definitely. In fact, one of my short-term plans is to recruit more people to move the project into a live setting and maybe record something by the end of the year.
Do you think the creative process will be harder, slower, or more complicated with new members?
It’s a very personal project, so my idea is to be in charge of the creative process, but taking into consideration any and all suggestions that might help land my ideas in a better way. I believe it would be worth the trouble for everyone.
In Mexico, styles like yours aren’t very popular to begin with, although they have a limited but faithful and loyal audience. How do you perceive your project under these circumstances?
Initially I didn’t contemplate the exposure of my work to a lot of people around here because of the low popularity you mention. Nevertheless I started to encounter several local websites which I linked to, and so on. One of the advantages of mp3 and internet music sharing is precisely to spread the word about artists from all over the world. Practically unknown artists can be listened to, enjoyed and supported in any part of the globe, in places where they wouldn’t even expect to be in the first place.
What’s your take on all these genres in the Mexican scenario?
Just like what happens in the rest of the world, I’ve listened to very good bands with very interesting proposals; good bands with not-so-novel work (even uninterested in innovation), and bands that, well… you can imagine. There’s a little bit of everything.
What led you to sign with Wise Owl Records?
I spent several months searching for a Netlabel, since I wanted to distribute my music free of cost from the beginning (in part inspired by The Pax Cecilia and their Blessed Are The Bonds, my favorite 2007 album). I came upon Wise Owl in a Netlabel wiki, and when I saw that we shared certain ideas about music, I didn’t hesitate to make contact.
What do you think of their music distribution system?
I like it a lot and it’s just what I was looking for. Besides, thanks to this type of distribution I’ve come to know other musicians; I’ve been looking around Netlabel sites for a while and I’ve found some very interesting artists.
Is there anything you’d like to tell the public in general, and other bands making their way through these musical genres?
Only that I hope they find something interesting and which they can connect to in my music, and thanks for your support. To the bands: explore, feel, play, dream.
The Silent Ballet would like to thank Lost Reverie for the interview. Desiderata is out now through Wise Owl Records.