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Inspired by quantum physics, Káryyn builds her songs visually. “I can feel the texture of sounds, and their distance from things,” says the Syrian-American musician. Káryyn’s music is a mix of haunting vocals and electronic layering; she describes her 2017 song “Aleppo” as emerald green and angular like undone paper clips.
Káryyn’s early childhood was split between Aleppo and Indiana, finally moving to LA when she was ten. (She performs under a pseudonym, never revealing her real name or age.) At university she started taking computer programming classes and, eventually, took creative music classes with the renowned composer Pauline Oliveros. “She would make us just listen,” says Káryyn. The students would tune in to the buzz of TV screens for inspiration. After two years, she decided she wanted to be a composer, and dropped out of university. “I thought, ‘I’m going to do this my way.’”
But, in 2010, she lost hope in her career. “I didn’t think I would ever come out as an artist,” she says. Living alone, she started reading about philosophy and neuroplasticity. After 18 months of isolation, she was introduced to her future manager, who introduced her to Steve Nalepa, a Yale mathematician turned LA producer. She began to experiment with technology, writing music with binary code embedded in the melodies. “I wanted to know, how can I use 0 and 1s to make you feel something?” Her composing process became computer focused; she improvised her vocals, running them through software to distort them. “My emotion started to become a computer,” she says.
The result was Káryyn’s first release, Quanta 1, in February 2017. It was comprised of only two songs, but by starting her own music label, Antevasin, she was free to publish as many songs as she wanted and could focus on each individual track. At the same time, she was commissioned to write the music for the Icelandic opera, Of The Light. After this success, Káryyn released Quanta 11, and underwent a tour of Europe.
But Káryyn is not done experimenting just yet; there’s new music coming, although she resists the clichéd album format, designed for a different age of distribution. Quanta 1:11, the third instalment in the series released last November, was inspired by Kanye West and quantum physics. “I’m always thinking how can I make sounds as fifth-dimensional as possible.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
