Inspired #365 - x/o
Vietnamese-Canadian producer x/o has just released their debut album ‘Chaos Butterfly’ via Precious Metals.
‘Chaos Butterfly’ is an epic tale of catharsis and self-actualization explored through metamorphosis. It is a free-falling kaleidoscopic journey into a beautiful nightmare, both cataclysmic and tender. Expanding on the themes present in their first EP “Cocoon Egg”, the album builds a parallel world from a different perspective.
They took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind their music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Composer/Producer Yoko Kanno – Her work on various anime like Macross Plus, Escaflowne, Terror in Resonance, and Kids on the Slope really impacted me throughout the years. It’s one of those things where I would love the soundtrack and later find out they were all coincidentally done by the same person. For example, Crystal Kay - Motherland is one of my favorite early 2000s jpop tracks that I later found out it was also produced by Yoko Kanno. Her style is so versatile, I sometimes don’t find it particularly easy to pinpoint, and without knowing who it’s by, her music always resonates with me. Kind of serendipitous in that way.
Singer Aaliyah – I've always loved her work ever since I was young, and to this day I always find myself returning to it. I even still remember the day I found out she passed in absolute disbelief…RIP. Sonically and stylistically, Aaliyah is such an icon. I love her smooth voice with the combination of Missy Elliot’s writing and Timbaland’s production; her music still sounds incredibly contemporary to this day.
Singer/Producer Utada Hikaru – Another big influence since I was young, their music was the very first time I had ever heard an English pop song by an Asian artist. At the time, that was incredibly rare, but I was drawn towards their music and have been a fan ever since. Iconically, they even went on to write/produce several tracks for one of my favourite video game series Kingdom Hearts. Utada’s music can be described as multi-genre, incredibly euphoric, and emotional, and still makes incredible hits in present time. Loving their recent track One Last Kiss, co-produced with A.G. Cook for the new Evangelion movie. Plus they also happened to come out as non-binary very recently, and is a role model in that way as well.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
Not exactly a film, but an anime series called Kaiba is really inspiring to me. The story itself is a sci-fi about a character with a forgotten past in a world where memories and bodies can be interchangeably bought and sold. Visually it's very cute but can get very dark or emotional as it touches upon a lot of themes around human nature, identity, life and greed. The soundtrack is also absolutely incredible, one of my favorites for sure.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
At the moment, I would say Seoul- there’s a lot of interesting new music/artists like Bela, Leevisa, Net Gala, and Y2K92 making exciting music. I also love the food, landscapes and the Korean spas, and would love to return again sometime soon.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
Masaaki Yuasa (who is the writer and director of Kaiba among other works), is definitely the most inspiring person to me. He has a way with storytelling and animation that is incredibly psychedelic, detail-oriented, whimsical, yet dark and intense. In a similar sense, it inspires me to make music that blurs various genres together. His other works like Mind Game, Ping Pong, Keep your hands off Eizouken, and Devilman Crybaby, all range in different story genres, but are still incredibly compelling. It would be an absolute dream to soundtrack one of his works one day.
What were your inspirations when writing your new album?
I had a lot of inspirations for Chaos Butterfly ranging from games/anime/films I was consuming or had consumed (Nier Automata, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Persona 5, Claymore, Re-Zero, Fight Club) In particular the butterfly awakening transformation of Jean in the anime Claymore, and the worldbuilding in Final Fantasy are various components to how I approached the album.
Musically influences come from all different places from Deftones, Orbital, Massive Attack, Tricky, Bone Thugs n Harmony, Aaliyah, Sarah Mclaughlin, the Cranberries, Zero 7, Xenogears Soundtrack, Yoko Kanno, Final Fantasy X soundtrack, Utada Hikaru, Mariah Carey.
How would you like to inspire people?
The Chaos Butterfly album is partly a long form of encouragement for me to be comfortable being myself, to persevere through difficulties, while allowing room to fail, to heal, grow, and find gratitude in each present day.
In that sense I hope to inspire others in the same way. We’re all learning and growing on our individual paths and sometimes we need inspiration in any form to help us move through all kinds of barriers along the way.
