Interview w/ Raär

Hey Vital, hope you’re doing good.

We want to know You a bit better before your debut in Belgrade. 🙂

Let’s break the ice… Who are You, how would You describe yourself? Who is Vital and who is Raär?

Hey! I’m a young DJ / Producer, Raär & Vital are the same person I’m shy and discrete, even on stage I’m still the same, I don’t hide myself under an attitude or something else. If I could hide myself more I’ll do it!

How do you name your tracks? We guess there is a story behind every title, can you tell us at least one of them?

Yes, there is often a story behind the titles of my tracks, a lot of them are really personal and I prefer to keep the stories for me and people can imagine their own.

But I can tell you the story behind “Sometimes I Hear Sirens”. I was at my home with brand new monitors, in the dark, it was very late and I was really tired, listening to this Ricardo Vilallobos remix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpIBxqmeFyo) it has really mental vocals and rhythms, It sends you to a different place.

This track made me have crazy auditory and phosphene hallucinations. I was hearing police sirens in a very weird way and I wanted to recreate this at the beginning and end of the track.

Each release is tied to an artwork, like a poem or a story…Where/whom does the inspiration come from?

Artworks of Vaerel records are from a very old tarot card game. I try to choose the card before I start producing, the tracks are directly inspired by the text and the artworks from the cards to create the complete sound story.

What are your plans for Vaerel Records, do you have a long/short term plan in sense of the direction it’s heading?

For my label Vaerel I don’t have any plans at the moment, I still don’t know if I want to sign other artists or not.

I created the label to have total freedom on the choice of tracks and artworks, I also do the mastering by myself as I’m sound engineer.

Now I work with Triple Vision for the distribution, so the next release will not be limited as the one before.

In our opinion you are an extraordinary producer and DJ, do you have an idea in which job you would be terrible at?

I would surely be terrible as a doctor, each time I see blood I feel really bad, I may have the precision and patience of the surgeon but one drop of blood and you’ll be dead!

Is there something  you wish you knew more about?

Interesting question! I’d like to know more about psychology and psychiatry. It’s a really interesting subject to know more about, for example about unconscious phenomena. It’s a bit related with music, during a DJ set I like to send people in another dimension (as they take drugs or not) you can feel that you’re controlling a crowd with the music, especially with techno, a loop can do serious damage.

What’s for you the closest thing to magic, in terms of music?

The last EP from Rune Bagge on Northern Electronic is the best thing I’ve heard this year so far!

And in terms of “non-electronic” music the track Zelao from Gato Barbieri sends me through a lot of emotions https://youtu.be/trldFf0ri-w?t=2m54s (first track till 11:04) It’s a very long and powerful track I’ve never heard a combination of piano and sax like that, it leaves you speechless.

Can you name 3 classic electronic music tracks that made an impact on you as a producer/DJ? And tell us why particularly those 3?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS1CRtgOs88 IVVVO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To3yfZWm_OE Delivery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYiTGq-dGa8 I Am A Lake Of Burning Orchids

Since I started producing these 3 tracks are my inspirations, I think they’re very similar in term of mood, they really make you feel something, they aren’t meaning less as some of the techno tracks you can find today. You can imagine stories, dream about them again and again.

What’s your choice of music (bands, artists) when you’re not listening or producing electronic music?

I often listen to this french-pop group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UJVPDROD2c&t=2s It’s the group of a friend I was working with at school.

Also this kind of stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25xaLEuQiDI but sadly I’m not listening non electronic often anymore.

If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what question would you ask?

When will I die? I’d like to know exactly when and how. I think today we’re not enjoying enough all the littles things that make your life good. Having the answer would make me rethink my life and I would stop complaining about senseless stuff. I’d just do my best to enjoy and make things best I can.

For the end, people in Belgrade are very excited about your visit and special 3h set you’re preparing. How do you feel about that?

For me long sets are the best! I’ll do my best to make everyone travel and feel good. People are always surprised of what I play. I don’t think you’ll expect this (in a good way I hope). 🙂