'Active Mind' / LOIF
Naarm producer LOIF releases restless and stimulating EP Active Mind accompanied by five hypnotic visual animations from five local artists
The sometimes actively disorienting while other times ecstatically magnetic Active Mind is the second EP offering from local producer LOIF. Following his debut EP Electronic Organism, Active Mind shreds apart five tracks which fly and swerve through the commonly felt tension and desperation of the last year.
LOIF has appointed five artists - Belski (@by_belsk) , Mango Mahn (@mango__mahn), Ferg (@fergdaav), Sylvie (@born__spilly) and Jake (@jokecoombes) - to reinterpret such musical sentiments into a visualiser for each track. The visualisers are nothing short of incredible, from a 3D animated inspection of a spiralling flower to a long road depicting the monotony of quarantine. I had the chance to talk to the man behind the record for some of his opinions regarding this hard-hitting release. Read below.
Proceeds from the EP will be split 50/50 between Pay The Rent and Change the Record Change The Record
Buy or stream the release here!
The birth of this EP is rooted in the malfunction and idleness of isolation, where LOIF found himself spending more time inspecting the corners of his mind, alone, then he had done previously. He comments “I had nothing much else to do other than swim in my own thoughts. I often tend to overthink things and I spent a lot of time questioning where I was at musically and struggling with the notion that the lil bubble of the music industry I’ve come to love might be changed forever”.
The title of the EP Active Mind thus became an ode to his experiences of lockdown - while the year physically was passive, introspection was an active feat for most of the world. “I knew I wanted to somehow reference the head-fuck this year has been and the way in which it affected me personally and ‘Active Mind’ I guess was a more subtle way of doing that rather than ‘Fuck 2020’”
The EP is alive with breaks, dub programming and ripe bass licks manoeuvring their way through the sonic territory. Some tracks are brimming with positive energy and organised chaos such as “Active Mind” while “Quarantek” is more haunting and cryptic, met with trance drum beats and high-pitched sonic artefacts. Clearly, the EP traverses myriad sentiments and moods, some underpinned by such hope while others informed by restlessness and absent-minded fatigue. LOIF gives us a rundown of what the tracks mean to him:
“I think each track for me represents a different headspace and is like a lil window into how I was feeling at the time.
“Active Mind” I think is the most hopeful of the tracks, it has a fair amount of positive energy in it. It sounds like I might have made that pre COVID but not entirely sure lol
“Quarantek” was made somewhere in-between lockdowns and kinda sounds like I thought dance floors would be back sooner than they actually were.
“LSDNB” was made with the Ménage guys in a bit of a rush right as Melbourne’s second lockdown was ending and I think that excitement probably contributed to how energetic that track feels.
The last two tracks, “Short End of the Stick” and “Intel” are a representation of how I was feeling and the kind of music I was making during the lockdowns; super moody and dark”.
Despite being cooped away in our own nests, LOIF comments that this year pushed him towards more collaboration than he would have done otherwise, or that he usually does. “It was annoying being unable to jam with friends but I satisfied that need to work with others by linking up with five visual artists (and friends): Belski, Mango Mahn, Ferg, Sylvie and Jake who all contributed a video each for one of the tracks on the release, as well as my close friend Liam AQ who made the cover artwork.
I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by a lot of really talented and creative people and I think I’ve come to appreciate that even more this year”.
Post-pandemic LOIF doesn’t foreshadow his music moving towards any particular genre. “I’m not too interested in sticking to a specific mood or genre, instead I tend to make whatever I’m feeling at the time, which is usually dictated by my mood or what has inspired me recently.
Sometimes I’ll set out to make a track with a clear idea or influence in mind and I’ll come up with a track in 45 minutes, other times I’ll spend 2 hours going through patches on a VST struggling to find any sound that resonates with me. It’s a pretty mixed bag.”
Style moves naturally, sometimes in accordance with the outside world and other-times with internal revelations and monologues. To me, Active Mind feels more acoustic than his previous releases, particularly with the raw and gentle bass-lines of the titular track. While LOIF comments that this EP includes hardly any acoustic or field recordings like Electric Organism, he credits Eugene Peloza’s mixing skills and analog desk which had the ability to bring out the acoustic feel of his tracks despite their digital DNA.
Stay up to date with LOIF on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Youtube, Instagram and Facebook
Header image/logo by Liam Alexander-Quinn (@juice__please)
Article by Margarita Bassova (@rxtabass)
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