Leila Abdul-Rauf interview: ‘Creating Music Is Alchemical’
Originally from San Francisco (USA), multi-instrumentalist Leila Abdul-Rauf is an artist who has been active in the music world for years.
Originally from San Francisco (USA), multi-instrumentalist Leila Abdul-Rauf is an artist who has been active in the music world for years. She made a name for herself in the Metal scene, but in recent years, she has also gained recognition as a solo artist in the Dark-Ambient and Cinematic genres. At the end of last year, she released her fifth album, “Calls From A Seething Edge”, on Cyclic Law which in my opinion is her magnum opus. She combines Dark-Ambient and Cinematic elements with Industrial sounds, incorporating acoustic instruments, especially the trumpet, and cements the entire experience with her magical, Ethereal voice. I got in touch with this talented artist to know a bit more about her work and approach. (Picture credits by Gregory C. Hagan – Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: While preparing for this interview, I noticed how many music bands and projects you have been and still are active in. Could you share which of these have been the most important and meaningful to you, and how you explain your versatility in navigating different genres?
Leila: They are all important and meaningful to me in different ways. There are many sides to me creatively that I feel I need to express and having variety in projects across genres helps me do this, instead of forcing all of these ideas into one band or project: each one can be its own thing with separate audiences and different creative demands. Rotating between vastly different creative worlds keeps me growing as an artist without getting too much in one comfort zone, while also keeping things exciting.
Q: Several years ago, you launched your solo career under the name LEILA ABDUL-Rauf. What led you to take this significant step, and how has working independently shaped your musical journey up to this point? What does the Leila Abdul-Rauf project represent to you in terms of genre and the ideas you aim to express through this music?
Leila: I started this project in 2012 after feeling thoroughly inspired by :Zoviet*France:’s live set in 2011 at the Wroclaw Industrial Festival in Poland, where I performed with Amber Asylum. At the time I wanted to make sounds that were immersive and contemplative: an escape from the mostly guitar/drum-based music I had been making up until that point, while also being free to make all the creative decisions.
It was simultaneously liberating and daunting because I had never self-produced an album before, and having already played in some established bands like Amber Asylum, Hammers Of Misfortune and Bastard Noise, the pressure was on to create something of high quality. Since I started my project, it’s evolved into something more complex, while maintaining an orchestral and Cinematic thread through all the releases. Working independently also given me the confidence to be able to trust and follow my intuition at every step of the creative process.
Q: Your latest album, “Calls From A Seething Edge”, seems to mark a shift in your sound. The voice takes on a more prominent role, and the style of singing also feels distinct compared to earlier works. While the music retains a Cinematic quality, it also incorporates various other influences. Could you elaborate on this evolution and the creative direction of your new work?
Leila: I was long overdue for a change, both in sound and compositional approach. This time I made more use of rhythm, Industrial and world folk elements, with more complex arrangements.
The first four albums are all very connected with a defined sound, and after performing this material live many times over I started to feel a bit confined by it. Practical issues around live performance spaces was another big factor. With my previously more minimal sound, I felt more restricted to what kinds of venues I could play due to the low volumes at which I would perform, and quiet, more intimate spaces are harder to come by.
Because I’m a little more known in the Metal scene, I often get asked to perform Metal shows at venues where people are usually talking loudly in the audience. This was really annoying when trying to perform my older material. Writing more aggressive songs played at louder volumes solves this problem.
Q: Your music often delves into profound themes, and “Calls From A Seething Edge” explores timely political and social issues and their impact on individuals. Could you tell us more about these themes and how your music serves as a means of expressing and perhaps processing them? What does this creative process look like for you?
Leila: World events over the past few years –all the wars, natural and human disasters, global expansion of rightwing politics– put a fire in me that demanded something more bold, rhythmic and alive. The lyrics reveal a lot, particularly for “Crimes Of The Soul” which deal mostly with war and genocide and the lies people are fed their whole lives, me included.
“Failure To Fire” speaks to how often humans would rather spare each others’ lives than murder each other in battle the physically closer they get to the ‘enemy’, even when pressured by governments to kill each other. The Folk elements throughout the album reference various cultural traditions including ones from my own background, and elsewhere. I include samples of explosions at the end of “Summon”, as the lyrics right before them speak to the end of humanity, which will arrive much sooner than many people think.
Q: Acoustic instruments, particularly the trumpet, are integral to your sound and lend your music an authentic, tactile quality. How significant are these instruments to your work, and have you noticed an evolution in your approach to playing them, especially on this new album?
Leila: Trumpet is indeed at the center of this project, as is my voice. I think of myself as an adequate horn player at best on a technical level. At the beginning, I treated the instrument as more of a sound piece as opposed to playing it in the more traditional sense. But as my sound evolved and increased in complexity over the past decade plus, my standards are much higher, and I’m pushing myself to be a better player… in the traditional sense, ha.
Adding rhythm to compositions also forces one to record tighter performances, so the songs on “Calls From A Seething Edge” required a lot more studio takes than my previous albums did. The different styles of vocals were more challenging to pull off as well, and I tried my hands at frame drum and drum sampling, which was all new and exciting territory for me.
Q: Music holds an incredibly important place in your life. What does music mean to you personally? What moves and inspires you in creating music, and how does listening to music affect you differently? Lastly, what can we expect from your future projects?
Leila: There are so many layers to the way I think and feel about music, both to listening and to making it. It can transport us to a different place and time in our lives, or to worlds that only exist in our imagination. It can haunt, violate, soothe or elate us. Creating music is alchemical; every fiber of my being feels transformed from the process of bringing a finished song or album into the world. Beyond this, music also taps into something timeless and is central to the human experience, a collective consciousness of sorts. Tones-vibrations-frequencies are the fundamental energies that make all life possible while also transcending life itself; they’ve always existed and will exist long after humans are gone. Music is a profound way to capture and reconfigure that energy so that it continues to cycle through our bodies and transcend something that is larger than ourselves.
Vastum is doing a U.S. tour with Goetia in late March and April. Both my project and Vastum have recently signed with Swamp Booking so European tours will happen in the very near future. I’m already deep into writing solo album number six and will be making a few guest appearances on other albums that are currently being recorded that I’m excited about and will be announced later in the year.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.