Vincent Cavanagh has been quietly working as The Radicant since 2017, however he’s lastly gone public with it three years after the dissolution of his previous band, Anathema. Debut EP We Ascend swaps sweeping, guitar-led rock for textured electronics and glitchy experimentalism – though it’s nonetheless recognisable because the work of one of many musicians behind albums reminiscent of We’re Right here As a result of We’re Right here and Distant Satellites. As Cavanagh tells Prog, music is simply the tip of the inventive iceberg.
What’s The Radicant? Band? Artwork challenge? One thing else?
The Radicant is my inventive alias, in the event you like. From a sensible standpoint, it’s the identify I take advantage of for all of my audio-visual output. It began off as an exploration in composing for various media and expertise, which allowed me the liberty to work in several, interdisciplinary strategies that had been new to me. And in the intervening time, it’s a business music challenge as a result of I’m releasing data.
You began The Radicant in 2017, earlier than Anathema cut up, however you stored it below the radar till now. Why?
I’ve been doing work and collaborations since 2017 which have knowledgeable the music I finally put out. By way of public appearances, I performed reside in a south London gallery in 2018 – it was the soundtrack to an augmented actuality piece mixed with sculpture and music.
I lately did a collaboration with Sarah [Derat, artist and Vincent’s partner/collaborator], which was an audio set up on the Castor Gallery in north London.
Not all the pieces that I do goes to get launched to the general public – I assume to totally perceive it, you possibly have to come back to a number of the future exhibitions.
What’s a ‘radicant’?
It’s a reputation that was given to me by a buddy of ours, an artwork curator. She described this shift into composition in several media and inventive disciplines as “a radicant transfer.” ‘Radicant’ itself is a botanical time period – it describes organisms that create new roots as they advance, which implies they will adapt and develop.
An artwork curator/critic referred to as Nicolas Bourriaud wrote a guide with the identical identify, and he mentioned how people and cultures are consistently uprooted and in flux on a regular basis. He used it as a metaphor for the way artists can see themselves in a extra related world – there’s no single route that you just come from; your origins are at all times a number of.
Anathema led to 2021, throughout Covid. What occurred?
I selected to depart. The reality is that it had been within the put up for a really very long time. I’d come to the realisation that I had no different means ahead with it, and that I needed to set off by myself, as powerful a choice because it was.
I felt an enormous quantity of duty for everybody else and the legacy and historical past of the band – nevertheless it was time for me to concentrate on myself, this challenge, my plans with Sarah. It was a really troublesome, painful, unhappy time for everybody.
Anathema had been a band. That is simply you. Liberating or scary?
It’s scary in any stroll of life to depart one thing that’s all you’ve ever recognized and to take that leap into the unknown. However the precise work itself is totally liberating. I’m capable of produce work that there’s no means I’d have had any sort of freedom to do in Anathema. Folks presume the lead singer is liable for writing the music and is the chief of the band, and none of that was ever true in Anathema. I simply fell into it and stored it going.
Folks presume the lead singer is writing the music and is the chief of the band – none of that was true in Anathema
However now I’ve the liberty to authentically be myself and put one thing throughout that’s precisely how I want to be perceived, versus being the man fronting that band with the leather-based jacket and the guitar. In all honesty, that wasn’t me.
You scrapped a complete album as The Radicant. Why?
This was in 2021. I had the entire thing written. I’d recorded drums with [Anathema’s] Daniel Cardoso in 2019 and I’d recorded the vocals. There weren’t many guitars on it, nevertheless it felt like a continuation of what I’d executed beforehand; it was a bit too ‘rock’-ish. I used to be, like, “I’m undecided that is the precise transfer.” So I scrapped it. Then I met [French co-producer/mixer] Ténèbre and began working with him. I handed him a track and that grew to become We Ascend. I knew it was going to work instantly.
There are not any guitars on the brand new EP. Why not? You’re a guitarist, in spite of everything.
I don’t assume I’ve performed guitar at residence for years. I can’t even keep in mind the final time I did it. I’ve received guitars proper in entrance of me in my studio, however I by no means attain for them. I don’t know why that’s. I’m a guitarist, however possibly I simply received bored of it.
You’re engaged on a full-length album. How does it transfer issues on from the EP?
I believe it’s going to be extra upbeat. A number of the tracks on the EP are a slow-burn; they construct. The album is a little more quick in sure elements. It’ll have clues and callbacks inside the tracks, and in addition callbacks to the EP – individuals will hear one thing and say, “The place does that come from?”
If I’m requested to DJ someplace I can do it, or if there’s a conventional gig I can have as many musicians as I like
However I grew up listening to albums that had been designed to be listened to in a single sitting – The Beatles, Pink Floyd. The EP is constructed like that, and the album would be the similar. Not essentially a story, however one thing that’s related musically and emotionally.
Are you going to be taking part in reside?
Yeah. I need it to be a modular setup; if I’m requested to DJ someplace I can do it, or if there’s a conventional gig I can have as many musicians as I like – even six or seven. However I’d completely like to play or tour with a band.
I’ve received an incredible drummer, Ben Brown from [London jazz-experimentalists] Waaju and Charlie Cawood taking part in upright bass; I’ve received Amy Woods, the classical soprano, who sings on the EP; and Sarah is a superb singer, too – she sings on the EP and the album. It appears like something is feasible.