IR1S and sweeep explore the shadows on "Fault Finder"

"I was browsing for an acapella to mess with when I found IR1S' profile on the music community Allihoopa", says sweeep. "I thought her vocals were too good to chop up and drench in reverb and delay like I usually do with stolen vocals, so I just asked if she wanted to sing on some beats I had".

Eventually, that dialogue resulted in the track "Tout Tombe", and now in a second collaboration, "Fault Finder". It's electronic music built from shadows. IR1S' lyrics are delivered in a dusky tone that floats between a murmer and something stronger, letting them unfurl softly over sweeep's subtle, frosty soundscape. It's one of those songs that builds up its own lush, late-light, darkroom atmosphere, and lets the listener sink into the murk of the mood it creates. Listen and check out a Q + A with IR1S and sweeep below.

First of all, give us some background info on yourselves. How did you two meet and begin to collaborate?

IR1S: "I’d been working with beatmakers on Allihoopa for a few months when sweeep sent me a message with a link to her work, beautiful ambient loops that sounded very different from what I was doing at the time. We started to work together online, and we met for the first time this summer."

Tell us a little about "Fault Finder", in your own words.

IR1S: "'Fault Finder' is the second song to come out of our collaboration. sweeep sent me an early version months ago, and I loved the lurching bass and dark melodies on it. I started writing the lyrics for this one based on sentences that had been rolling around my head, quotes from books or poems that had caught my ear. To me, "Fault Finder" tells the story of confused feelings from a somewhat dissociated point of view. It’s like when you’re no longer sure in a relationship who is the accuser and who is clutching at a connection that’s already gone. In terms of the vocals themselves, I wanted to build the song without necessarily having a verse/bridge/chorus kind of structure, both because that’s what lent itself to the original loop, and because of the subject matter of circular, unclear communication."

Sweeep, in addition to this, you also put out a collaboration with alivvve earlier this year. What attracts you to collaboration as a form of creation?

Sweeep: "Most of the times I create a new song I plan to make it a solo song. But when I start talking with someone who makes amazing music it’s hard not being curious about how a collaboration would sound. Imagine having a baby that is a mix between your style and your favourite producer’s style."

IR1S, you have a background in experimental poetry and jazz. What made you turn to electronic music as a form of expression?

IR1S: "I started listening to electronic music a couple of years ago in the way most people do, I think, because I love to go dancing. It was minimal techno my friends and I were listening to at the time, music that went from melodic and ambient to more industrial, harsh styles. I started listening, and recently I’ve started to learn production, which was a big change from the piano/voice setup I had before. I still love poetry, and women poets are really influential voices for me, for example the mix of power, grief and sensuality in Plath’s work. Electronic music gives so much space to experiment, both with my vocals and with sound in general – because you can create any sound, any effect or instrument from a computer in your bedroom… and the communities that come along with internet music it are so valuable."

What projects have you both got on the way over the next few months?

IR1S: "We’re continuing to work on a few more songs for our EP, which I’m really excited about. Besides that, I’m working on my solo project which is quite different from what I do with sweeep. It has a more minimalistic sound, and more focus on the vocals and narrative."

Sweeep: "Songs are dropping when you least expect it. What I can tell you is that I will make a mixtape for 1833.fm that is coming out in the end of August and that my ambient side project called sleeep will have a live performance at Larry’s Corner in Stockholm on 14 August."