Visa, the new album from Vladislav Delay, is set for November release.
With turns in the Moritz Von Oswald Trio and his own Vladislav Delay Quartet, plus no shortage of solo material, Delay—born Sasu Ripatti—has been prolific. But the Finnish artist, who made a name for himself with ruminative material on labels like Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux, hasn't made ambient music in over a decade. That's what we're to expect on his latest album, which owes its existence to what might otherwise be lousy circumstances. When he was denied entry to the United States earlier this year, Ripatti had to cancel his tour and thus found himself with a lot of time on his hands. He says "a valve broke open... and I collected what came out the pipes." All told, he had Visa written in two weeks. Described as beatless, analog and "designed to be listened to at high volume and in full detail," it'll see release through the producer's own Ripatti imprint.
Intrigued by the story of Visa's germination, we touched in with Ripatti for more details.What was your initial reaction to having a US visa denied?
It's not so easy to say when "initial" might have been in this case. It just kept going on until the very last minute. I think I was going to fly to Japan and needed to have the US visa with me, and when I finally went to Japan without that visa, I didn't really feel much of anything anymore. It had been just quite an exhausting and annoying experience. Being rejected without a reason is not too nice.
Is it something that's happened before?
Nope. I'd only heard stories about that stuff.
Would you say the emotions you felt at the visa rejection fed into the album?
Maybe slightly, but I don't think too much. What was remarkable was the newfound space and time for two weeks with absolutely nothing planned—an empty vacuum and no idea or plan what to do. It was almost scary in the beginning.
Recording the album in two weeks—it's a quick turnaround. Is that out of the ordinary for you?
Well, I only recorded the material in that two-week period. Afterwards I still went through the recordings and did some post-production and the final mix, but overall it was one of the records that came out really fast and effortlessly.
You can hear a preview of the album right now via the SoundCloud player below.
Tracklist
01. Visaton
02. Viaton
03. Viisari
04. Vihollinen
05. Viimeinen
Ripatti will release Visa in November 2014.