The atmospheric drum and bass scene has evolved quite a bit since the early days, full of transporting and meditative music, pulsating half-tempo and autonomic jams, and intriguing left field bass. I don’t think I have heard anything quite like Eusebeia. The word “Eusebeia” is a Greek word meaning “right conduct in regard to the Gods”, or “Reverence”, and could also be the personification of the concept of piety. This idea of reverence absolutely represents his music and approach. Seb Uncles has had a storied history of releases across genres and labels such as Mindtrick, and Samurai Music, as well as a large body of self-released work, and returns to Modern Conveniences this time to deliver us a galactic quest for inner truth in “The Golden Rule”.
He has been working with Modern Conveniences label founder Dan Akuratyde since long before it’s inception, and this is the fourth EP on the ModCon roster. The Golden Rule portrays a variety of distinct narratives, but plays from end-to-end as it were one cohesive story. Seb weaves a web of tonalities in between big, full-spectrum kick drums and a rich array of synths.
The artist offered some words about this EP:
The title, Golden Rule, came from an unreleased project I was working on, but unfortunately I lost the project files for it, but I decided to pursue the theme/idea in a new project that coincided nicely with doing an EP for ModCon. The tracks are fairly self explanatory so I don’t need to talk about the meanings, but as for writing I chose a specific instrument to start with, and then went from there. I play a lot of the melodies, and most stuff nowadays is done in the moment – I’ll build around an initial melody or something to get me started, which generally is centered around a mood/feel/emotion and/or a particular sound which I want to be a dominant part of the palette.
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Seb and I also found some time to chat further about his artisty, process, interest in philosophy, and early influences.
It sounds like there is very much a live element to your music – do you find yourself jamming with a particular sonic palette until you find a tonal center, or do you pre-compose anything?
Sometimes I have to begin improvising, jamming and writing to then come up with ideas or understand and make sense of what I’m writing about and why, but sometimes I’ll have an idea or theme I want to convey and express at hand, which was the case for the golden rule. The stuff that’s premeditated is things like what synth am I going to use, or what drum machine, shall I start with.. because this helps with sorting out a partial sound palette. Obviously there’s always an element of trial and error, but I try to have systems in place that I can use to help do whatever is best for a track or project.
What has it been like for you releasing music for ModCon over the years? Do you find yourself pushing the sound of the label or are you finding inspiration from your roster mates along the way? Both?
I had somewhat of an idea of the kind of music I could put forward which might be suitable and that seems to have worked well. I’ve just been making the sort of music I’ve always made and trying to improve and develop accordingly. I don’t listen to lots of music frequently anymore, as I’m so busy working on music, but I like some of what I’ve heard on the label, but I’m not into all of it. I don’t take much influence from any music other than what was formative for me growing up which is really important. I’ve been involved since near the beginning of the label, and have been asked to do more releases which has made me push my production and try to do something a bit different each time whilst keeping some familiarity in certain ways. I’m always wanting to push what I do, and do the best I can for the labels I work with and hopefully contribute something worthwhile and interesting.
I have seen a lot of evolution in your music over the years – what are some of those formative artists from growing up that have shaped your artistry until now?
There’s been a lot of rediscovery and reflection over the past 10-14 years and part of my continual evolution so far is due to that. Some artists that impacted me in a big way growing up are Massive Attack, Leftfield, The Future Sound of London, The Prodigy, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin, and there are many other different artists, producers and composers working in different genres/styles that have influenced what I do to some extent, but I do not try to consciously draw from them, but instead apply my own experience/s and what is authentic for me and my experience/s.
Love that approach. A testament to the experimental process, and after all your idea with this EP was to translate feelings, experiences. Does mindfulness play a role outside of music in your life?
There’s isn’t really any separation between mindfulness inside and outside of music. Music is meditation, therapy and journaling among other things. I aim to translate certain ideas, feelings through music, for myself and hopefully other people, as I believe art has the potential to communicate and express far more than can be expressed through verbal or written language alone.
Beautifully put. What is a recent book that has stuck with you?
The last book I finished was “The Prophet” by Kahil Gibran which was a while ago but I remember enjoying it. I began reading a book about certain West African spiritual beliefs recently, and I’ve been reading some of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche which is interesting.
[Conversation about Philosophy ensues, to great entertainment and sidetracking]
What is your musical background? Did you grow up in a musical household, get musical training, or self taught?
Other than hearing a range of different music growing up, not really. I took recorder and acoustic guitar at primary school, but was average/below average at best, and then had some keyboard lessons at secondary school, I always had a keyboard at home from the age of about 3 and enjoyed playing it at home, so I’m mostly self taught.
That is not the answer i was expecting! So when you are exploring your tonal frameworks, you land on what works for you just based on the feeling or narrative you’re trying to translate?
Exactly, whatever it is that’s appropriate for any given narrative, theme or concept. It’s all about conveying/translating emotion, feeling or mood accordingly.
Ok last question. It’s clear in this EP that your drum’s individual pitches are tuned very specifically, to fit these narratives. Do you use an external tuning plugin or just use whats on your DAW?
If I need to I’ll just adjust pitch using the pitch control in the sampler or synth, or use a pitch shifter plug in.
Thank you for the time, Seb, and for this beautiful EP.
Let’s get into the track by track:
Above & Beyond: I absolutely love the journey that this opening song offers – the short key changes and bold dips into minor tonality, the variety of crisp percussion, a jungle section, and deep synths that wrap around the insistent, punchy kick line that is so indicative of this EP. At first listen I wondered why Seb put this one first, as it is so distinct, but after listening through the album three or four times, I realized that this song sets up the rest of the EP in a great way. Because of the distinct nature of each section, he is able to showcase many different elements that return in different iterations later.
Practice What You Preach: Slowly unfolding into the real body of this album, this groovy and laidback space bossa-nova shows off more of Eusebeia’s ability to create entire worlds. Employing an awesome variety of sounds and never quite sitting still, Practice What You Preach carries the listener with a crisp autonomic percussion line and drone synths through a meandering exploration. This one ends in such a way to setup the next track beautifully.
Praxis: An extra groovy halftime collaboration with labelmate Alegria, the third track challenges the listener in the first half to follow along while the artists toy with relative keys and novel themes. The second half coalesces around an awesome driving halftime drum pattern, settling just long enough to then syncopate and return. This one plays like two distinct halves so well – rather than feeling disconnected, this pair manages to orchestrate the changes so smoothly and keep it interesting.
The Golden Rule: Appearing to arrive at the center of the universe, the title track opens with a sunrise over a great desert void. Quickly moving into a signature groove that leans on the offbeats, Seb continues to excite the ear with a higher frequency palette in the synths. The Golden Rule is another summation of the ideas and themes present in this EP, and the more that I listen to these pieces the more I realize how supportive these tracks are of each other. This is truly a journey from end-to-end.
This music is exactly why experimental electronica is so exciting to me with the unexpected twists and turns, and is truly a testament to the experimental process. A deeply spiritual artist and person, Seb Uncles has created a galaxy of ideas and sounds in “The Golden Rule”, and I hope that this helps the listener understand more about about Eusebeia’s process with this incredible work. You can purchase this other-worldly EP here.
