Conchis plays with fire in visceral alt-electronic single ‘Trouble’

Recently, Finnish electronic alt-pop artist Conchis welcomed listeners into her inner-world with ‘Cray Cray’, an emotionally-charged introduction to her forthcoming album, Chapters. Now it’s the turn of ‘Trouble’ to expand upon Conchis’ cinematic blend of electronic, pop, and experimental music.

As another few pages of Chapters turn, Conchis hones in on an essential theme of every good story - relationships. However this is no breezy romance, instead the artist explores the theme’s darker side by delving into her own experiences of romantic connections that bring more trouble than they’re ultimately worth.

“In the past, I’ve had a tendency to pick men who aren’t necessarily healthy for me. 'Trouble' is a reflection of that topic and how I’m still drawn to certain types of men despite knowing better. It’s about the push and pull in a relationship and how we act against our better judgment,” Conchis says.

The breathy repetition of Chonchis’ central lyric “don’t play with fire,” conveys both a warning and a temptation. We’re all aware of the potential destructive force of fire, and yet there’s a primal draw to the fire’s warmth, with those dancing flames and that unattainable glow. This blazing imagery has also been paired with subtle elements designed to evoke the sounds of fire. Working alongside producer Jonas Verwijnen, has imbued each track on the album with an element, depending on the song, so that listeners could tacitly feel and experience the lyrics and themes.

Further explaining the thematic production and sampling process, Conchis shares: “The different elements in tarot—earth, water, fire, and air—all represent different things: earth symbolizes material aspects, physical health, work, finances, and practicalities; water represents emotions, intuition, relationships, love, and the subconscious; fire represents energy, creativity, passion, ambition, action, and inspiration; air represents intellect, communication, conflict, truth, and mental clarity. We then used a few samples from those elements in each song and tried to make it sound e.g. “airy” in an air song, “earthy” in an earth song, etc. We didn’t use too many samples, though, so that the end result wouldn’t become gimmicky. The listener might not even notice them, but for us, it was a way to work on the tracks without relying on other artists’ music as references—instead, we talked about making a track sound more like a specific element. Some samples on the album are really subtle, like clicking stones together or making a shaker out of twigs or gravel. Those can sound exactly like a normal shaker or a snare sample. I remember it was a really hot summer day when I went out into the forest and picked stones, gravel, branches, etc., and then recorded them. Some samples I found from a sample bank—e.g., the sound of lava or fire from a lighter. I liked combining the more analog sounds with the otherwise quite electronic sounds.”

Not only do these visceral sonic elements add to the intensity of ‘Trouble’, but Conchis’ potent vocal performance also portrays the emotional rawness and dark energy of this track. In those verses, her voice (and perhaps her heart) sounds guarded; reproachful of the unknown trouble that might lie ahead. By contrast, her vocals on the chorus transform into a siren-esque call, which reaches towards the listener through the rich matrix of electronica.

Not only do these visceral sonic elements add to the intensity of ‘Trouble’, but Conchis’ potent vocal performance also portrays the emotional rawness and dark energy of this track. In those verses, her voice (and perhaps her heart) sounds guarded; reproachful of the unknown trouble that might lie ahead. By contrast, her vocals on the chorus transform into a siren-esque call, which reaches towards the listener through the rich matrix of electronica.

Growing up in the Finnish archipelago, Conchis discovered her love for music at an early age. In the remote countryside, she nurtured her creativity and developed her own imaginative world. She started singing before she could even talk, picked up the violin at seven-years-old, joined a choir a few years later, and began writing her own songs with a guitar at age fifteen.

Conchis' forthcoming debut album, Chapters, delves into the depths of human psychology, exploring themes of loss, yearning, consumption, and desperation. Despite grappling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) during the creation of the album, Conchis persevered and adapted. One of the ways she was able to complete the record was by allowing only five vocal takes per song.

Rather than perceiving this as a negative constraint, the necessary parameters have instead infused the album with rawness and vulnerability, reflecting her journey through illness and artistic expression. Named after a character from John Fowles' enigmatic novel, The Magus, Conchis also draws inspiration from the book's suspenseful and twisted narrative. Finding parallels between the novel’s magus and the symbolism of the tarot card, The Magician, she intertwines these elements throughout her album, sampling sounds reminiscent of earth, water, air, and fire. Alongside these elemental features, her music is also punctuated with the dichotomies of light and dark, beauty and roughness.