Virtual Self (2016) album idea - Porter Robinson, interesting facts, concept

We have already written about who Porter Robinson is and why he is probably the future of American EDM and beyond. In this article we will talk about the new Porter, which was fully realised in a mini-album with an interesting title "Virtual Self".

A new alter ego

After breaking through with a full-length album "Worlds" Porter continued to experiment with the possibilities that music afforded him, refining sound combinations and visuals. But what he presented in 2017 is no longer the Porter Robinson that came under the wing of Skrillex. It's a separate project, and a detailed disguise from anyone who tries in any way to lift the veil of that mystery. Only the man himself Virtual Self decides what the listener knows and what the listener doesn't know.

Riddles?

A kind of ideological inspirer of the project Virtual Self was a well-known English DJ Calvin Harris (Calvin Harris)who released a hit single in 2009. "I'm Not Alone". It was this track that influenced Robinson's shaping of the concept. But when it comes to the visuals, anime series "Lane's Experiments" had a great influence on Porter in this regard.

It all started when Porter Robinson created a new Twitter account in October 2015, specifically for this project. A little later, he informed his fans on his personal account on the same platform that this was his new project and released a song "EON BREAK". Its mystery for the audience was close to the 100 mark. The song has no lyrics as such, but the video sequence, which was also prepared by the musician, visually presents all sorts of mysterious clues as to the direction Porter is taking with the project.

This composition is reminiscent of the classic hard dance a track, but it's got notes in it. happy hardcore - a direction in electronic music, which is characterised by the use of vocals that are in reality similar to "cartoon" vocals. Porter, or rather Virtual Self, leaves a few Easter eggshells in the video clip, deciphering which, one can at least understand something. In that traditional Porter manner, a loading bar flashes at the beginning of the video sequence with the text "TECHNOANGEL WILL BE DISCOVERED. WHAT IS YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE?".

It's worth noting that Porter was clearly inspired by Japanese video games in the RPG genre - the typography of the logo Virtual Self similar to Final Fantasyand the project's mysterious website is a Japanese cult. Devil May Cry. After that phrase is shown, the drop occurs and the inscription appears "Am I eternal?". In our opinion, this is a reference to the EP's nostalgic nature, and the timelessness of those ideas and interests that were once close to . Virtual Self(e.g., this can be attributed to the musician's love for Dance Dance Revolution).

technic–Angel - is one of the key figures associated Virtual Self. We do not know the gender of this person, although he is believed to be a female character because of his appearance - a young, feminine figure in dark robes. Another such figure is Pathselector - he too is presumed to be female, but is depicted in light-coloured clothing, with white hair and a golden mask. The purpose of these figures, virtually established Porter, is that they are allegedly the creators of the tracks on the album. Thus, tecnhic-Angelу belongs "Parcticle Arts, "Key." и "EON BREAK.", а Pathselectorу - "Ghost Voices" и "a.i.ngel".

Idea Virtual Self

Porter himself said that Virtual Self - is a nostalgia trap and an expression of his pleasant attitude towards nostalgic art in general. When he covers the subject of this EP in an interview, he is sure to mention that Virtual Self is aboutparticular style of art.

"Virtual Self is my attempt to break people apart. The idea of destroying expectations of my art was so enticing, and I'm very proud of the Virtual Self project. I think it's the best thing I've ever done to fully realise this idea - every teaser, every cover, and every website had to be as special and complete as possible..."

Music on EP

What does it look like Virtual Self? Probably, it can be safely attributed to the restored sound of the times of the late nineties and early noughties, in which were popular such genres as trance, jungle, IDM, speedcore, J–Hardcore and other rave-related submusical cultures. The sound, when you listen to it, it sounds like Armin Van Buuren or Aphex Twinor PC Music Together they made a collaboration and from that they got breaks with overload, bright synths and piano parts. And all this at a pretty fast tempo (140-170 BPM). Robinson's music was created to be played on dancefloors that everyone has long forgotten.

Album Evaluation

In general, the album was rated as average by critics, and few called it the musician's best work. For example, Philip Sherbourne from a music magazine Pitchfork named Virtual Self An attempt to "dive headfirst into the aesthetics of the late 1990s and early 2000s," reminiscent of the soundtracks to the Dance Dance Revolutionthat Robinson had been inspired by since childhood. "Ghost Voices" was critically acclaimed as the most modern from the album. Billboard's Kat Bain gave the EP a favourable review, stating that Virtual Self is "...A high-concept musical work with a heavy Final Fantasy atmosphere."and the whole record has the overall sound of a soundtrack to some 2000s videogame, which Nintendo accidentally forgot to release it. А Brian Bonavoglia from a music magazine DJ Timeswho specialises in analysing the work of DJs and music producers, has compared the albums of "Worlds." и "Virtual Self.". The latter, despite adhering to Porter's old hobbies, was still able to retain all aspects of his musicianship and unique style.

As Porter Robinson himself admitted, ".Virtual Self for me was an attempt to paint a picture of a very foggy, distorted memory I had thanks to electronic music from the internet. These fuzzy memories are indeed mystical, and that's what I like...".

After the success of this deep and honest project, Porter went on to do something equally interesting - he began recording a second studio album under his real name. "Nurture."no less unique in its nature. Now. Porter Robinsonand I moved away from trance music and into exploring lo-fi и indie popand in some tracks even hypewhich didn't seem to fit in with electronic music at all. But Porter keeps experimenting, and it's really amazing.