Watch A Trippy New Clip From Ex-Cut Copy Collaborator Mirko & Explore His 'Cure For Tunes'

London-based, Australia-bred musician Mirko Vogel — better known by his mononym, Mirko — has spent the better part of the past three years working away at his debut album, LP1.

With his eagerly awaited maiden solo outing being ushered into the world a couple of weeks ago via Brisbane-based independent label Room40, The Music caught up with Mirko from his home in the not-so-sunny UK to discuss the album.

Described as "a record that compresses time", LP1 collects recordings created by Mirko over several countries and environments, consisting primarily of extended, atmospheric and ambient soundscapes that warp the passing of the very seconds they occupy.

So, how important was the passage of time in terms of creating the album, and how did that impact the overall cohesion of the piece?

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"In hindsight, the passing of time over this period actually ended up being the most crucial part of making this record for me," Mirko told The Music. "I started working on ideas and experiments while on tour with Cut Copy from 2010 onwards, and a huge part of this experimentation was that I just didn’t really even know what music my head and heart made.

"So, by taking my time and by going into long periods of self-analysis and listening, I feel like I was able to build a much better picture and be truer to myself throughout the process."

According to Mirko, that process was one of confluence, pulling together several disparate ideas and recordings that he had amassed over his years of travel — his career has taken him to more than 60 countries — into a cogent, if not entirely cohesive, whole.

"I don't think I had a singular vision for the album when I started work," Mirko said. "Most of the ideas formed as I stared pulling together the different ideas and recordings over those years of travel. I realised that without really thinking about it all the tracks ended up being snapshots of different cities and journeys over that time.

"I'm glad I ended up staying true to those initial impulses for all the writing and experiments on the road."

"I wanted the music I make to be more like the world around me rather than pop art. Something that never really starts or ends. It just IS."

"Experiment" is definitely the word — in fact, Mirko says, he hadn't even really entertained the thought of creating an album such as this prior to actually making it; it seems it rather arose organically as a personal response to the mainstream-music environment: anti-bangers, if you will.

"I guess this music for me is a cure for 'tunes' in some sense," he explained. "I wanted the music I make to be more like the world around me rather than pop art. Something that never really starts or ends. It just IS. Almost like each piece is a small section of a film of time passing in different places. Giving your ears a portal to that place for the duration of it before closing up again. But somehow you get the feeling that the music just keeps going forever in the background."

Originally, LP1 started life as a means to 'slow down' while on tour — but it soon outgrew that humble mission statement, and Mirko found himself pulled along by the allure of an extended stay among such sounds and arrangement.

"Once I started working on things, I loved the narrative that formed in my head while listening to each piece walking around London. The more I went down that path, the clearer it became that this is what direction this record should go in and what probably all my records from here on in should be.

"During the making of this album this process also became my litmus test of what worked and what didn’t. If I could make something that I could listen to for two hours-plus non-stop and not get bored or annoyed by it, I knew it was good enough."

Of course, it isn't just London that technically appears on the record; in fact, Mirko says, every individual work on the album carries elements of the physical space in which it was created.

"Each track shares a history with the sounds that it contains and a history with the locations where these tracks started," he said. "It's something that drove the direction of each piece of music right from the start.

"My hope is that whoever listens to the album gets the same feeling and sensation of place and location from it that I had while making it. If each track can reveal a little bit of its starting point and a glimpse into the history of each sound and can transport you, then I feel I have done a good job."

In addition to the overall success of the process, Mirko says that this album, however protracted its gestation, has laid the fundamental groundwork for his future projects — meaning that, hopefully, we shouldn't see as long an incubation period on his next release.

"If I didn’t have this time, I don’t think I would have been able to make something that resonates as well for me or that I could say really represents what I hear," he said. "I feel like now that this time was spent, and I know where my heart goes, making the next record and the one after that will be a much quicker and more confident process."

On top of conducting such an enlightening chat, Mirko has generously provided us with the trippy, hypnotic clip for his LP1 closer, Night City Landing, an undulating, arpeggio-riddled electronic piece that provides an informative — yet incredibly limited — idea of the sorts of soundscapes being explored across the album's nine tracks. Check out its debut airing below.

LP1 is out now on Room40.

To connect with Mirko and find out more about his upcoming movements and pursuits, see his Facebook page.

Alternatively, check out his Twitter — he says he'll be spending 2017 working on LP2, new music and putting on shows, including a potential series of lounge-room shows, so if you're keen to be a part of it, let him know.

Watch A Trippy New Clip From Ex-Cut Copy Collaborator Mirko & Explore His 'Cure For Tunes'

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