An Interview with James Kent of Perturbator by Reverend Raul Antony
a feature for The Black Flame—June, LI A.S.
I first heard Perturbator almost exactly a year ago while
editing a highly rated review for Dangerous Days at Heathen Harvest. The
writer described a faux-retro synthwave album that melds cyberpunk aesthetics
with the neon-cool atmosphere of Drive, with an evil supercomputer named
“Satan” thrown in the mix. Being a long-time fan of electronic music,
cyberpunk, and the films of Nicolas Winding Refn, I couldn’t help be feel like
someone formed an album specifically for me.
Keeping my solipsism in check wasn’t hard. It turned out that Perturbator was doing quite well in the underground electronic
dance scene. The project was getting excellent coverage in digital and print magazines, and had
tracks included in popular indie video games Hotline Miami and Hotline Miami
2: Wrong Number. In many ways this reminded me of the faults of having musical
blinders on. Being so focused on specific obscure genres of music almost had me
missing out on what would become one of my favorite projects in recent years.
Perturbator
feat. Carpenter Brut
"Complete Domination" Music Video
Over the following months I delved further into the world
of Perturbator, Carpenter Brut (also highly rated on Heathen Harvest), GosT, M|O|O|N,
and others. On May 2016 Perturbator released “The Uncanny Valley” (Review), further
developing his unique aesthetic and prominently featuring Satanic imagery and
symbolism. At that point I decided to reach out to his label, Blood Music, who
were kind enough to put me in contact with artist and producer James Kent, the
mastermind behind this Satanic Electro-Synth project. Being in the midst of a
series of performances and remixes, our time was short but well worth the
effort. It’s clear that James Kent is on his own path but a fellow traveler and there are many layers of Satanic influence in his art for our audience here to dissect. Enjoy.
An important magical idea in our religion is capturing
the power of something from the past and creating total environments. One of
the best ways of doing this is through art, using nostalgia to tap into this
hidden force. I think this is what makes your art, aside from the pentagrams
and occult imagery, relevant to our audience. You’re not just
creating retro music, but creating a whole new universe, a cyber noir setting
that combines the past with the future. How did the aesthetic concepts of
Perturbator come about?
Perturbator started in 2011, at first it was sort of a
little escape route for me. My personal life was on the low side, and my other
musical projects were falling apart. The initial idea was to create something
of my own. While it did more or less start out as a very blatant tribute to
retro aesthetics and other movie or video game tropes, the more I was doing it
the more I realized I could take some of those inspirations I had and reshape
them to make it my own. Something more personal. I wanted to build a universe
that would be familiar to everyone, yet still give it that mysterious and
daunting vibe that anyone can feel when being faced with something strange or
unusual. Tales from a hopeless future, occult elements. You might hear a track
that reminds you of retro Italo disco à la Giorgio Moroder, but there is still
an unsettling factor, this feeling that something is not right. Church bells
ringing in the background… This sort of stuff. Of course most of it was
inspired by borderline cheesy 70s and 80s satanic exploitation and science
fiction movies. But I always try to give it my own approach and views of it.
And the symbols? You often use the pentagram and some
other hidden occult symbols throughout your art. How do those relate to your
work?
The pentagram is a very strong symbol. Some people believe I
just use it in order to “cash-in” on the symbol itself, or just to
attract metal music enthusiasts. Truth is, a pentagram can mean a lot of things
to a lot of different people. And while I am unquestionably an atheist, this
particular symbol means a lot of things to me in many ways, including on a very
personal level. I see it (and use it) as a symbol of power, a gateway to
something otherworldly and a reminder that there are still forces beyond human
comprehension.
This aspect is, of course, really important to my music, as I
create it to sound powerful and aggressive. It always relates to the project
and its themes as well. The fantasy world of Perturbator is one where science
and religion are constantly colliding with one another. I always try to use
symbolism in thoughtful ways, rather than use it as a vessel for ideology or
attach a blatant message to it. There are many layers of interpretation. And
the way people react to the imagery of Perturbator can also say a lot of things
about themselves. Is that person easily scared? Or is he/she willing to embrace
it? Or maybe it’s just indifference? It’s always very fascinating to me.
Were you familiar with Satanism, and if so, did that
influence you in any way?
I am. I was introduced to it at a very young age and read Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible many times.
Even though most aspects of Satanic philosophy resonate deeply with me, to this
day I still don’t consider myself a Satanist, as it clashes with some of my
world views (like any religion does in some ways). However, it had a strong
influence on me. It woke up in me a huge interest towards symbolism and
occultism, some things that are ever present in my work and myself. And it also
helped me to shape my own way of thinking.
Your art and music videos also contains a fair bit of
sexuality, well defined and balanced female and male aesthetics—something very
important to Satanism. Was this balance something you intended?
Sexuality is another very important force in our daily
lives. I always try to highlight it in all its complexity. It is both a very attractive yet threatening
concept to all of us. A lot of people visualize this image of a naked person as
being “weak”, “vulnerable” or “exposed”. To me,
it’s the complete opposite, a naked body is another symbol of power. When
someone has nothing to hide from anyone and proudly shows it. This person
becomes a figure of strength. Hence the over exaggeration of those aesthetics.
Some of my favorite tracks of yours include female
vocals. It adds a touch of carnality to the synthesis. Do you plan on doing
more vocal work in the future?
Of course, to be honest I cannot imagine Perturbator without
vocals anymore, it has become an important part of my sound. So much that I
even thought about doing an album with vocalists on every track.
Perturbator – “Sentient” Music Video
Let’s talk about movies. I think some of my favorite
Satanic movies include Drive, Akira, Blade Runner and Metropolis, and I can
draw connections between those films and your art. Have these films in
particular influenced you? Which others have inspired your work?
I often quote Blade Runner as my favorite movie of all time.
Those movies you cited here are definitely in the top 10 that influenced
Perturbator. To be honest, if I’d list all the movies I took inspiration from,
it would take months, ha ha. But it ranges from modern sci-fi like Ex Machina
and Her to retro shlock B movies like Deadbeat at Dawn, Evilspeak and The
Sentinel.
Outside of the electro-synth scene you’re probably best
known for your work with the Hotline Miami games. Has that experience given you
other opportunities to work within the video game industry? I imagine your
pixel-esque art and music would be greatly desired. Hell, I’d love to play a game
fully devoted to one of your worlds!
There actually have been many discussions about transposing
the Perturbator world into a gaming experience, but nothing too concrete yet.
It’s complicated now, but I still have hopes for it someday in the future! That
being said, I am currently onboard for another game project called The Last Night made by French developers
Tim and Adrien Soret. And I have other things in the works to be announced
hopefully soon.
The Last Night Screenshot – See more at Odd Tales
I understand that you played in some black metal bands in
the past. Are you still active in metal or have you dedicated yourself to
electronic music?
I’m currently going back to making metal music now. It’s
building extremely slowly, since Perturbator takes me most of my time. But I am
very happy to get back to my roots with a new and fresh view on music writing
and with everything I’ve learned from Perturbator. I’m looking forward to
record this all and get it out sometime this year or the next one.
Perturbator – Sexualizer / Satanic Rites (Live Lyon – 29/03/2016)
Tell us about your dark ambient project L’Enfant De La
Forêt, did you feel the need to balance your high-energy, neon-colored work
with something more dark and sedated?
L’Enfant De La Forêt is a very personal side project. I
would even say that I feel more like myself when I’m writing a L’Enfant De La
Forêt track than when I’m making a Perturbator one. It’s more about me and it’s
as close as anyone can get to understand my way of thinking. That’s why this
project has no boundaries for me. I can do anything I want with it. It’s
extremely cathartic. I’m often times working on both simultaneously. It’s a
good way to find balance in my mind. I’m currently working on a second album
for L’Enfant De La Forêt, as we speak.
Many thanks to James Kent for taking time out of touring and production work to talk to me and J at Blood Music for making this happen.
https://perturbator.bandcamp.com/