We chat for a few moments with the mysterious electronic figure Vina Konda to talk about his soon-to-come second album, where he challenges his teenage day’s love for Metal by mashing it into a Noise & Bass hell of a tale, to be released on Turin-based imprint PHO BHO
« Though my music is quite under control, I often try to make the sound live by itself by injecting some chance into it. As it was an ecosystem of its own ». With these first words, Vina Konda introduced me to the creative process he has taken on to build the tracks of his upcoming second album for Italian label PHO BHO, entitled Tales of the Necromancer’s Assistant. Freshly back from a mini tour with the Turin-based label members in northern Italy during a site busy week-end in mid-April 2025, the masked artist sat for a pair of hours with yours truly to share some thoughts about his new long length musical project, barely two years after his inaugural LP Yromem released through Simo Cell’s own TemeT label.
At this time, Vina Konda was still pretty much stuck to his previous laptop-driven sonic signature, which was a heritage of his deep interest in 2010s UK Bass and post-club sound design influences. Yromem felt like an exit door to let loose and therefore be more instinctive, by using live instruments such as the electric guitar (using one that he built himself) and his voice (mainly digitally twisted) as the main characters of this new chapter on his musical journey. But, as he reminds: « This first album was more of an attempt to deal with the concept of nostalgia, and paying tribute to my teenage years listening to my father-in-law’s hard rock plates and my collection of nu metal and pop rock CDs. Whereas this upcoming project is more about assuming new ways to bring all this influences together while maintaining some digital chaos in my producing process, mainly using a shitload of effect chains and live-played instrumental parts ».
As he follows: « My music wouldn’t have been the same if LFO didn’t exist. I try to use it to make my sound much more organic, as a Shoegaze artist using tons of electric effects to let loose with the so-called concept of musical virtuosity inherited from decades of guitar solos domination and eccentric rock performance. To be honest, I don’t care about mastering any instruments I use, and I would rather use LFOs because it summons a quite weird beauty, making drifts into their straight timed soundwaves by coupling them in chains, and waiting for the accident to happen ».
Listening to Tales of the Necromancer’s Assistant is being drowned under a diversity of feelings from blissfulness with almost Ambient songs like « Sweet As Porridge » or the opener « From When The Century Trees Burned » to the urge to dance your a** off with the duo produced alongside Brodinski called « PYRE NYNAKI ». Not forgetting to mention the inner rage that is taking you while frenetically waving your head because you were standing too close to the mosh pit at any SlipKnot live show, while listening to « Til I Lie » or « TRINITY ». Vina Konda aims to put all these mixed feelings into his live shows for two years, in live moments when the assiduous producer shape-shifts into some tentacled and boiling performer, playing tunes from his albums on stage just by himself, face masked and snuggled against his DIY homemade guitar. And to add more mystery, the artist reaches to play with the truth or lie about actually playing live instruments (mainly voice and guitar then) :
« I’m questioning the importance of debating about playbacks. The fact that all live performances are part of a wider game, a simulacrum of life. I like people asking themselves if I’m really (or not) playing my guitar or singing with my voice. It’s only staging in the end, and I also like to over-play my live shows to give a truly inhabited energy to the audience, thus we don’t care if I’m playing them or not. Is it recorded? Am I playing my songs? I answer to this with another asking : am I not here right in front of you to make you enjoy music, even if this is ‘fake’? »
As he follows on questioning the trueness about live performing, Vina Konda evokes his life-long passion for video games, and how a lot of them he played since his teenage hood are lacking interactivity in order to focus on the narrative or graphics: « They keep you attentive about the scenario, the universe by faking your own implication, using so-called interactive buttons to make you feel that you’re in control of the situation ».
When I chat about him, it feels like we could pursue conversations in rhizomes for hours, softly drifting from one subject to another, but always with the musical experience canvassing our dialogues. So let’s make a stop and hope it will lead to further digressions. But now, you can stream one of the most danceable singles out of Tales of the Necromancer’s Assistant above the present article, the rightfully titled « Oblivion Crash Bones », which features singer/producer Dela Savelli on vocals. A melancholic blend of post rock, 2 step and IDM-pop, Vina Konda shows how his first love for UK dance music is still shadowing his work as a producer, with a dance floor energy gem where aerial distorted guitars are the clouds upon an ocean of juggling drum samples, topped off by the autotune mastery of Dela Savelli. A tale to tell your friends.
PHO BHO will release Vina Konda’s second full-length project, Tales of the Necromancer’s Assistant, on all platforms, CD format and limited vinyl edition this next April 20th 2025. Pre-order it on Bandcamp.
