Stratøs is Set to Deliver Another Gem with “Hohenheim Suites”
Enter the Fully Realized Universe of Stratøs
When Stratøs dropped his debut album “Planets” last year, the boundary pushing project felt like a body of work that he had been working towards for his entire life. Each decision – from the artwork, to the album structure etc – had the feeling of an intentional choice from an artist who knew exactly what he wanted to say. For this reason, it caught us by surprise when we found out that “Planets” wasn’t meant to be Stratøs’ debut at all. His first project was supposed to be Hohenheim Suites, and in May, he’s bringing it to the world.Musically, “Hohenheim Suites” has some threads that connect to its predecessor for sure, but this time around Stratøs is less interested in fusing together his diverse musical identities on a project. Instead, his new album pulls from another passion in his life: Manga and Anime. Through the lens of a character in Hiromu Arakawa's 2001 graphic novel "Full Metal Alchemist", Stratøs manages to create his most personal work yet. After giving the upcoming album a listen, we chatted with Stratøs about the music, and the inspiration behind it. If “Planets” got our attention, “Hohenheim Suites” is Stratøs building another world altogether.
1. You take an interesting leap from Planets to this one. You describe the project as an "Exploration of one's identity in the face of existential uncertainty". Can you describe where you were mentally when you conceived of the album and how it impacted your sound?
So the interesting thing about this album is that it was supposed to originally be my debut record. I recorded it on March 4th and 5th of 2020, before the first big COVID-19 lockdown. This was before I was a producer, so I just sat on it because I was unable to mix it myself. When I was writing the music and coming up with the concept, I thought about one of the characters from this anime I'd seen many times over the years - "FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood." The father of the main character was depicted as somewhat of a nomad. He was cursed to eternally roam the earth with the souls of over 500,000 human beings inside of him, wailing ceaselessly and miserably. This is where much of his existential uncertainty came from, as there were points where he couldn't distinguish his own soul from the many others that resided in him. That concept really spoke to me when I sat down to think about the topic of my first record. Though maybe not as dramatic, I was going through a crisis of my own. I was coming to the realization that I wouldn't be the type of saxophonist I always imagined I would. In the "jazz" world, there is a HEAVY emphasis on militant practice regimens. Mastery of your instrument, complex harmonic schemes, and a seemingly endless canon of songs seemed to be the only valid way to participate in the music. I realized that I liked practicing the saxophone, but it didn't feed me the way it seemed to feed my heros. When you spend your entire upbringing listening and learning from this tradition, it's kinda scary to drift away from it (or at least it was for me). This realization came to me before I figured out what saxophone playing meant to me. I wasn't into photography or audio production yet, so I was a bit lost. For this album I tried to merge this feeling with something else that I also loved and studied for my entire upbringing - anime and manga.
"When you spend your entire upbringing listening and learning from this tradition, it's kinda scary to driftaway from it"
2. For those of us who don't know, who is Van Hohenheim? How does this character relate to the music?
So as I mentioned before, Van Hohenheim is a character from Hiromu Arakawa's 2001 novel "Fullmetal Alchemist." His part in the story is important because he's involved with the catastrophic events that set the story's main plot in motion. He was born in a fictional 15th century Persia as "Slave #23" when he meets "The Dwarf in the Flask." This little creature gives Hohenheim his name, knowledge, and the "gift" of immortal life. However, he ends up tricking Hohenheim as well as the king of Persia into sacrificing the souls of the entire city (over 1,000,000 people), giving himself and Hohenheim eternal life at their expense. He then takes on the exact likeness of Hohenheim and from then on becomes known as "Father." The secret of Hohenheim Suites is that each movement has a sibling counterpart. One for Van Hohenheim, and one for Father, as the two are inextricably linked in the story. The two have a twisted connection. They somehow need each other yet despise each other. Had Father not given Hohenheim eternal life, he wouldn't have lived long enough to meet the love of his life, Trisha, and birth the two main characters of the story, Edward and Alphonse Elric. Yet Father is also the cause of Hohenheim's eternal suffering and aimless wandering. This "twisted connection" also plays a large part in the music. The greatest art in human history has often been made at the expense of the artist's mental and physical health. "Suffering" for your art. While having these masterworks helps advance us as humankind, the cost often reflects that. a "twisted connection."
The greatest art in human history has often been made at the expense of the artist's mental and physical health. "Suffering" for your art. While having these masterworks helps advance us as humankind, the cost often reflects that. a "twisted connection."
3. One thing I dig about your work is how everything feels connected. The music, the artwork, your photography, all of it feels like one world that you're building. Is this intentional? How would you describe this world?
I really appreciate that! It's something I'm constantly working on. I believe everyone is working on the same thing, in a way. For me, it's very intentional. I've recently had some incredible breakthroughs with this process that I hope to share with the world soon. When I say "I believe everyone is working on the same thing" what I mean is that every great artist has a distinct voice, or "world" that they bring someone into. For me, when I step into the world of one of my greatest influences, Kenny Wheeler, I'm immersed. The harmony, the melodic structures, his sound. He used the tools he had to create a fully realized universe that was his and his alone. That's what I'm currently working on. When I first began the shift from absorbing the work of those before me to creating my own world (and to be clear, the work of those before us is a well that can and should be visited over and over), I was honest about all of the things that make me "me." Saxophone, Black American music, counterpoint, anime, photography, production, etc. I laid all of these elements out and asked myself, "how do I use these to create my own universe? One that's entirely me?" and that's where I'm at now.
4. Musically, who were your collaborators with this? What was the process like connecting with the other artists who we hear on the project?
The recording process for the Suites was much more traditional than Planets. We recorded everything live in the studio over the course of two days. Firstly, I was incredibly lucky to be joined by the great John Hébert and Matthew Fries. John, being one of the world's most in demand bass players, brought not only a foundation we could wholeheartedly depend upon, but a voice that challenged and inspired me. He's the kind of player that always gets me out of my head and reminds me of my humanity. Playing with him is a privilege I'm grateful for every day. Having Matthew on the record was an easy decision, as he's one of the most selfless musicians I've ever met. He's the type of pianist that when you listen back to a take you think "hey I sounded pretty okay there!" you realize it was because of something he played that made you sound your best. Additionally, when he goes to take a solo, he makes it seem as though it was a part of the tune all along, a true extension of it. I was also joined by an incredible string quartet made up of some of my town's finest young players. Negar Afazel, Harmony Kelly, Carlos Lozano, and Andrew Gagiu all contributed to the main sound of the album. For string players who grew up playing orchestral music, playing tunes like the ones on this record is no easy task, as they are fundamentally different from most of the western european canon, yet they interpreted it excellently. Lastly, I was fortunate enough to have one of the pieces in the suite performed and recorded by the world renowned JACK Quartet. They're one of the world's premiere string quartets and are lauded as "our leading new-music foursome" by the New York Times. I was afforded the opportunity to have them play and record my piece by winning the National Sawdust New Works Commision Contest back in 2020.
5. Anything else you'd like to add?
The album is available on limited edition vinyl! only 100 were made and they're hand numbered from 1-100.