Bloomfield Machine Reveals All Things Creative and Stylistic : Suiteness Album

Bloomfield Machine is a conceptual banner that perceives and employs unique functions of music. It is very creative, zeroing on an essence and dressing it up with conceptual ambiences, droning sequences, contemplative layers, and immersive imagery. Founded and led by multi-instrumentalist and composer, Brian Kassan, it exceeds the expectations of convention and dives passionately into experimental brilliance. The listening experience is marked by a shift in consciousness, a new depth, dimension that you have never visited. ‘Suiteness’ is the banner’s sixth album, a sixteen-track collection that marries futuristic frames with the intricate makeup of natural concepts. The result is a profound mixture of perspectives and baselines that is worth a journey through. 

1. Hey! Congratulations on the release of ‘Suiteness’ What would you say is the driving style of the album and what are some of the sonic themes that you explored across the collection.
   
   Thanks! I think my style is just all of my musical influences channeled through my brain and thrown into a blender. There’s classical music that I started with on piano at age 7, there’s punk rock, noise rock, classic rock, synth music, progressive rock, modern electronica hip hop beat influences—it’s all in there. From rock influenced tracks like Misery Bond, Groove/beat oriented tracks like On a Bender to dark industrial stuff like Mugged by Reality—it all filters through as this visual/textural thing that emerges as Bloomfield Machine.

2. The names assigned to the tracks are unique and specific. How do they tie into the overall theme/design/title of the track? And how do they help listeners appreciate the value of the sonic craft?
   
   Since my material is instrumental, I do put in an extra bit of time with titles—which don’t necessarily describe the particular track--but sound unique and curious. I’m sorry if I led anyone on a “Wild Goose Chase”. There is a certain dry humor I use to point out the absurdity in some of these phrases and odd vocabulary we use to describe our complex lives.

   The collection opens with ‘Euphoric Recall’. It is light, airy, bright and melodically pleasing. There’s that post rock minimalism blending with Beatles-esque instrumental motifs. In the next three tracks, this introductory frame takes on shimmers of dissonance. Each one its own brand of warping and refraction. In ‘On a Bender’, we see funk groove blemishes, blurred out as psychedelic waves. ‘Something Shifted’ is more moody and dark. Fuzzy spirals, like a cloud of bees swirling through the track. ‘The Normal Amount of Pain’ and ‘What is Left’ are largely experimental, especially in the use and interpretations of electronic textures, melodic accents,  and thematic contexts. 

3. What drove to conceive this album? Who/what inspired its creation and what do you want your listeners to pay attention to? What perspectives do you want them to see and take away from the listening experience?
   
   I am driven to create this music for myself. It gives me a sense of purpose in this world/life. I hope that listeners enjoy the details as much as I do. I think listening with headphones will enhance the experience, but also, having it on while cleaning your space, or entertaining friends—-it’s a nice backdrop to enhance mental states as a soundtrack. I think it’s also nice if it inspires you to make your own art! I don’t really take breaks between albums because making this music has become the fabric of my life like eating, walking, laughing—it’s essential to my mental well being.

4. It is as if each track is casting the listener in a progressing ambience of the theme. With electronics and rock influences, each one is so nuanced. What aspects of your artistry does this style highlight and enunciate ?
   
   I’ve heard this phrase—everything, everything, everything (I think there is a band with that name as well). To me, it’s the details, craftsmanship, curiosity and experimentation that comes out when I’m in the middle of creating a track. I’m searching, mangling, testing, like I imagine a chemist or a painter would mixing their concoctions. I’m looking for a new sound, a new way to entertain myself. I walk away not really understanding how I got there—but it appears—through trial and error. Sometimes the errors are the best part!

5. Who are some of the artists that you listened to growing up and how did they inspire your music style and design today?
   
   It would be a long list. I started on piano at 7 years old, playing the classics. Of all those composers, my favorite is Edvard Grieg. He wrote a bunch of these piano pieces for young students that are sublime. Not too difficult to play. There is lightness and darkness in just the right amounts. I grew up in the 70s, so my parents record collection was a treasure of great 60s music. Rock, Jazz, World Music. I picked up guitar around 12 years old and dropped my piano studies for a bit. My piano playing is informed by the classical artists, but also Elton John, Freddy Mercury, Ben Folds, the Beatles, Steely Dan, the Kinks, 70s am radio pop, Progressive rock like Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant. But high school was also punk rock—the Buzzcocks, Wire, then Gary Human, Joy Division,New Order, Depeche Mode, the Smiths, Elvis Costello, XTC.. Then the rabbit hole of Boards of Canada, Casino vs Japan, Apex Twin, Amon Tobin…there’s so many more. It’s all the soundtrack of my life.

   ‘Upload Yourself’ and ‘Cosmic Debris’ introduce a dramatic parlance with a futuristic edge. Electric guitars take on a deliberate formlessness, twisting and evolving to a mind-bending climax. ‘Symmetry Mistake’ is meta. Imagine a holographic projection, its vibrant visuals fed by an extrapolative flow and rolling beats. 

   These tracks, like most of Bloomfield Machine’s work, are informed by a labyrinths of extrapolative imagination. It’s like concept on concept on concept. Infused with a psychedelic momentum, they gain a powerful notion. ‘This Song Does Not Exist’ is a brilliant example of this. Then there’s the melancholic slide in ‘Mugged by Reality’ and ‘Misery Bond’ that explores existentialism across an expansive space. Like this, they lend themes with an elasticity and bandwidth that we don’t usually see granted to them. Listen Now! 

6. When it comes to concept, emotion, intuition, and imagination, which one of these do you think plays more of a role in your song making and why?
   
   I tend to write a couple of ways mostly. One is sitting with one of my trusty Casio MT-68s and noodling while watching something on the computer. I literally conjure things when I’m not paying full attention to either. Something comes through and I loop it to see if I really like it. Record onto the iPhone and then work with it later. I can’t tell you how many cool things appeared using that method. The second is by finding a drum loop, glitch loop or some sound effect and printing it into Reason (the DAW I use). Then I find a sound, fuck it up with some crazy fuzz or effect and play around until something emerges. Layer with various parts—bass, pads, finger drumming until something starts to sound good. I may start in the morning and have a finished track by the evening. Or I may have to change it drastically until I love it. So yes, imagination, experimentation, and stream of consciousness is what drives my process. I don’t think about what it is going to be—I just let it happen.

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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music! 

You can listen to ‘Suiteness’ by Bloomfield Machine here -