Act! interview – “It’s hard to imagine doing anything else”

ACT!-ing up

Toronto-based musician, vocalist and producer David Psutka aka ACT! has a new longplayer, Face to Face, Day by Day out via his burgeoning Halocline Trance imprint.

Said to be made “with improvisation and happy accidents at its core,” Psutka put his faith in oblique occurrences, letting them lead, with no idea where he’d end up.  Across calm sea yacht rock, treacle-toned rich vox, liquid guitar, jazzy sax, vintage electronics and modern sonics, the results are unconventionally coherent. Interesting enough to warrant tracking him down for a JunoDaily-style natter, without doubt…

Hi and thanks for your time….  First of all, can you tell us where you are right now, and what kind of day you’re having…  Been anywhere already or going anywhere interesting later?

Hi, im having a nice and somewhat productive day at my studio in Toronto. Working on a recording project and handling some label admin stuff.  Later i’ll be heading to Standard Time to see a DJ set by my friend Jeremy Greenspan. A totally decent Thursday for sure. 

Tell us a bit about your formative musical experiences… Early musical memories from siblings, parents, schoolmates… First record bought, first band/performances, and how you feel in love with the music you make now?

I’ve been around music in one way or another for most of my life; bands, the Royal Conservatory, studios – in my late 20s it became a full time thing. I’ve always felt an energy from music and sound, and now It’s hard to imagine doing anything else. After almost 14 years of doing this work, it feels as exciting as ever. The lifestyle suits me perfectly, I really enjoy the work.

Give us a brief precis of what you’ve released to date and any other notable career landmarks…

Well, i’ve made music with many projects including ACT!, ANAMAI, Ceramic TL and Egyptrixx, and run the Halocline Trance record label. As a collaborator/producer i’ve worked with different artists like Junior Boys, Ipek Gorgun and Casey MQ. I’ve worked on many albums, performances and sound projects, and on most of the records released on Halocline Trance in one way or another. ACT! is my main solo project but I try to be fluid with project identities, monikers or any kind of artistic brand identity. Unclear, diffuse brand identities work for me; I like to spread ideas across different projects.

You’re based in Toronto… How has the place and its musicians shaped your sound (or not)?  Any other good music of a similar vein to yourself going on there?  What’s the scene like in general there?

Toronto has a rich cultural scene – music, food and some tech stuff in particular is really exciting here. It’s a dense, collisionist and dynamic place. I’ve lived here for most of my life, and have engaged with the creative community variously at different points. At the moment, I feel very supported and energized by the work going on in the city. When Egyptrixx was my main creative outlet, I wasn’t doing as much locally and spent a lot of time in Europe, but in the last few years, as production work and running my label has become my primary focus, I’m much more engaged locally and loving the energy here. There are a lot of brilliant people doing creative and organizational work in Toronto right now like Music Gallery/Sanjeet Takhar, myst milano., Colin Fisher, Germaine Liu, Karen Ng, Robin Dann, Stefana Fratila/ Crip Rave, May Truong, Kat Duma and many many many more. 

It’s an original title, is Face To Face, Day By Day – tell us why you chose it and what it means

In 2018, at an Egyptrixx concert at Bagni Misteriosi de Teatro Franco Parenti – a big sprawling outdoor pool theatre in Milan – I had a moment that clarified some of my ideas about music and sound. My gigs around then were mostly in pummelling, loud music venues, so I wasn’t prepared for this expansive, outdoor venue. The midday soundcheck was really interesting – brittle digital sounds from my set echoed off the colonial Milanese facades and ricocheted down the Via Carlo Botta, pinging off buildings in the distance and mixing with the noise of traffic, tourists and the city. It was a cool, collisionist moment, and a reminder that my essential approach to music is, above all, a fixation on the materiality of sound. This record is essentially about togetherness, both human and aesthetic, and the title is a somewhat spontaneous riff on that idea. 

Likewise, the music is very original too – very smooth, but full of unexpected surprises…  The PR says you put your faith in “oblique occurrences, letting them lead…”  What did that mean in practise?

Everything on ‘Face to Face, Day by Day’ began as an improvisation. Openness to accidents and the complexity that comes from centering them in compositions has become basically fundamental to my work, and helps the music go beyond the possibility of what is playable, imaginable. I also wanted to channel adventurous solo pop records of the 1970s and 80s, like Yasuaki Shimizu, Jon + Vangelis. I’ve always been a bit fascinated by this era in commercial music for various reasons, but in particular how studio production techniques became increasingly formalised as compositional devices, like AMS RMX16 percussion sounds and early digital stereo effects. In the last few years I’ve felt drawn towards a more collaborative and improvisational studio environment, and the writing and recording sessions for this album had a nice energy. Lots of vocal, synth, sax and guitar jams – much of what ended up on the record isn’t edited much, if at all. 

What about the lyrical content?  What inspired it?  Whose lyric writing do you admire and have been influenced by?

Broadly, the album is a meditation on division and togetherness – more specifically, each song details some perceived parallel between personal experience and public-facing events like Miroslaw Balka’s 2009 project ‘How It Is’, or actions by the Basilian Fathers of Toronto. Some of the singers/lyricists I feel most inspired by are Robin Dann, Ben Gunning, Young Thug, Masonna, Beach Boys.

And what else are you up to musically at the moment?  What are you hearing that’s inspiring you?  Any more live or release action we should know about? 

I’m working on a few things; an album with saxophonist/improvisor Karen Ng, a retrospective-ish release of Egyptrixx material, a collab with vocalist Anuja Panditrao, an ACT! Record, and an ensemble project inspired by Charanjit Singh’s ‘10 Ragas to a Disco Beat.’ With the label, we have a few exciting projects in production and early next year we’ll be releasing our first compilation, which is exciting. I’ll be doing a few sporadic concerts with Colin Fisher this winter.

Pre-order your vinyl copy of Face To Face, Day By Day by clicking here

Photos courtesy of Mia Czartoryski