Hello both! Thanks for doing this with us. What inspired you to create Wretched Patterns and Terrible Mistakes now, and how does it represent your journey as artists up to this point?

From the start, the creation of the EP was conceived around the live performance we're developing. We aimed to craft something that evokes the essence of Metal, Rave, and Techno without being explicitly tied to any of them—playing instead in the realm of reminiscence and the evocative. These genres represent early influences for both of us as we delved deeper into music, and we found it compelling to blend them in a way that feels more personal.

This approach aligns naturally with our careers as visual artists and our collaborative nature, as the project also involves contributions from others.

Appreciate you sharing. So how do you strike a balance between pushing sonic boundaries and maintaining a rhythm that resonates on the dance floor?

Dani: We always talk about how to translate this; it's a fine balance. We try to ask friends and people around us to be very critical and specific with feedback so we can improve the music and the show. We're not attached to the music in an egotistic way, but we do want to have one of the best shows out there. (Heads up to the legend “Turbo Miffy” for always being like a Sherlock Holmes of experimental music.)

Sevi: I think it's a natural sweet spot for both of us. We really love club music, but we also get insanely bored in most DJ sets—we really don't like standard mono-theme sets. The same applies in the other direction: we love contorted, brutal music, but after 15 minutes of the same, we disconnect completely. So, we’re basically trying to solve our own needs here and provide people with a balance between fat and carbs.

As world-builders with backgrounds in both visual arts and audio, how do you integrate these elements into your live AV shows? Can you share some insights into your creative process for these performances? I should add that I myself am an AV artist, so I’m always keen to hear what others are up to in this realm!

The process is basically a ride of exploration. Since we’re always involved in visual work—whether CGI or design—we are constantly looking at things and hoarding influences from everywhere. Naturally, we quickly gravitate toward particular vibes.

We might come up with a set of small characteristics for a world, a situation, or even an aesthetic. From there, we explore within these parameters using many different software and tools. In a sense, it’s very similar to the music. When we find a happy accident that sparks some strange or uneasy feelings, we explore further in that direction.

As with music, it’s important for us to create systems that interact with the sound. We achieve this in several ways, using tools like Cinema 4D sound modules or Resolume. In the end, it’s super important for the show to be a perfectly matched synesthetic experience.

Could you walk us through the production process of a track on this EP, and the collaborative elements? What technology, equipment, and software do you use from inception to final mix?

We always start by collecting tools—grabbing our favorite libraries and getting some crazy presets for synths, either ones we made previously or ones from the internet. Then we fabricate highly contorted processing chain devices and triggering tools inside Ableton. In the end, we usually end up with a very streamlined music-generating tool, and we jam with it together, creating a bunch of short snippets. We also use modular setups to generate samples in a very randomized way.

After some time, we listen to the snippets and then work on making songs out of them in a more traditional manner. In any case, we always look for happy accidents.

Then we mix them to the best of our ability and send them to James, who always takes them to the next level.

Very nice. So... favourite track on the release, and why?

Dani: It's hard for me to pick. I see the record as a holistic project through which we are saying "Hello, world," and that’s how I like to see it.

Sevi: For me, it’s definitely the homonymous track to the album. I feel with this track we were able to tap into both feelings of power and exaltation. It has a sort of positive undertone, which is something I always look for when I make music. I miss the old energy from The Prodigy’s early EPs.

Well said. Nothing will contend that old Prodigy energy. What’s next on the horizon for the Cortical project? Are there any upcoming projects or performances you can share with us?

There are a couple of tracks coming out in really cool compilations from some sick labels (still can’t say, haha). After that, we’ve planned an EP release with one of our favorite labels, which we’re still working on. Hopefully, it’ll be finished by the end of February.

As far as gigs go, we’ve locked in some festivals for next year, but we can’t disclose any info until official sources release the lineups.

Any emerging artists or particular influences that you're currently inspired by or excited about?

Dani: I wouldn’t dare to say he’s an emerging artist, but currently, I’m obsessed with Metrist’s sound—I find it fascinating.

Sevi: 95% of what I listen to is very underground, so I have lots of names. But I’d say I’m currently stuck on my friend Marco Henri. He just put out an EP called En Flor, which is an absolute belter—it’ll reconfigure your DNA.

That's perfect, thank you once again. And congratulations on this beautiful work.