The ten-track LP was finally finished in 2018 when Avery toured with Nine Inch. Out March 27th via Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound label, Illusion Of Time has been several years in the making, with both artists initially contributing remotely. Daniel Avery and Alessandro Cortini have made an album together. The LP, which has been in the works for several years, is out in March via Phantasy Sound.
![]() It was an exciting period, over the course of two-and-a-bit years.It was an entirely different way of working for me. We didn’t have to labour over any part of this record, it was always a joy to finish something. The entire process, from the 7” record right up to finishing Illusion of Time, felt like this organic combination of tastes, backgrounds, and methods. Those two tracks, “Sun” and “Water”, had a magic to them the second we finished them, so it felt natural that we would want to do some more. It turned out that my hunch was correct. Do unto others quotesI curated a day and asked Alessandro to play live. Does that mean that FYF festival was the first time you actually met?Alessandro Cortini: We played on different days.Daniel Avery: The first meeting was at the Nuits Sonores festival in Lyon. I usually have a question about that, but this time I haven’t – probably because the album sounds like your influence was each other.Daniel Avery: That’s 100 per cent correct.Alessandro Cortini: When somebody asks me about that, it reminds me of when I would go out with a friend and my mum would ask, “Who are their parents?” (laughs) I’m not too interested in what Daniel grew up listening to musically, because the way that he digested it is what I connected to.You worked on the album remotely. Grammar comparative and superlatives rulesUsually you hide those things, but we were pushing the atmosphere, the dusty sound of those machines, just to give it that dreamlike quality. Something we decided to push – we never had a conversation about this, but it was clear that we both had the same idea at the same time – was the general static sound of the album. We were pushing the atmosphere, the dusty sound of those machines, just to give it that dreamlike quality” – Daniel AveryIf the collaboration was so natural, what qualities in the music, sonically or texturally, did you realise you were unconsciously gravitating towards?Daniel Avery: We’re both fans of music that has a dreamlike quality to it, an otherworldly quality. Like every other part of the process, it was incredibly straightforward.“We’re both fans of music that has a dreamlike quality to it, an otherworldly quality. After a few hours we just said, “I think we have an album here.” We recorded one more piece for it and that was it. ![]() It’s like looking at things with a higher resolution – which is great, because it doesn’t influence the spontaneous approach of it, but it does allow you to zoom out and see more of it.When you listen back to the record, can you tell who did what?Alessandro Cortini: Some of it, sure. Having Daniel on the other end, there would be stuff that would come up where I’d say, “I didn’t think of that.” That allowed me to expand the way that I look at music without being too meticulous about it. What he says is true, in terms of how I tend to approach things, but that sometimes leads me to ignore certain aspects of the composition, simply because I’m anxious about revisiting ideas. Alessandro’s belief in letting music have a life of its own and the importance he places on the first take, almost championing imperfections rather than trying to hide them – all of those things really hit home with me.Alessandro Cortini: For me, it’s the opposite of what Daniel said. Working with Alessandro helped me finish that. This record is something of a love letter to that idea.What’s one thing you’ve taken from the collaboration that you’ve brought to your solo music?Daniel Avery: The collaboration began as I was finishing my last solo album, Song for Alpha, which I’d been working on for close to five years at that point. These are just things that make up the wider world that Illusion of Time fits into.Alessandro Cortini: Daniel is definitely much more experienced when it comes to mixes than I am. Was there an idea behind it, or did it also just fall into place?Daniel Avery: We didn’t think about it too much. In the end, what counts is the result.You’ve done our latest Dazed Mix, which like the record itself was worked on remotely. I’d ask Daniel for a file and he’d say, “No, you did that.” In things like songwriting, which doesn’t really apply to our world, certain percentages have to be respected, but on this album there were pieces that Daniel brought where I just added a layer of noise, as I felt like that was the only thing missing, and other pieces where Daniel sent a pad and I developed chord progressions. Even when we were mixing, I couldn’t remember. Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini, “Sun”05. We both grew up in the 90s with two thumbs, we’d love to do any games. If you were asked to soundtrack a video game, what sort of game would it?Alessandro Cortini: Fuck yeah. If it were up to me, I’d probably be crying by the end of this.You have something from the Resident Evil 2 soundtrack in the mix. Daniel was good at taking my submissions and making it work in a way that makes total sense.
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