SUN GLITTERS is one of the chillwave acts these days. Hyped by lots of poeple for his unique sound, the atmosphere that is built up in his music and for the pictures and videos he releases. So we met Victor Ferreira – the man behind SUN GLITTERS – at this year’s Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg and talked with him about Luxembourg, his music, his collaborations and of course hope and passion.
Since you are from Luxembourg, can you tell something about the music scene there?
Luxembourg is very small, but there is a very interesting scene. It is still very small of course, but very interesting as well. From trip-hop to math/emo-rock to electronic music. The scene is growing more and more and is very diverse. So Luxembourg does not only have banks, even if this is the cliché – it’s a very beautiful country I think. But of course the country is very small and as artist you have to go outside if your want to play. For me there are maybe four great places to play. If you played these four places then you have done.
But you can be really lucky, because the chillwave scene is coming up right now.
Yes. Yes, I was really lucky. Everything started when pitchfork put one of my songs as song of the week some time back and from this day everything started off. For me it was really incredible. I remember I put my song online in march 2011 and suddenly I received loads of emails. I only sent the song to three blogs that a friend told me about. He said “Send your music to these blogs and if they like it they will share your music and then if you are lucky they will really spread the word.” – Yeah and that’s what happened. So I received loads of email and I though “WTF – what happens now?” When I checked the statistics on bandcamp I saw that this all was because of pitchfork. Then everything started to grow more and more.
But you are not only a musician – you are also graphic designer and photographer, right?
Graphic designer – yeah. Photographer – not really – that’s only what people think about me, because I am using a lot of graphics and photographs. But actually I took all my pictures with my iPhone – to make my identity of SUN GLITTERS. So again I was lucky because my pictures fit well with the music. I’m sharing a lot of pictures on my website, facebook, instagram… That’s why people might think that I am a photographer.
So you built a concept around SUN GLITTERS? Can you tell something about it?
Yeah in a way. I was searching for an identity for my music. It was really important to me to this kind of ambiance that fits well with my music and then I started to make some pictures – especially with my daughter. Then I started to built something around this. I guess there is not that much to say about that. It’s just that I think that I found the right identity for my music.
But you kinda hide yourself behind these photos and graphics. Still not that much as acts like SLOW MAGIC or HOLY OTHER, but still you hide in a way.
Yeah, well…in a way. It was not supposed to do so. At the beginning it was a lot of fun, because people were thinking that SUN GLITTERS was a band. Then after that they thought that there is a girl singing in SUN GLITTERS. And this all because of the pictures. Because there always was my daughter on the pictures. Maybe it was also this mysterious thing, since I never showed the face of my daughter. And also at the beginning I never put pictures of me online. Now sometimes you can see pictures of myself. I’m not starting to do like others. You know, I am a big fan of BURIAL and I think he started this kind of mysterious thing.
But by not showing yourself that much you also achieve that people concentrate on the music and not on the person who does the music.
Of course. And that’s also the point of my music. I don’t want to be a model. For me the musical thing is about the music. When I tried to have my pictures also in front of the music another atmosphere is created. The same with the videos of course, too. I did some videos, but now there are lots of people who also want to do videos for me. But that’t the more difficult part. The video clips that were created for my songs are also the ones I use for visualization at my live shows. But sometimes I also use videos from fans because at live shows I want to have videos for all the songs. So I use videos for my songs, but it is not about VJing that much. I have videos certain songs, but for other ones I try to play around and it is much more flexible.
Where do you take the vocal samples that you use in your songs from?
At the beginning I used the vocals of the girl that was singing in my other project. So these vocals came from the very last EP with my other project and then I started to play around a little bit – like BURIAL. But I tried to make it different than BURIAL, because I don’t want to copy anyone, but he is of course a big influence for me. Now I am starting also to have a lot of collaborations like STEFFALOO or Brian Batz from SLEEP PARTY PEOPLE. But the thing is when I am playing live normally I don’t play these songs, because for these songs people will need this person in front singing. That’s why I promised myself to not play these songs live.
Now I have a great new cooperation with POPULOUS from Morr Music. He will sing on one of my new tracks. It’s pretty strange, because on my old project it was all instrumental…I wanted to have vocals and I never found someone. Now people are writing me because they want to sing on my songs. So now I really have the choice.
How came the collaboration with Brian from SLEEP PARTY PEOPLE?
I met him at a festival in Brussels, Belgium – I already knew them before because of there songs I’m Not Human At All. I really love this song, so I talked with Brian and told him that I’d like to do a remix of that song. He said ‘yes, of course’ – so everything started with that remix. He was really happy with the remix and so I asked him if we should try a collaboration with his voice on my music.
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…so everything started with that remix
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It really fits great and also the video fits perfect.
That’s my son in the video. The video was really an accident. In Luxembourg it was carneval and I wanted to do some shots of my son and afterward I thought I should try to take this footage for the song. So it wasn’t planned at all, it happened accidently.
Do you see yourself as part of the chillwave scene?
Well…I’m a part of the scene because tag me in this scene. For me I’m not making chillwave, but people say that I make chillwave and post-dubstep. For me it’s ok, but I was never looking for a special kind of music I wanted to make. For me it’s just music. I’m also a big fan of rock music, I’m a big fan of MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE CURE and many others. But of course it helps me a lot that people tag me into these genres – of course I also put these tags on my bandcamp, so that helps people to find me and my music. For me it’s not important but for the media of course.
If I really had to chose a name for my music I would maybe call it indietronica, because I’m listening to a lot of rock music as well and I am very much influenced by that. But I also like dreampop music… so would call it indietronica, but for me it’s OK if people call it chillwave or post-dubstep.
Your music is very atmospheric – but would you call it rather dark or bright? What’s the character of your music in your very own opinion?
Imagine a Portuguese guy living in Luxembourg.
Portugal is the sun and Luxembourg always has the grey sky.
Well…that’s very hard to answer. I’m a very happy guy in my life. I have a beautiful family and they are really supporting me a lot. But still there is a lot of melancholy in my music – I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because my parents are Portuguese and I have this Portuguese Identity. I always say ‘imagine a Portuguese guy living in Luxembourg. Portugal is the sun. And Luxembourg always has the grey sky.’ Maybe that’s the right explanation for my music.
What are “hope” and “passion” for you?
Hope and passion fit very well with my life. I am always hoping to have great days, have good moments and fun. Hope to have the best for my family. I’m a very positive guy. And passionate as well because music is everything for me. So I think hope and passion are absolutely the right things for me.
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SUN GLITTERS
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chillwave / post-dubstep
from Luxembourg
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Bandcamp | Facebook | Homepage | Twitter
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