One of London’s most creative talents, Christopher Spero aka Glimpse made a name for himself in a short period of time with his definite and unique style. His “Drifting” track which was forgotten in his hard disk got released from the infamous Planet-E and was also remixed by Carl Craig.

His label with the same name is the output for himself and like-minded artists. Glimpse is residing in Berlin for a while till he finishes his new LP called “Runner”. The LP contains collaborations with Jimmy Edgar, dOP and John Harle. You can predict how wide range the album will be. You can expect anything from Glimpse. He has no regular style whilst doing tracks. He feels himself comfortable when he is unlimited, free as a synth or a choppy beat. That’s the way he likes it. Experimenting to find the true spirit of his deepness and soul! Here is the interview I did with Glimpse.

I am curious about your artist name ‘Glimpse’. Does it have a special story? Does is have any relation with the text indexing software with the same name?
The name Glimpse has nothing to do with any software. I came up with it 6 years ago when I started the label with Kompakt. I felt it represented how I wanted to portray my music and I still do.

What are you doing these days, any new forthcoming releases?
At the moment I am working hard in the studio to finish my album ´Runner´ which will be out in September on Four Twenty. I moved to Berlin for 6 months to write it.  It’s been a lot of work but I'm finally starting to be happy with it.  There are collaborations with dOP, Warp’s Jimmy Edgar and saxophonist John Harle. The album is nearly finished now and I’m really excited about how it will be accepted as there is a lot of stuff on there I would not necessarily do on single releases.  

How does it feel to release from Planet-E and how did it progress?
I was really happy to be releasing on Planet E.  I did not actually send them the track though. My press agent Dean did and when he said that Carl wanted to sigh and remix it I was obviously keen as it’s such a great label.

What about your own label Glimpse? Will there be any new releases?
Unfortunately doing the album has meant that my labels release schedule has suffered slightly. I do have a release nearly ready though which is a collaboration with myself and Jay Shepheard from Compost called ´The Lions Share' E.P. It should be coming out following the album.

Your style is definite and fresh. "Drifting" may be the latest and best example to that. How do you define your sound?
I don’t really worry about what my sound is ever. It’s not important for me to in one particular genre. I just sit down everyday in the studio and try and represent how I'm feeling at that particular time. My music is just representations of how I feel creatively at certain times. Nothing is planned or designed to sound like anything in particular. I really enjoy working in my studio. “Drifting” was a track that just seemed to write itself where as other tracks might take 4 times as long but not has the same impact.

You studied sculpture at Central St. Martins. How do you think this study has an effect in or over your musical productions and vision?
I don’t really differentiate between sculpting and writing techno. Both things are about filling or subtracting from space and trying to personalize some kind of form. I make music in a very physical way mainly on analogue synths. It’s very important that  I'm moving while I work and often work standing up. My music doesn't exist in plug-ins or the latest software. It exists in my body so it’s important that the process of producing any work for me is a physical one.

Also your artworks for the Glimpse label (especially those bird illustrations and the typographic games in the logotype) are really cool. Are you doing the art direction and artwork yourself?
The artwork on the Glimpse sleeves comes from my good friend whom I met at Saint Martin’s, Russell Palmer. He designed the logo and all the sleeves. I think his work is perfect to represent my music.

What other things do you deal with, other than music related?
I have just bought a new dog called Olek who takes up a lot of my time at the moment. So I spend time walking him and trying to calm him down so that I can work.

How does a Glimpse track usually take shape?
I sit down in the studio and start jamming on my synths usually till around lunchtime, when ever I hear something that could be an idea for a track, I hit record. Then depending on how good the idea is generally the record will write itself from then on.

What are your favorite producers and labels these days?
As I don’t DJ, I only play live. I don’t really keep that up to date with other labels and producers. But the guys who I’m really into at the moment would have to be Omar S, dOP and Jay Shepheard. These guys really have their own sound and are doing something very honest and original, especially Omar S. His music is some of the best techno I have ever heard.

What do you know about İstanbul and Turkey? Would you like to play here sometime?
I have never been to İstanbul or Turkey but have heard you have a great scene there. I would love to come and play whenever I get booked there.  Hopefully it will be soon.

Interview: Christopher Çolak
07 April 2009