After almost three years of intense yet very fun and satisfactory studio work – between that, you can add all insecurities that came due to two years of the pandemic world – Boundless can call themselves survivors and finally celebrate the release of their much-awaited debut album.
“100 Seconds to Midnight” travels through boundless dimensions delivering a strong message to remind us of our bond with our planet through the conduit of music. The album puts the spotlight on the metaphorical doomsday clock that counts the time until the end of the world, which has remained at the closest point it has ever been to midnight for the past years – 100 seconds to midnight.
A powerful message delivered across 15 powerful productions, the heart, and soul of the album shines through from beginning to end, featuring the sonic contribution of collaborating artists such as Synesthetic, Luis M, Fernanda Pistelli, Cura, Dope, Zen Racoon, and Methodic Spin.
We caught up with Boundless to talk about the making of the album, studio setup, plans for 2023, and more.
Hey guys!! Thanks for joining us here today. How has 2023 been for you so far?
It’s a pleasure to be here with you guys. Thank you for having us today!
Our new year began full power with the production of fourteen conceptual mini clips, specially created to illustrate our new album´s tracks. We partnered with Midwaystation Prod and now we´re hosting an immersive multimedia lab at our studio, to make sure everything is in tune for the big day!
Congratulations on the release of your new LP “100 Sec To Midnight” on IbogaTech. What is the concept behind this project?
The album’s title is more like a shout-out to bring attention to our daily behavior towards nature. There is a scientific gathering every year, on January 20th, at which the world researchers´ community balances the impact of human actions on the planet, then they translate this impact into how much time we have left to revert the destructive tendencies. The time is calculated in relation to Earth’s estimated age and the metaphorical clock is called the Doomsday Clock. The closest it gets to midnight the worst is the scenario for the planet´s recovery and if it passes midnight, it means that a chain of unbalanced natural catastrophes with unprecedented impact on life is put into action, a process with no chance to be reversed. So by the time we decided to start composing our album, the Doomsday clock was set to 100 Seconds to Midnight.
Was there a plan for the album from the start? Did you have a musical direction in mind or was it a matter of experimentation?
We always had something in mind which is to share some good times together making music, but as a matter of fact, most of the things we plan regarding production turn out to go in other directions, so musical experimentation has often been the main lead of our creative process. Yet, three things were common sense and we think that we managed to stick to the plan: lower the BPM; find an aesthetic that really can make people relate our tracks to us, and explore blending other styles with techno.
Is the LP a continuation of your usual sound or have you switched things up for this project?
Actually, as we never set any specific aesthetic boundaries for our sounds but the BPM range, our sonorities float together with our story chapters. it´s not that we switched things up for the album, but it’s more like the album showcases different phases of our evolution during tough times of the Pandemic and post-pandemic. So you have all the moods through which we have passed and what we´ve learned together and with those that inspired us.
What does your studio setup look like?
Our setup for sound production is composed of two Opal Event monitors that we use for the main creation, two Deviant monitors that we use to have as a different source of sound reference, a Mackie Onix 16 channel as a mixing console, an RME soundcard, one Imac for the main edition and another Macbook Pro as production support, Pioneer DDJ for mixing experiences, UAD Satellite, a Maschine Studio, a complete keyboard from native instruments, one saxophone, 1 acoustic guitar and one Electric Gibson guitar, one Melodica, and 7 octaves midi piano. For the video set, we also customized a PC specifically for post-edition and rendering.
Can you name some of your frequently-used instruments and/or plugins used in the making of this LP?
We used a lot of Diva, Omnisphere, Serum, Trilian, Nord Lead 2, Virus TI, Moog, and a load of acoustic instruments such as Piano, keyboard, electric marimba, flute, and acoustic guitar.
How did you find the process of writing this body of work? Did you find the process challenging, or did it come to you naturally?
The process of composing usually flows naturally until a certain point in which we need to know when to stop changing things on the tracks. That’s the most challenging thing for us in production. We have literally dozens of versions of each track and we struggle to decide which one we would like to improve and release 🙂
Where can people expect to see you performing live in the coming months?
You can expect to see us performing in Portugal, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Brazil, and the USA in the coming months.
What is next for Boundless now that the album is out?
We have another release together with MVMB, Magupi, and Freedom Fighters coming at IbogaTech, and one release with Methodic Spin coming on Alpaka Records. We are launching a concept of techno pocket parties in the south of Portugal, in the second quarter of the year, in partnership with two entrepreneurs in Algarve, as well as our first NFT Collection, which is part of the Liquid Earth Project, which consists on an experimental and interactive sound project in blockchain, developed by a very talented group of people from Canada, Israel, and Uruguay.
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