Denver based Futurepop act Voicecoil has a name inspired by a component of a speaker that band founder Mark Sousa describes as “something we all use to consume music and other media”. The component is basically used to convert an electrical signal to the vibration that we actually hear through our electronics. The unique name popped into Sousa’s head when he was trying to come up with a name for the project to release their first songs. Thinking the name Voicecoil was perfect for his needs Sousa ended up making it one word to make it stand out and simplify searching for the project.
ComprI sing of Sousa and at times, during live performances, various live line-ups ranging from one or two keyboard players, a guitar player and even a drummer at one point, Voicecoil now consists of Sousa and a keyboard player on stage. Although Sousa admits he “would love to find a drummer if the right one came along.”
With music that centers around Pop/Dance compositions that have a traditional Pop song structure, Voicecoil admits the band doesn’t get too deep into the music genre game. Sousa acknowledges that his “music is synth based and Poppy but has lots of dark theme. People will call it what they like.”
The creative process of Voicecoil can vary at times. Sometimes Sousa is inspired by a chord progression he likes that he can build a song around and on occasion a synth sound will inspire him to create a melody around it. Even inspired by his dreams Sousa admits that now and then he hears musical ideas in a dream and he “wakes up to try and bring them into the real world.” This either results in something sounding close to what he heard in his dream or sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a haphazard process.
Sousa does all the artwork for Voicecoil and though he says he isn’t a graphic artist he creates what he describes as “simple, minimalistic artwork” a style that has always appealed to Sousa. He explains that he is “severely vision impaired and so things like contrasts and form are very important to me as that is generally how I view the world around me.”
Sousa enjoys playing in front of a live audience and relishes the thrill of connecting with people that are into something he created. “Songs can sound different live and that’s always interesting to see how they translate” Sousa says. Touring also allows Sousa to travel and see new places which he enjoys. When describing performing live Sousa explains “when the lights are going and the music is loud and people are dancing, you can lose yourself in a moment and the only thing that matters is the moment you are in.”
Despite touring having become more difficult for smaller acts due to the pandemic and financial stresses, Voicecoil would like to tour again soon. There are many places all over the world that Sousa would like to travel to and perform in. He hopes that someday soon he will be able to perform in Germany, the country he was born in.
Sousa believes that Voicecoil’s music will progress organically. He also started working on a side project called Gravity Corp which is more aggressive and angry music, something Sousa hasn’t explored as much. Sousa wants the listeners and fans to know that every little bit of support shown towards a band is appreciated and is important even purchasing things like T-shirts or buying an album on Bandcamp. Sousa says that this kind of fan support goes “beyond keeping them creating and keeping our culture going, it also usually helps keep the lights on and keeps people fed.”
To a new listener Sousa simply suggests they listen to the music and make their own judgement. “Art is so incredibly subjective” says Sousa.
Links :
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/voicecoilmusic
Bandcamp : https://voicecoil.bandcamp.com/album/singularity
Webpage : http://voicecoilmusic.com/news
