Chaos Butterfly is the debut album from multi-disciplinary artist x/o. The Vietnamese-Canadian releases their hard hitting and euphoric sonic journey via Endgame’s label, Precious Metals. We had the opportunity to speak to x/o about identity, storytelling and collaboration.

Blake Creighton: What does your debut album mean to you? 

x/o: An OST for a journey of transformation, duality, catharsis, growth and healing.

What first made butterfly allegories appealing to you? How do they explore who your identity as a person and an artist?
In the early days, I was collecting a lot of images of hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine aesthetics and symbols to combine. I was really interested in subverting floral imagery in this way but gradually became more fixated on butterflies. 

To be honest, growing up I actually never really liked butterflies iconography that much. But I feel like I’ve been in a state of chrysalis-like hibernation for a long time only now finally ready to fly. In that way, I came to really relate to butterflies as an evolving state of change, growth and transformation. I do actually like them now.

As a multidisciplinary artist, how do you retain your focus on a singular project?  What do you enjoy about working with various formats? 

I’ve had issues with focus for a long time – one of the reasons why the album also took years to complete but I’ve been really working on retaining focus and improving this skill in a few different ways: 1 is guided meditations – I really swear by Headspace app for instance. 2 is a combination of L-Thienine supplements and some kind of caffeine, 3 a realistic and unchanging deadline that you absolutely need to be accountable for. Lastly, 4, a task calendar, to free up brain space, and work on what you need to do for that specific day.

More recently I’ve really enjoyed writing and directing short films that double as music videos. I love that it really forces me to think in different ways, and also utilize a broad spectrum of my own skill sets. That said, I never imagined I would be able to do this. I fell into it because the original director for Red Alert was unable to do it, which was actually a blessing because it gave me a chance to step up and try it myself. The best part of it is being able to work with a group of people all working together to achieve one vision and the friendships you gain through it.

Throughout your projects there is an emphasis on storytelling, why is storytelling important to you and the world today? 

The story is usually what drives my interest when it comes to watching films, anime or playing games and although I wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to a full story – I’m still inspired by it in a way of creating a suggested story, where most of it comes from your own imagination. 

I think storytelling is a chance to also express something in your own way, influenced by things you’ve been through, or what you would want to do. 

You have an extensive collaborative catalogue, how do you approach making music with others in relation to making your own?

These days my collaborative approach is to simply find the specific spot where I could contribute in collaboration, and organically go from there. Often I enter the picture after the initial idea has been written- so my ideas often are in reaction to another, whereas solo I would start the idea from scratch…

I’m currently working on a debut ep for an incredible Egyptian-Canadian vocalist named Almaazz, and a polyrhythmic collaborative EP with RKSS and Andrea Ludovic called A:R:X. Keep your ears and eyes peeled 🙂

Chaos Butterfly is out now via their bandcamp here