Kansas City’s Forrest Mistler has expended the better half of a decade patiently plotting and meticulously perfecting his complex auditory persona better recognized as YUMZ. A diverse background with guitar, piano, and saxophone affords Mistler a unique ear for rhythm, which he leverages expertly in crafting insatiable basslines and diverse soundscapes in his electronic work.
Further divulging the depth of his craft, Discovery is an opportunity for YUMZ to captain the ship at extended length, providing a platform through which Mistler can convey the momentous journey of his musical career, which has functioned simultaneously as a project of self-reflection and revealing his true purpose in life.
Discovery listens in the same manner as a breath-taking novel, each track representing a unique vital strand in the overall fabric of the project, which can be enjoyed equivalently track-by-track or in its entirety. ‘Judgement Day’ provides a brief glimpse into the project, offering a humble sampling of what the complete project will entail.
We were delighted with the opportunity to catch up with Mistler to discuss the ideation for Discovery, his creative process as an artist, as well as the techniques he utilizes to achieve unbridled energy in his builds. Be sure to check out the full interview and track below, and keep a close eye on more creativity records for further breadcrumbs leading up to the full release of Discovery next month.
How long has Discovery been in the works, and what would you attribute to be your largest inspiration behind the project?
Oh man, I’ve been working on this project for most of 2018. It took me way longer than I had anticipated but I think my patience and time spent has paid off. My inspiration for the album has been about discovering who I truly am as a person. I felt like the past year was a year that I finally accepted who I am and am ok with that. I wanted to express that in artwork also hence the name of the project.
Would you say the project flows seamlessly start to finish as one epic tale, or does each track take on new energy or creative focus?
It’s meant to do a little of both. I wanted the project to flow with how life goes. There are ups and downs. Wild days, calmer days. I tried to put all of that into the project. But there’s also a couple of tracks that are for fun where I just sat down and made something out of the energy I was feeling in that moment.
One of the best moments was making the track ‘Waffle House Mafia’ with my good friend Stonegood. He brought over this old analog tube synth and we just went crazy making a whole bunch of wild sounds. We ended up writing the song in a span of a few hours.
Do you typically sit down to create a track with sounds that you’ve already created and identified or is it more of an off-the-cuff, work as you go style of approach?
I typically will just dive headfirst into an idea that I hear in my head and will make up the sounds as I go. Most of the time if I don’t immediately try to put down a Melody or line that I think of it will disappear within minutes. Sometimes I’ll even record phone memos of ideas that randomly pop into my head throughout the day.
What made ‘Judgement Day’ a prime candidate to be an early release as opposed to any of the other tracks from the project?
This was one of the first tracks I made for the album. I was super hyped the day I made it and when I got to test it out on a big system I knew this was gonna be one of the tracks I wanted to release early on. I feel like it also represents the diversity of the album.
The track itself utilizes complex builds in an astonishing way, you can almost feel the energy crawling up your skin as the track begins to take shape. Would you care to shed a bit of light on the production techniques that allowed you to achieve such an appeal?
The use of percussion has always been something I like to incorporate in most of my tracks. It gives a rhythm to the song that doesn’t rely on the main drum parts like the kick or snare. I work in Ableton and I can’t stress enough the use of the built-in effects. I use erosion on a lot of my basses. Also, the filter delay can turn anything that is a mono sound into stereo. The drone sounds you hear at the beginning of the track add a sense of uneasiness, and when combined with the hard white noise that comes after it helps to add suspense. The track then feels like it’s going to drop into a really heavy in your face sound but when the first thing you hear is basically all sub bass your taken by surprise. That’s what I like most about the track is that you probably didn’t expect it.
