Nicolás Estany started making electronic music many years ago, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the pseudonym Visonia emerged. I associated it with being visionary and seeing beyond -comments Nicolás from Poland, where he has been living for some years-.
The Chilean artist launched this year the new album “Claroscuro”, making the video clip of the homonymous track from Kiev, just before the darkness of war covered the Ukrainian capital. We talked to Visonia about his development as an artist and his experience close to the war in Ukraine.
Filmed & Edited by Nicolás Estany (Visonia)
Cast: Yaroslava Minenko (Kraz), Olga Daszkowska
Co-released by Zyrcadian Editions and Frigio Records
How has Visonia’s path been?
The road has been one of much learning and, despite having made several vinyls, I feel that my project is only born now, in 2022, with the album “Claroscuro”. I have learned a lot, both technically and on a human level, which I think is the most important thing.
What has inspired your music? Can you shed some light on your creative process?
Although there are many musical genres that I like, I try to use certain sound “textures” of styles that I like and turn it into something with authenticity. For example, the danceable melancholy of New Wave/Coldwave, the rhythmic sequences of Electro, the evocative of Ambient, the risky of Experimental, the force of Industrial, etc.
In general it’s a very intimate process, of trying to channel a story, even if it’s not with words. Everything influences: watching movies, reading poetry, walking, reflecting.
Any sound can be worked to become music, it is not always necessary to think in cadences of traditional chords, you can tell a story with any sound and go forming layers that interact with each other … I think the main thing for me is the narrative force, that it has something to say.
What repercussions has being away from your homeland had on your artistic development? Distance tends to change our perspective on things…
That’s true. I’m from Santiago, although I lived for many years in the central coast of Chile. Living in Poland has been very difficult in emotional terms, especially for having built a life from scratch and overcoming terrible personal difficulties. But everything is a learning process, that’s why we are in this “University of the Cosmos”, called Earth.
Sometimes to become who you have to be, you have to go through situations that can be very painful. If you succeed, you acquire an impressive temperance, wisdom and spiritual growth to better face life and help others.
I remember two phrases that I like, the first by Andrei Tarkovsky, the second by Rainer Maria Rilke:
“An artist does not exercise his profession in order to tell someone something. He wants rather to show humanity that he wants to serve it”.
“Who speaks of victories? Resistance is everything.”
You begin 2022 by releasing the album Chiaroscuro. How was this project born, in which you produce your first video clip from a city that today is a symbol of resistance in Ukraine?
Chiaroscuro, which is a concept coming from painting, telling the relationship between light and shadow, is the turning point in my artistic career. As I mentioned, it is from this moment that I feel that “Visonia” is born.
I have been through so many things that I am now finding the sonority and quality that I have wanted to deliver to the public for years. I have an avalanche of creative inspiration.
I chose Kiev because I have Ukrainian friends from there. They are sensitive, deep, and we understand each other.
How does it feel to see that the war came to a country you knew and opened the doors for you to realize part of the project?
The ways of life are so mysterious. Of course I find it terrible. I just try to keep serenity in my heart.
We talk by phone almost every day with my Ukrainian friends.
I remember one scene in particular: we were talking with my dear friend Vladimir. I was looking out the window from my apartment in Warsaw and he was doing the same at his home in Kiev. As we were sharing, sunbeams began to come out of the sky and expand just as we were talking about being in high spirits and morale, with no hatred in the heart, with positivity, calmness, faith.
As a resident of Poland, what has been your experience of the wave of refugees arriving in that country?
I have seen tremendous solidarity. This gives me hope in humanity.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5FnlDOjFVtcwh2JfhvS5Ib
Vinyl & Digital: https://linktr.ee/Visonia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Visonia__
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisoniaOfficial
Bandcamp: https://visonia.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/Visonia
