The rules are simple: close your eyes, clear your mind and hit play.
Too often we forget what this is all really about. Enjoy it, listen to it, go into it- it’s all part of the process of art. Brady Wiggins, a 22-Year-old producer better known to his elusively concrete fan base as Fractal, wants to keep the art in his music along with the quality, passion and creativity he’s been cultivating for the past six years. Crafting a genre all his own, Fractal mixes dubstep, electro house, trance, ambient and psychedelic music into one giant blend of sound, creating a unique and blissful journey track after track.
Not only has Fractal been putting every spare moment into creating his art, he’s also spent the last three years on tour with Enrique Iglesias as his official DJ. Yes, you read that right. UKF caught up with the young producer while on a tour stop in Las Vegas to find out when we can get our hands on more music, and what’s to come for Fractal in 2015.
It’s about letting go of all the ideologies you have in your head and letting the music flow through you naturally and letting your inner voice channel without any resistance and into the software or into the instrument, whatever it is you’re creating
After forming a lasting working relationship and personal friendship with the illustrious trance icon BT, Fractal found himself in between learning and creating as much music as possible with him and music tech classes at the University of Maryland. That all changed once he received news that BT had suggested him to Enrique Iglesias who was looking for a DJ to tour with, and they eventually chose the then 19-year-old producer. After three years of touring, it’s time to finally close those doors and start focusing on his real passion of production that’s been boiling under the surface, waiting to skyrocket and settle into the name of Fractal.
He has released an abundance of music over the years, and has a full-length album in the works…
“I’m waiting on vocals for two of the songs, one of them my sister’s doing and the other is this chick I met in Lithuania a month ago on a plane. I have 12 tracks that are pretty much done. It’s really highly anticipated and I busted my ass on it because I promised my fans early on it would happen, but then I realized with the tour it was a bit too much to take on so I had to power through it. I have six crazy rage-dance songs and six really chill songs that are super down tempo and relaxing. I’m really excited to wrap that up within the next month or two and shoot it over to Monstercat and let them chew it up.”
When people listen to my album, I want them to sit down, turn the lights off, take a few deep breaths, clear their mind and just let it flow through them naturally and let whatever arises, arise.
One thing I had to ask Fractal about was his ability to create something so different from the last, track after track while still crafting that signature emotion you feel while listening to anything he’s produced…
“It’s about letting go of all the ideologies you have in your head and letting the music flow through you naturally and letting your inner voice channel without any resistance and into the software or into the instrument, whatever it is you’re creating.
A lot of producers sit down and follow the protocol when making a track. I don’t like to inhibit myself that way. I meditate before and clear my mind out, get my energy flowing, and I’ll just start messing around with sounds and let the song write itself. Whatever feels like it needs to come next, that’s what I will do next.
I think that’s where some of the feeling comes into the creative process; when you have no inhibitions. I don’t need to know what I’m going to do next because as soon as I hear a sound that fits, another one will branch off of that and it snowballs until it’s a track and then I’ll hate it and put it aside haha. Then after my friends have pressured me enough, I’ll send it to the label and it ends up being a hit. “
Fractal wants you to “go in” on his album and really submerge yourself in what he’s created…
“When people listen to my album, I want them to sit down, turn the lights off, take a few deep breaths, clear their mind and just let it flow through them naturally and let whatever arises, arise.
That’s something that my crew and I do too all the time. Au5, BT, Prismatic and all those guys we call it “going in.” I feel like a lot of people have that missing from their lives, they don’t understand the value of just sitting there and taking a deep breath. I think a lot of my fans know that, they’re really intellectual and spiritual and they have kind of that quietness and patience to really absorb my music.”
Once the final show is wrapped with Enrique Iglesias, it’s full time Fractal and he’s looking for a team to help him develop his career.
“I was talking to Haywyre about the amount of involvement Monstercat had with his development a few days ago, and it warms my heart to see him doing so well. I’d love to talk more with Monstercat once my last tour with Enrique comes to an end and my album is ready for release. I owe a lot to them– they released my first track. After I got in touch with them I had, like, 50 tracks ready to go and we were releasing one per week. After that my fan base exploded.
I’ve had all these opportunities come my way but I’ve had to turn them down because of touring. Soon I’ll be looking for a manager and really focusing on how I will take my music to the next level.”
He’s taking his collaborations with Au5 to the next level and starting a new venture; Alchemist Records.
“I have this thing called Alchemist Records, which is going to be Au5 and I. BT is in on it too. I really hope we can get this going this year, it was something that was moving fast for a while, we had animators on board, and it’s an official LLC already. We have huge plans but these tours picked up, so once I get off of this tour, Fractal is going to the next level, and everything related to Fractal is going to the next level. Including Alchemist records. I’m not in a huge rush about it since I have such a great thing going with Monstercat and I know that whenever we’re ready its going to be awesome so I’m not too stressed about it.”
He’s worked on Enrique Iglesias’s album and helped with other pop stars production work. Even though the pop route isn’t for him, he’s still going to create something significant with some pop songs that mean something to him.
“I have this project I’m working on where I’m taking a dozen or more pop songs that are either from my childhood or just popular ones and kind of doing what a lot of people are doing like Madeon and mashing them together. But instead of just doing a regular mash up I’m incorporating all of them into the song that is one cohesive thing that’s not like any of the songs that are in it. I’m going to perform everything that’s in it with controllers and stuff and I want to make a video. I want to show people my forest and where I do my music and show them the studio and be really down to earth and from the heart from me and my home. Probably around summer time we’ll get that out.”
Being such a down to earth human, this young gun has nothing but a bright future ahead of him and we can’t wait to see what’s next…
“I’m happy as long as I can express myself and have people enjoy it. One thing I tell myself a lot is, I was happy before any of this happened. Before I even had one fan. I started with everything that I needed; myself, my art and a few people to appreciate it, and that’s it.”
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