^L_: "Inspiration only exists when something within us is collapsing"

^L_ creates music that is both unsettling and captivating, blending disturbing yet pleasant atmospheres. Influenced by IDM pioneers like Aphex Twin and Autechre, he incorporates elements of industrial, coldwave, darkwave, cyberpunk, and acid techno, expressing them in a cohesive and contemporary way. His tracks explore the darkness of EBM with dirty breakbeats, horror movie samples, and electronic sounds, reflecting themes of loneliness and nihilism, often balancing chaos and beauty. His work is rich with references to movies, books, and modern culture.

In your latest album "no_hope.tor" you seem to explore an even darker and more introspective dimension. Is there a conceptual or narrative thread connecting the tracks, or do you prefer listeners to build their own emotional path through the album?

First of all, thank you for having me.

Some things don't need explanation. So, yes, I prefer that everyone interprets it in their own way. Each track exists because it needs to exist at that moment. If someone finds meaning or connection in it, great. If not, that's okay too. 

I can't explain my music and sometimes I don't even know what I'm doing, honestly. 

"The Algorithm Demands Blood" carries a strongly evocative, almost political or dystopian title. What does “the algorithm” represent to you symbolically — a technological, social, or psychological entity?

Today, people sees algorithms as new gods—a cold entity that dictates what we feel, what we desire, what we forget. It's technological, but also profoundly psychological. It's inside us. "Demands Blood" is literal: it feeds on our attention, our exposure, our fatigue. It's a reflection of humanity trying to program its own soul and losing sight of what is organic in the process.

This obsession consumes people silently: each post, each metric, each approval becomes a piece of their own attention that disappears. They live for it, forgetting what really matters, and I ignore all of that. OK, of course I have Instagram and keep it updated with posts only about the releases... but never about my personal life. For me, it's just background noise.

Your productions blend EBM, IDM, and industrial influences with almost surgical precision. In an era dominated by hyper-polished, algorithm-driven sounds, how do you preserve the human and imperfect side of your music?

Distortion, noise, abrupt cuts—these are scars of sound, and truth lies within them. I don't want digital purity. I want sound breathing, failing, dying. I use machines like someone trying to converse with a ghost: there are always communication failures, and that's precisely where something human is born. I let error breathe, if necessary... and error is beautiful, because it's part of our humanity.

Glitches, noises, and imperfections appear naturally, and are part of the sound. The music emerges first for me, and these human details appear because the process isn't mechanical.

Many listeners describe your sound as "uncomfortable yet beautiful". Do you believe art should always contain some form of discomfort or emotional conflict to be authentic?

Inspiration only exists when something within us is collapsing. Art that comforts is anesthesia; art that disturbs is a mirror. I don't seek discomfort, but it arises when you try to say something true. Beauty lies at the breaking point—where the sound almost defeats itself, but still pulsates.

I don't think about modernity or intention. If someone feels discomfort, it's because they've encountered an unexpected frequency. If they feel beauty, that's also a coincidence. For me, what's important is that the music exists and works in the moment it's made.

​​I don't try to clean or fix it. I leave it as it is, because the human condition is not precision, but rather interruption. What is broken is often more sincere than what is complete.

Your work is filled with references to films, books, and cyberpunk culture. Is there a particular cinematic or literary work that you feel especially close to — one that has significantly influenced your artistic vision or sonic aesthetic?

Thomas Pynchon, Bergman, David Foster Wallace, Tarkovsky, William Gibson, J.G. Ballard. They all speak of the same collapse: the human trying to survive within the machine, and the machine learning to dream on its own. We are slaves to our own irony. And nihilism has become our armor.

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