Blawan and Pariah Get Heavy
a.k.a. An interview with the duo about their new metal- and hardcore-inspired Persher project, what's happening with Karenn and the current state of techno.
Before COVID hit, Blawan (a.k.a. Jamie Roberts) and Pariah (a.k.a. Arthur Cayzer) were arguably at the high point of their careers. They’d been touring and releasing music as Karenn for nearly a decade, and following the success of their long-awaited 2019 debut album Grapefruit Regret, the duo had entered techno’s top tier. There was just one problem: they weren’t really enjoying it. Playing for bigger crowds than ever before, the English duo (who now live in Berlin and Amsterdam, respectively) felt increasingly disconnected from the techno scene, and found little kinship amongst the artists with whom they were sharing stages.
Something had to change, and once the pandemic threw electronic music—and the entire world—for an extended loop, Roberts and Cayzer found themselves considering their options. (For a time, the former notably did so while spending many of his days working at a dairy farm outside of Berlin.) And though they never abandoned techno—Karenn put out another EP in 2020, and is once again actively touring, while the pair’s Voam label has become one of the genre’s celebrated outposts—the extended time away from the road did give the duo a chance to explore new avenues, including their shared love of metal, punk, hardcore and other forms of heavy music.
That love has now been funneled into a new project, Persher, a hard-charging, guitar- and growl-filled band (of sorts) whose debut record is due to arrive on October 21 via the Thrill Jockey label. Although their work as Karenn has often veered toward the rowdier and bashier end of techno, Persher goes hard in a very different way, operating miles away from the dancefloor while indulging in gargantuan riffs, thundering drums and nerve-wracking vocalizations that at times barely sound like the utterances of an actual human being. Simultaneously psychedelic, terrifying and somewhat absurd—qualities enhanced by the fact that a limited-edition version of the record will come with an illustrated comic book—the cheekily titled Man with the Magic Soap is a career turn few would have predicted, and it’s a safe bet that the Persher project will likely leave many Blawan / Pariah / Karenn fans scratching their heads, at least initially.
What inspired this new direction, and what does it say about Roberts’ and Cayzer’s relationship with electronic music? Is Persher a one-off experiment, or does it represent a more permanent shift in their artistic vision? Curious to find out, I asked the pair if they would be up for an interview, and they graciously agreed to speak with me—twice. (Yes, they are the kind artists referenced in the recording mishap I described in last week’s newsletter.) Our second conversation is captured here, and it’s a lengthy one, diving into the particulars of Persher, but also touching on the duo’s future plans and how they fit into the worlds of both electronic and heavy music.