This piece was originally published at THUMP in January 2016.
"People think that because we have the Large Hadron Collider that we know what's going on. Really, when you get down to it, nobody has a clue."
Fresh off a trip to IKEA, Alex Smoke is on a roll. Having survived the mundanely Nordic gauntlet of Billy bookcases, Balkarp sofa beds, and Förvara drawers, the Glaswegian producer with releases on notable record labels like R&S and Soma has plenty to say.
Within mere minutes of speaking to him, he's brought up English occultist Aleister Crowley, musician Genesis P-Orridge, and particle physics, before his cup of tea's even had time to grow cold. At one point, he cites comic book writer Alan Moore on the power of the creator to use one's consciousness to affect that of other people. "Putting magical ideas into your music is a cool idea," he says—and it is one that evidently informs his latest album Love Over Will.