Reverie: Interview With Ivan Torrent About His First Solo Album

Spanish composer Ivan Torrent just released his first solo album, the long-awaited Reverie, a beautiful and enchanting musical journey that will take you to oneiric worlds.

Ivan Torrent is known for his work as a demo composer for sample libraries, as well as a composer for trailer music companies including Really Slow Motion and Position Music. Over the last few years, he successfully released various solo tracks, and fans soon asked for a compilation of his best compositions. In December 2014, Reverie finally came out.

“Many people have asked for me to do this project, so in the last months I decided to select a large number of my tracks”, Ivan Torrent explained on his Facebook page. “I recorded some new live material, vocals, did some tweaks here and there, and virtually re-mixed and re-mastered many of them, to offer you what I’ve always wanted too… An album. Reverie is a compilation of 26 (!) tracks, “some of them already released, but most of them, just waiting for the right moment” to be released.

“It was a personal and tricky challenge”, says Ivan, “but it will be worth every second invested, every sleepless night if it makes you feel good… If… in some way, it makes you dream. From a reverie, YOU inspired me to make something real.”

The album features additional live strings by Éanán Patterson, Fred Descargues, Pete Withfield and François Ragot, and vocals by Julie Elven, Celica Soldream, Aeralie Brighton, Lara Ausensi, Gaby Koss, Roger Berruezo, Rangel Da Silva and Ivan Torrent himself.

The gorgeous artwork was made by Carlos Quevedo.

INTERVIEW

Trailer Music News: Highly anticipated by fans, Reverie is your first solo album. What lead you to release this compilation?

Ivan Torrent: Well I think it was a mix of things… On one hand, It was something that many people had been asking for a long time, and on the other hand, to me was a nice opportunity to have a first solo album, something that I really was aiming to release one day.

So I thought that it could be a good bet to revisit all the tracks and their mixes, to do some tweaks here and there that I couldn’t do before, and offer them with the original flavor, but with newer and fresh nuances.

TMN: How did you select the tracks for this compilation?

IT: It was tricky, because although it was conceived as a compilation, I couldn’t include all my stuff, for obvious reasons. Timing would the first obstacle…

So the thing was to put over the table the technical challenges, including the time that could take me to remix and re-master it all, the timing of the album in complete, my personal tastes, but overall, the preferences of the fan community… That was the most important to bear in mind. And that took me to do a little probe…

It’s a fact that at some point, you need to step away from the project, take some perspective, and listen to the opinion of your friends, your family and the audience that follows your work. With all that in mind, I chose the final tracking list that you can find in Reverie.

Also, to decide of the order of the songs was crazy lol!… Because the contrast between them is an important factor in an album, and with such a number of tracks, the possibilities to combine them were too many. But with some help, I think we achieved a natural listening experience, with lights and shadows, even with the fact that there are more than 90 minutes of music.

TMN: Reverie musically describes your oneiric world, and represents a very personal project. Can you tell us more about it?

IT: Reverie was something that I had been aiming to release for a long time. Maybe in my mind it had another name, maybe some music that hadn’t been written yet… But in short, it always had my personal vision of music. And that was the clearer point to me.

I am a big fan of science-fiction, and, actually, I’ve always had a deep connection with topics such as magic, the supernatural, fantasy… as well as science, cosmos,  panspermia, alien life… you know… topics apparently disconnected, but at once, united by the fact that they are that the kind of things that abstracts you from the routine, and makes you wonder about the meaning of life, about other possibilities, that are not plausible at first.

I believe that all those topics are a constant influence in my life. And in some way I use them as a catalyst, as an inspiration… and I express my deep respect for them in my music. Probably, if you listen to the tracks separately, it is not that obvious, but once you listen the album as a whole, you can realize that those topics are my guideline.

So… Reverie describes that inner world that I try to paint or build with my music, when I just need to disconnect from reality.

TMN: Several of the tracks were remixed or re-mastered, and were turned into even more inspiring and beautiful pieces. What inspired you to re-work these tracks?

IT: It was mainly the necessity to homogenize the overall sound of the album. The tracks should have a similar texture, in sonic terms, to create a better experience when you listen to them. That’s what is usually achieved through mastering, but through that process I also felt the necessity to polish some works already released.

I must admit that I am extremely picky and sometimes, with time and perspective, I tend to think that I could polish this or that, or even add new details.

Suddenly new ideas come to mind while you are listening to your own music, and you think… “Oh, that mix, or that voice…what if I reduce that sound?..what if I add this new melody as counterpoint?”… So, I thought it could be a good excuse to re-visit the tracks, adding new nuances such as voices, new string recordings, or extend some of them and re-work them sonically.

TMN: You collaborated with various singers and soloists. This must have been a wonderful experience. Can you tell us more about it?

IT: To work with musicians and singers is always an awesome experience. It enriches you in many areas, and it’s an interesting process – not only you can reach a more organic sense on your tracks, but you also learn techniques and shortcuts to make things easier for them, you also learn to write melodic lines more efficiently to achieve some effects, textures and finally better and more mature results.

To me, the most important thing is the amount of good relations that can be created along time and how they impact your music and your workflow. To pamper a friendship with a musician or a singer creates a bond that allows a better comprehension between you both. And in my personal experience, it’s an undeniable fact that the more mature the friendship is, the stronger the musical connection becomes, and that results in a faster workflow.

TMN: Do you have particular future projects? Maybe a second solo album?

IT: Indeed! I am working on a second solo album with brand new material, that I hope I can finish around the end of 2015. I’ve delayed it a lot because there were always other commitments, and also because I thought that it was important to release Reverie first, and end a stage with it.

After the awesome feedback from the fan community with this compilation, I’ve found the fuel needed to undertake this brand new album. It will take a while, but it will be for sure an exciting path to go.

Reverie is available to the public for purchase through iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. For licensing information, contact Ivan Torrent.

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