Blistering.com: Vocally, you’ve developed quite a bit from Focus.
Masvidal: Yeah, I think I feel more confident. Having been singing and writing songs actively for the past 15 years with just an acoustic guitar or piano, it just forced me to develop my melodic sense and comfort level. Playing a lot of gigs with a guitar and no band, it puts you in a really vulnerable and exposed environment. I think I’ve gotten better. I feel much more confident in my approach and how I sing in general. That’s just the result of doing it for years and years and gainfully, it seems to be a big part of the record in terms of how the songs developed melodically.
Blistering.com: I think that’s most evident on “Adam’s Murmur.”
Masvidal: It’s almost like a classical kind of vibe with a 1/5 thing happening. The verses are futuristic and modern. It definitely has a lot of different things going on. Lyrically, it’s basically a song about self-healing. It’s using a metaphor from the Adam story in the bible, but not in a Christian-sense. The wound that Adam takes on parallels with our wounds as a human and how we essentially, we’re in charge of our own healing in terms of disease processing.
Blistering.com: “Integral Birth,” the lead single, is perhaps the most melodic thing you’ve done.
Masvidal: It’s super-catchy and in your face. It’s got energy and driving – I definitely connect with that tune. It’s a really intense ride.
Blistering.com: Is there any theme behind the two bookends of the album, “Nunc Fluens” and “Nunc Stans?”
Masvidal: It’s the birth and the death. For me, it’s almost the being on the cover represents this half-alien, half-angel being that is a having a human experience and this is their journey. The riffs are the same, but they’re in different keys. It’s the same rhythmic idea, just arranged a bit differently. “Fluens” is the birth song, the creation; it’s grueling, gestating birth process. “Stans” is the farewell, the death song. It definitely has a haunting, moody quality, but has an introspective look at the life experience in a pretty heavy-handed way.
Blistering.com: On the live front, how are you going to balance the two albums?
Masvidal: For the Euro tour with Opeth, I think we’re getting 45 minutes, which is pretty good. We’re going to do a combination of the new record and the highlights from Focus and what is really great is now we have enough tunes to mix it up and try different things. It will be an experiment, but it’s all aboutTraced in Air right now.
Blistering.com: Around the time band dissolved in the mid-90’s, were you still an active, functioning member of the Florida death metal scene?
Masvidal: We had been in the thick of scene since our teens. I missed my high school graduation to go on tour with Death. This was a big part of my life from an early age. I think what happened was, part of our frustration was about the business which was eating us alive. We were just really sensitive, creative people that wanted to make music and we were devoured by the industry and we didn’t get a lot of support and people didn’t understand Focus at the time. It was a hard road. I think we were emotionally distraught over a number of things. And also just getting into different kinds of music. I was getting into jazz and trippy, ethereal music and I just wanted to expand and go in different directions and I felt we were put in a box with the Cynic experience and we just wanted to break out of it. That’s why Portal happened. We were just morphing and changing. Life just does that and I always feel that it’s important to listen to as many different things as possible and be open all forms of music.
Cynic is a return to innocence for us. It’s really our roots. This is where we grew up, what we started doing. Making this record for us has been like becoming kids again and tapping into that pure state where it’s just really a band and free and there are no rules and we can do whatever we want. It’s been cool to come full-circle and be in this headspace.
Blistering.com: What has it been like to work in a non-pressurized situation? If you consider where you were with Focus and the label you were on (Roadrunner), it’s a different ballgame.
Masvidal: I couldn’t make a record with expectations and pressure. I wouldn’t be interested in a creative process where I’m stretched out. That doesn’t make sense to me. That’s part of the joy of being in this process now and having to make a record like this is that we had such a good time making it. We really enjoyed every step of the way. It was natural, organic, inspired. It came from a great place. It’s really good to be here now and to be doing it with a different head. I think life has done of us is that over the years, we have gotten better at learning how to navigate through this crazy business.
Blistering.com: What were some of your fondest memories being in Death and doing the Human album in ’91?
Masvidal: It’s weird. It’s blurry at this point, but Chuck was a friend from childhood and someone I had a relationship [with] for years, way before we made Human. It felt natural and easy to make the record with him. It was a part of our evolution as friends; it made sense to make a record together. He was somebody I had a lot of respect for. He brought Sean and I into the thick of the music industry and gave us a lot of experience that you don’t get at that age. I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful for seeing how he worked and his dedication to his craft. He was definitely dedicated to what he was doing. Chuck was in his own head and had his own vibe which was completely different from what we were doing. Seeing someone that was out there making a living as an artist, working and all that was really cool.
Blistering.com: Was there any consideration at all in terms of sticking it out with him?
Masvidal: I might have passed through our brains for moment, but Death was a full-time job and I wanted to do Cynic. I had my own vision and path as an artist to pursue and we realized that if we stayed with Death, it would have been next to impossible to do Cynic and even make the Focus record. We had to make a decision – are we going to follow our path and do Cynic or are we going to give our careers to Chuck? I realized I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to give my love and energy to my own voice and my own path as an artist. Death was Chuck’s gig – his songs, his vision. When you worked with Death, it was Chuck, it was his vibe. I had my own journey to make and I needed to take it and I’m glad we went the road we did. It made more sense to do Cynic and do what was honest for us instead of being side-guys.
Blistering.com: Have you ever gone back and wondered what path you career might have taken had you done the follow-up to Focus in the mid-90’s?
Masvidal: It’s occurred to me. I think we’d be in a whole different place. We’d be on album #8 or #9 at this point if we were busting out albums. It’s an interesting thought to imagine if Cynic never stopped, what would these albums and our journey been like? I realized that it was going to happen that way. We changed so much post-Focus. We were in a completely different place. It would have been unnatural – a forced thing. We’ve never been about that. Our whole gig has been about being honest and true to the whole process and being real with where we’re at.
Blistering.com: I know we’re way early in the stages here, is there any deliberation to a third album at this point? Has it at all crossed your mind?
Masvidal: It has. It’s impossible to predict the future. I really don’t know, but I do know this – I know this is not a project for us. We’re not treating this as a one-off and we feel really inspired about everything and feel really great about where things are going. I can see it. I just don’t know how or when. I’m so consumed with this album that it’s hard to make it beyond today, but that’s just my way of living. I like to stay present with my life and my experience and not get caught up in some unforeseen future because it’s never what you imagine it to be. Right now, I feel great. If now is the indication of the future, we’re looking pretty good for album #3.