Fergus Jones finds himself on Ephemera
The debut album from Edinburgh-born, Copenhagen-based Fergus Jones (fka Perko) is the product of worldwide collaborations – we catch up with Fergus to get the details
The Skinny: How did the album come together over the last five years?
Fergus: I had this album looming in the back of my mind but would never really sit down to do it intentionally. I was interested in making music with people as a departure from how I’d done so before. Staying with Koreless (in Wales), we’d just experiment with microphones most of the time. Similarly, in Iceland, there was an iterative method of resampling stems with Huerco S. He made this kick on Heima that goes whooping down like a pitch LFO... so, I’d try to make a bassline from that. I’m interested in what's possible with the computer while it remains music.
Was this a constant throughout collaborations?
Well, it wasn't always just pushing something as far as it could go. With Lia T in Melbourne, we had only one synth and ran it through all this stuff from her friend's studio. There was this interesting loop, and I thought "maybe this is enough." You don't need 120 Ableton channels for it to be good. I previously overcooked stuff, or incorrectly equated technicality with quality. There's confidence in using something for what it is – like "this is an 808," I’m not trying to make it anything else.
What do you think leads people down this hyper-editing path?
The possibilities afforded to you by the medium in which you produce. You know, there's a big difference between an indie film shot on a camcorder, and Christopher Nolan. You can make something that costs hundreds of millions, but is it good?
Ephemera is your indie film?
Maybe. There’s still that complexity, but it’s not flashy. Something complicated can still sound simple... that’s the goal.
How did you glue all the collaborations into one coordinated tracklist?
Everything gelled together without too much shoehorning. I took it in to mix at my friend Michael’s studio. He did a lot of work, getting it to this place where it feels like one cohesive thing. There’s a depth of sound he can achieve that I’m unable to. It was a little bit depressing to discover expensive hardware actually sounds quite good.
Maybe there's liberation in realising you can sacrifice the mixing stage?
I think that's true. I struggle to let go, and that's many aspects of my life. I'd done everything in the past on my own, but last year Michael mixed Prang, and it still sounded like me… just a way better version.
Now you’ve let go of the project – out 18 Oct – how have your feelings towards it changed?
It’s important to learn to be as happy as you can, let it be and make more work. It's easy to get caught in unhealthy thought patterns, imagining this is the thing that defines you. My fine artist friends constantly make new stuff; creating the work is the most important thing, a release is just the byproduct.
Making the arc from your Bleaker alias to art residencies at Heima in Iceland, how do you navigate between the club and gallery spaces?
My music hasn't changed at all throughout the last ten years, it’s just the reference points that have.
Even Hype Funk ?
Even then I was just interested in the way you can reimagine things. Could you make dance mania-indebted music in a UK garage style? This is still at the core of what I do, it's just the scenes I inhabit have shifted over time.
Rubadub described your record as having a distinctive impact long after its runtime. How do you make sense of the title Ephemera?
My experiences travelling and meeting all these people... the recordings felt somewhat ephemeral. But it’s also a self-pun. This music platform described things I do as ephemeral... I thought it was funny. It can get a little serious in this underground experimental dance music world.
Fergus Jones with a large courgette. Image: Fergus Jones.
The photo of the very large vegetable had me theorising a farming album.
Maybe the next one.
Where’s it from?
I have a garden with my girlfriend. I also have a job and go to school. I think that’s why I released the album under my own name. I felt weird having a DJ name. I was always uncomfortable presenting some idealised version of oneself, like, ‘cool guy in the big city’, or ‘big arts guy’.
What do you study?
Software design. I started the masters in 2023 after moving from Glasgow seven years ago. I decide how much, or little, I want to engage with music, on my own terms. It’s never been the only thing that I do, and I'm conscious about keeping it that way.
fergusjones.bandcamp.com/album/ephemera