If there’s one lesson taught to us since childhood, which has only been confirmed through real-life implementation during the age of COVID-19, it’s that “anything is possible if you put your mind to it”. We’ve witnessed hordes of people take up foreign languages, follow strict fitness routines, catch up on the bevy of literature that has accumulated on shelves, and confirmed that Charli XCX can complete a belter of a pop record in 30 days. Add to the list of instances where out of time and pressure, diamonds form, the modular, ethereal, and mollifying _Illusion of Time_: a debut collaborative album from analog synth maestro and Nine Inch Nails member, Alessandro Cortini, with English techno and breakbeat extraordinaire, Daniel Avery. In 2018, after a lengthy period collaborating on tracks remotely, when the pair was together in New York City (Avery was enlisted to support the NIN Tour), they finalized the album in three hours—in a hotel room. It’s the result of a longstanding mutual respect and admiration between the respective artists, who, albeit from different sonic backgrounds, harbor a shared desire for complete freedom of expression when composing.
“The only template that we used was not having one,” remarks Cortini, from his home in Berlin, where he’s recently moved. “It was part of an exchange of music, it became so much of what we were doing in our lives.”
Avery, chiming in, agrees. “We didn’t even talk about the elements of each other’s work that we liked,” he says. “There was no release date.”
While speaking with the duo via Skype, there’s a palpable kinship between the musicians; Avery’s laughs pepper the conversation, especially when Cortini recalls his anxiety-inducing first DJ set at Tresor, one of Berlin’s most hallowed club institutions. It makes sense that for a record whose architects offer dissenting approaches to performance (Avery’s role as DJ firmly focuses on reading and reacting to crowds, whereas Cortin tends toward an experimental output which can dictate and lead an audience’s mood, “When I’m happy and having a good show, that tends to spread to the crowd as well”), they’ve achieved a harmony that only comes from trust. “We worked on the album, obviously, but it never felt labored,” recalls Avery. “It’s been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve been a part of.”
The roots of _Illusion of Time_ trace to 2017, when Avery and Cortini first began corresponding, testing the waters of a germinating relationship, and coming out the other end with _Sun Draw Water_, a self-released 7-inch. “We were both taken aback by how organic and natural the process felt without being in the same room,” Cortini reminisces. “We were on the same page, yet we didn’t have any preconceptions of how the music should sound.” While in-person studio time is commonly viewed as a prerequisite to a fruitful yield, it was the distance on which the duo actually fed. “When you absorb and digest music as part of the environment you’re in, and the daily experience,” posits Cortini, “there’s a different emotional response than there would be from analyzing as a musician in a studio.” Indeed, absence makes the heart—and the tape hiss—grow fonder.
Released on [Phantasy/Mute](https://smarturl.it/illusion-of-time), _Illusion of Time_ is a masterclass in patience and an appreciation for the finespun and imperfection. “CC Pad,” the third track on the album, commences with a contained, if not tinny, synth, buttressed by crackling and hissing. Gradually, additional chords complement, the synths sustain, and by the end of the track, the listener is launched into the subliminal; it’s a bit Boards of Canada, a bit Vangelis. Exemplifying the restraint that the pair employ, “Inside the Ruins” offers thick, maximal, and discordant drones, ones that practically beg for an underpinning kick drum like a deep-chord tune Avery might spin at Fabric on a Saturday night, but instead forgoes the urge. “There’s a lot of machine noise; dust; fog; and mist over the entire record that was pushed to the front,” adds Avery \[who sneaked in a surprise double album solo release some weeks later via Phantasy/Mute, [Love and Light](https://smarturl.it/DA_LL), a visual of which is featured below\]. “Usually that sort of thing would get cleaned up in the making, but that was at the forefront; it’s part of the atmosphere.”
Cortini agrees, and emphasizes these nuances are inherent while absorbing the record. “Granted, daily life has now assumed a different meaning in the last months, but generally, it’s more of a headphone record, because you it lets you go ahead with your day,” he says, like “putting another color on your day.”
Released during the heart of the pandemic in late March, _Illusion of Time_ nurtures and celebrates a slower pace—a more deliberate and mindful existence. And though more and more countries, states, and cities have begun the hairy process of reopening business and forging a new normal, Avery and Cortini’s record will still be around, keeping us grounded. “The timing of the record was obviously not planned, but there’s something cosmic about the way this album came out,” shares Avery. “We’ve received so many positive messages, people saying ‘this record has gotten me through today.’ It’s overwhelming.”
There’s also a chance to hear the record live on tour, pending the rebooking of venues and concerts in the future. It wouldn’t be the first time the music gets played outside of the context of one’s headphones: the album’s sixth track, “At First Sight,” serenaded the [Alexander McQueen](https://www.alexandermcqueen.com/en-us/) AW20 show at Paris Fashion Week, right before the world took a seat. Cortini even performed in Milan for [Fendi](https://www.fendi.com/us/)’s showcase, and the album could be thunderously heard at [Marni](https://www.marni.com/us). “There are aspects of the high fashion world I feel very attached to,” he notes. “I felt it was such a familiar way of collaborating with someone, to add to their own world. The Fendi experience was very cool, and Michel Gaubert and Ryan Aguilar were a pleasure to work with.” In order to move forward with a potential tour, there are caveats. Despite producing the record through organic reciprocity, the atmosphere and sound are, in Avery’s words, “meticulous”; the duo wouldn’t merely wish to recreate the record. “If we were to do a live aspect,” Cortini considers, “we’d have to add a layer that is simply not present.”
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