FUR is one of those monikers that describe a sound, a style and a personality with just a texture. Bryce Isbell, the man behind it, tells us about his music and projects.

Whilst the debate rages on about just who coined the chillwave/glo-fi/hypnagogic pop monikers (just who is meant to dish out the labels anyway?), it’s easy to get lost in the proverbial abyss, difficult to remember that these are just names dreamed up to make the lives of those who run iTunes that little bit easier. The musicians who are creating the sounds are not consciously adapting their sound to fit in with the latest impossible-to-name genre, are they? And in a global digital age, it’s over before it’s even begun, blogs and bloggers can collect and embrace geographically disseminated practitioners, creating genres and driving trends exponentially.

Describing the sounds that characterize songs is perhaps a more fulfilling task, offering the journalist the chance to indulge in creativity with words, although somewhat inevitably, the same colloquiums are repeated on a loop of their own creation. Nostalgic. Fuzzy. Disorientating. Amorphous. Poignant. Just when it seems a band has been handily placed in a niche, with all the correct boxes ticked, they release something that disputes a carefully constructed theory.

Bryce Isbell, who records as FUR epitomizes this conceit. Recording out of his bedroom in downtown Denton, Texas, Isbell’s third EP, entitled Witches, has recently been released on Waaga Records, the first release for this fledgling indie label, Collaborating on the project with Gray Saint Germain Gideon (previously of Ghosthustler), Isbell has refined the FUR sound, borrowing elements from other genres to create more rhythmic, pulsating sounds that redefine notions of the genre. Or maybe the duo are just making music and seeing where it goes. Surely not?

Why the name FUR?

Fur represents a sort of pleasant morbidity. Like a dark fetish that haunts one's quest for normality.

Would you ever wear it?

Naturally.

The album is called Witches. What kind of spell are you trying to cast?

I'm just trying to share my perspectives on everyday life, the way I experience them.

You have been working alone under the FUR moniker since 2008. What’s it like working with someone else? How has it changed the creative process?

It has dramatically changed the process of working on music. Sometimes it seems better, sometimes not; but in the end what matters, is how you, the listener, feels about what we're trying to spread across your ears. A lot of what happens now with Fur (as you'll find on the upcoming ep) is me feeding lots of sounds and ideas through Gray (who is the best filter in the world); he injects his ideas and styles and edits everything up to par, then we break it all apart again, together, then rebuild in unison so that neither of our creative efforts get lost; only buried deeper and deeper into the fabric of the sound of this EP.

Climate change is obviously a big issue, how do you feel about bands who go on enormous stadium tours, constantly flying around the world? Is it really necessary?

Of course not. But who wouldn't want to?

If you weren’t a musician what would you be?

Maybe I would take photos or write, or hustle unsuspecting college students into buying things to destroy their lives with, or perhaps I would be a day-trader or a father of six children. I think I would probably just make films and live in Paris again.

How do you deal with pressure and expectation?

I feel little of both. If anything, I feel a lack of pressure and expectation; I'd like more of it. I thrive under pressure.

Is there one source of inspiration you always return to, and will never tire of?

Absolutely: sight.

Text by Vicki Loomes for VNFOLD