Q&A: Len Faki’s Figure SPC Imprint Comes to an End with Jeroen Search EP
'Figure SPC Z' is due out July 4.
Jeroen Search is in charge of Figure sub-label Figure SPC’s final release, due out at the beginning of July.
Figure SPC was launched by Berghain resident Len Faki back in 2009, and has since put out music by Heiko Laux, Markus Suckut, Inland, and Rod. Responsible for several of the chapters (which have run alphabetically from A to Z) was Jeroen Search, who will provide the final addition to the series this July. All of the EP’s nine tracks were recorded as live takes, which, according to the label, cover a variety of styles that run from “snappy or propelling, vivid or restrained” to “stomping or intricate.”
Figure SPC Z is scheduled for release on July 4 as a double 12″ and digital download. Ahead of the release, we spoke to label head Len Faki, as well as Jeroen Search, who is first up:
Between 2009 and 2016 you did Figure SPC A,K,P,T and Z. What has changed since then, and what remains the same?
For me SPC A still feels very special, because by doing that release, Len somehow challenged me to produce different music to what I had done before that EP. Of course, it is still techno, but with a different approach and with a new way of thinking about my own music. These thoughts have stuck with me over the years and been developed by doing the other SPC releases, so they were still firmly in my mind when I was producing SPC Z.
How does your sound match with the Figure SPC sound?
It matches so well because of the ‘honesty’ that is in all the music, I guess. For me Figure is more than just a label, it feels like being part of a family too. They are all lovely people who I can connect to, so it not only matches musically, but on a more personal level too. For me that’s a big pleasure, because you don’t find that very often.
I think there is this typical ‘Search-SPC Sound’—something special and unique that grew over the last couple of years. I tend to use a lot of the SPC material in my live sets as well, so the sound is continually developing and growing with me. It’s a ‘perpetuum mobile,’ where one thing keeps fuelling the other, and vice versa.
We then caught up with label head Len Faki:
From A to Z, what has been achieved through Figure SPC’s journey? What’s after Z for you
For me, Figure SPC literally lives up to it’s name, because it means something special to me. The last seven years have been a valuable experience—besides great music and collaborations, good times and close relationships have been achieved. I’m happy that Jeroen takes responsibility for the completion of the series, as he has been responsible for some special releases on the imprint.
It goes without saying that closing this chapter happens with mixed feelings, but SPC was always intended to be finished with the letter Z, with something beautiful to it—the story comes to an end and at the same time allows another to be told.