Nele De Gussem bends spacetime on The Loom of Longing, her latest album. Best known for her work with Uma Chine, she conjures mystical landscapes through vocal enchantments, delicately framed by electronic melodies and alchemical tonal patterns. Shadows occasionally seep through the seams, but The Loom of Longing tempers its darkness with flickers of romance and whimsy. Chord progressions shimmer over pulsing beats, propelling ethereal vocals skyward. A melancholic undercurrent lingers, yet De Gussem’s voice remains a guiding force—an anchor amid the album’s dreamlike expanses.
Beyond the music, De Gussem collaborated with Victor Verhelst to craft mesmerizing visuals for two videos, “Wonder” and “The Gardener,” both featured in this piece.
The Loom of Longing is out now on Viernulvier. Get it HERE.
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I always like starting at the very beginning. I’d love to hear about some of your earliest memories of music and sound – are there certain things that stand out to you as memorable or formative from when you were younger? What are some of your first memories related to music?
When I was a kid, I used to hang around in my father’s studio a lot; he was a photographer and he used to play a lot of Stevie Wonder and Barry White when he was working. I remember when he was in a good mood; dancing while he was assembling pictures for wedding albums.
I still know my first guitar lesson. When I was 8, I was the only one who didn’t have a guitar yet, so my teacher gave me his to try out. I was super proud and fell in love with the instrument – and my teacher – immediately.
What were some of the first impetuses that made you want to start making and playing music? What were some of your first experiences in playing music and creating your own work like?
I was always singing and inventing melodies as a kid, and when I was around 14 or 15, I started making songs because I just liked to do it. I was a pretty lonely teenager and it was a way of escaping and trying to express my dramatic teenager feelings. It’s always been deeply therapeutic.
The Loom of Longing marks your debut as a solo artist. How does this project differ from your work with Uma Chine, both creatively and emotionally?
I feel like if you want to make engaging and inspiring work you can’t be working in the same way over and over again. With Uma Chine, I feel like we are finding a language that works for the band, it’s going somewhere and we’re building on that. That’s a beautiful thing and we keep growing.
But then I had other ideas that I wanted to work on and I didn’t see them fit in that Uma Chine language. So I decided to work on them alone, making soundscapes with my synths, and out of some soundscapes came songs. I started playing with the idea of constructing songs from soundscapes and then breaking these songs up again. And so at one time, I decided I wanted to do this by myself.
You’ve mentioned that the album represents your most unfiltered emotional expression to date. What allowed you to be so open and courageous in this work?
Therapy.
Can you talk a little bit about your approach to soundscaping and how you use your voice and instruments as a “palette of rich textures”?
It’s the most intuitive thing ever; I get an idea, then I have to “catch” it, record it, then play with it, and then I finish whatever I started. It comes naturally and I get into a flow. So I don’t have a premeditated concept of what the soundscape is, I don’t think that’s very interesting. I listen to the sounds, and they tell me what they need. Sometimes the result is great, sometimes, it doesn’t go well, and then I throw it away, but not before I finish the idea. That’s the discipline part.
Everything that is written about the music afterward wasn’t thought of before I made it. I just noticed afterward that there was a theme in my songs, and that I was certainly in the mood for some serious soundscaping. And because I did it mostly alone in my room, I used what was within reach; my synths, some string instruments, my voice, tape recorders, and so on.
What draws you to unconventional recording techniques like tape, cassettes, and manually piecing together samples? How do these methods impact the final sound of the album?
There is a very specific reason why I used these tapes and cassettes, and that was that I found them at the time I was writing. We just bought a house that had belonged to our neighbor for about 80 years, and we had to empty it. He was a bit of a hoarder, so we were basically browsing through a whole human life – it felt very intimate. He was a huge classical music adept, with an enormous collection of records. He also still had some really nice tape recorders, empty cassette recorders, and cassettes. So I just used what was in front of me.
I think a lot of producers use these old media in search of simplicity. We have all these choices with modern DAWs, it’s nice to not have so much choice. And sound-wise it adds softness and warmth to the sharper FM synth sounds I used, of course.
The first single, Wonder, explores introspection amid exuberance. What inspired this paradoxical theme, and how does it tie into the album’s broader narrative?
It’s a song about zoning out in the middle of a party and feeling a deep connection with someone who doesn’t see you. It’s a song about a short fleeting moment of longing for something that isn’t there and will never be.
The music video for Wonder, created by Victor Verhelst, features 90s computer game-inspired motion graphics. How did this collaboration come about, and what was it like working with Verhelst?
When I saw Victor’s work I was in the middle of making all these synthscapes, and I immediately saw a visual parallel to what I was trying to do with sound. His colors and layers really evoke movement and rhythm. Then I found out that he was also making tapestries and riso and that really got me excited to work with him; I felt that I was also weaving arpeggiators and textures, and while working with all the modern techniques that we have, wanting to implement other, older media.
We both live in Ghent, Belgium so I just asked him for coffee and he turned out to be a really cool guy, with a ton of energy, who was really fond of the music and he loved the idea of working together. For the video, but also for the live visuals and the other artwork that he made, there was a lot of back-and-forth, talking to each other about our work and our intentions, while still giving space to some mystery. I think, because we click so well personally, and we’re both so passionate about our work, the whole project became something really valuable.
Your solo gear setup is compact but delivers an expansive sound. How do you balance simplicity in equipment with the complexity of your music?
I didn’t want to use a computer for my show, because I don’t like to see computers on stage. So I started working with an MPC, which actually kind of IS a computer, to be honest, it’s a workstation that a lot of producers in the 90s used as a DAW. It’s very loop- and sample-based. I had to make choices, strip down the songs, and look for the essence of them. Basically what I do live, is send midi tracks through my synths that I can tweak and play with. I also made samples of audio tracks that I can play live, like for voices, string instruments, or tape effects.
You’ve spoken about finding stillness within chaos, both in your music and thematically. How does this duality resonate in your personal life?
I am in search of silence and structure all the time, but I wouldn’t be happy if there was no chaos to give structure to, I guess. I need both.
And to close, as always, what are some of your favorite sounds in the world?
These are hard to describe! Can I just pick the instrument that I like the most? It’s definitely the Oud.
Foxy Digitalis depends on our awesome readers to keep things rolling. Pledge your support today via our Patreon or subscribe to The Jewel Garden. You can also make a one-time donation via Ko-fi.
