Halifax’s Cyrus R.O.’s new solo album is deliciously weird. Eclectically esoteric and mathematically-inspired, DECONVOLUTION is a look into Cyrus’ own style and the workings of his mind outside the more familiar context of Halifax rockers Dali Van Gogh.
“The record was written and recorded in a time of personal and professional uncertainty for me—the completion of my undergrad, the collapsing of one band and quitting of another, so on and so forth,” explains Cyrus. “Deconvolution is the inverse of a mathematical operation called convolution, wherein two signals are combined. In audio, basically the frequency content of two sounds are multiplied together.
“Deconvolution, the inverse process, has a lot of applications in signal processing related to getting rid of noise and unwanted artifacts in the signal. Basically, you’re cleaning up the signal and making it clear again. For me, this record was sort of about doing that with my career path.”
The album consists of nine tracks, including the previously released singles “Bones” and “All Your Cards are on the Table.” The style tends to shift from an electronic feel to intriguing pop-rock vocals and, if you haven’t figured out by the end of the album, Cyrus doesn’t like to get too comfortable in any one genre.
The intro track opens with a theme of sorts, giving us a feel for the outside-the-box sounds yet to come. Cyrus combines a jumble of guitar-plucks for something that might be a familiar take on a convoluted soundcheck. This brings us to stand out title track “Deconvolution.” The blending of instruments and Cyrus’s vocal range is an impressive feat on this track and the closest we will get to hearing his former rock sound.
“’Deconvolution’ is loosely about the uncertainty people who make their careers in artistic fields face. The verses are talking rather directly about people going through those things in the abstract,” says Cyrus. “The chorus is a lot more personal, and although it’s fairly general, it’s basically about my personal uncertainty: the last little bit where I had gotten so far in an academic career in physics and was struggling to navigate the decision between further pursuing that and dropping it all and making a serious go at music.”
What started as a throw-away track, “Sex and Love and Violence and Drugs” was crafted using Aesop Rock for inspiration, and resulted in a standout on the album. The groovy synth-bass leads us down a road of pleasantly dynamic and heavily reverbed vocals.
“This song is basically me bashing various forms of creative gatekeeping in music. Creative stagnance in general,” explains Cyrus. “I’m a big fan of boldness in art. I think by nature it’s supposed to be fun and a bit experimental. Sometimes it’s ok for things to not be perfect if there’s a cool idea at the core of it. This is not to take away from the value of carrying forward traditions, nor of taking your time to really craft something carefully and as close to flawlessly as you can. However, I think there is a big problem when people bash things or draw sweeping conclusions on them without really understanding them, and yet I think we really are quite accustomed to doing that with art. I mean it’s not that you can’t fairly criticize something but people often mistake their subjective experiences with subjective fact.”
Although the soundtrack of the album may seem abstract, Cyrus always creates with a purpose behind each melody or word. The album is tied together with heavy self-reflection and works through his personal thoughts.
“For me personally, this record is symbolic of my decision to make that choice and fully commit to building my music career. This is just a first effort and there’s plenty more to come, but it’s the first full release I’m putting out and really the first substantial thing I’ve done since committing myself to this path. So the record is kind of like a deconvolution in my own life and career.”