Vaporwave in 2021: Faith In Persona
Faith In Persona by death’s dynamic shroud is an album like no other I’ve ever heard. Combining off-the-wall sampling with a keen pop sensibility, this project features sprawling songs filled with loops that can put you in a trance but still keep you dancing. It sounds like pop from one hundred years in the future, and somehow always feels like blasting off into space. I was lucky enough to speak with Keith Rankin, member of death’s dynamic shroud and the mastermind behind Faith In Persona. What follows is a track-by-track review of Faith In Persona, interspersed with commentary from the man who made it happen.
Rankin made Faith In Persona in only two months, noting that this was faster than it would normally take him. “When I started, my goal was to just do a track a day,” Keith explained, “And it kinda was like that. I would spend the whole day getting the basic structure together. I got through the meat of each song really quickly and the rest of the time was spent adding details and transitions between sections.” Though said nonchalantly, a song a day is no easy feat, and the fact that this project came together as well as it did is a testament to Rankin’s dedication. But that’s enough preamble – let’s talk about the music.
The album kicks off with the monumental banger “Tear in Abyss,” throwing the listener into the world of Faith In Persona. The song somehow continues to ascend for its entire seven minute runtime and features layers of fluid production, supported by smooth synth passages with both ethereal and percussive textures. Everything is extremely catchy, from the hook to the “I would be wrong” refrain that erupts into the track. This song is truly a complete experience and wonderful introduction to the dancy, exciting sounds of the album.
The following songs, “See Me” and “Faith in Persona,” continue the pop vibes while featuring many left-field excursions through pitched vocal samples and sporadic synth hits, turning traditional pop aesthetics on their head. “See Me” cuts in with a heavenly intro and falls into an infectious groove. “Faith in Persona” might be the danciest song yet, carrying a trancelike vibe with its looped sampling. Both songs maintain a high energy, detailed production, and thoughtful transitions between sections, seamlessly covering an impressive range of musical styles.
At this point, it is worth highlighting that Faith In Persona has a more accessible sound than most of the albums by death’s dynamic shroud, as well as those of Rankin’s solo project, Giant Claw. When asked about this sonic shift, Rankin commented, “That was a pretty active decision. I wanted to make choruses and have pop structures. I had flirted with those ideas before but never full on committed to, I guess, a tighter, traditional song structure. It was like, if I made a pop or dance album, what would that be? And this is what it would be.”
The fourth and fifth songs continue the dancy, pop aesthetics effortlessly. “Pop Chin” features an unrelenting new wave-inspired beat while maintaining ample space in the mix, allowing the song to breathe. And don’t forget about the huge eighties-sounding drum fills that roll through the track. “Someone in the Room” is a bit darker and borders on psychedelic but maintains the same energy as its predecessors, featuring a driving bassline that pulses through ear-wormy synth passages that pop in just often enough to keep you on your toes.
As someone who has never made sample-based music, I was curious to ask Rankin how songs like these come about. Rankin replied, “I’ll take an a cappella and cut it up into syllables or small phrases and rearrange it until I come up with a new vocal line or melody that sounds how I want it to. I’ll do pitch automation to make the notes hit the chords I’m playing underneath. On some tracks I would load up a sample or a pop song and play a bassline under it, and then remove the pop song.”
The following “Just to be Needed,” however, is a much-needed slowdown on the album and was definitely not born out of a bassline. “The first minute or two of ‘Just to be Needed’ are a straight-up slowed down sample from the anime Carole & Tuesday,” Rankin stated.
“I added a bit of organ to it, but it's pretty much straight up unaltered. My intention with that was gonna be to drop the sample, play over it, and take it out. But I just kinda ran out of time, to be honest. So the first minute and a half or so are a Caroline Tuesday thing, but I evolved the song after that to a place where I felt pretty good about it. It went in a different enough direction, so I just left the intro part intact. The second half, I even did some of the vocals in there. There’s a lot more original stuff in that second half.”
I thanked Rankin for leaving the sample in the song, because it is so impactful and forms the backbone of what is probably my favorite song on the record. The first half is a powerful slow build and it explodes into a euphoric payoff. The song is incredibly human while also sounding larger than life, and it feels like the emotional climax of a movie.
Following “Just to be Needed” is “Last Minutes of the Memory,” an incredible return to the infectious pop from the first half of the record. With shimmering production and a wonderful guitar line, this might be the catchiest song on the entire album, building into an incredible breakdown with gigantic drum fills and enveloping synths. At this point in the album, my legs are exhausted and my brain is overstimulated. But before the last song, Rankin includes a minute-long interlude of silence as a bit of a cool down. He commented:
“‘Last Minutes of the Memory’ felt like the climax. To me that was the ending of the album, and if it just went into another song there it wouldn’t feel right. It’d feel weird. I was kinda thinking about the silent track leading into a secret track. A bunch of albums used to do that—lead into a secret track after ten minutes of silence. So it was kinda like that, and it was also just catching your breath after ‘Last Minutes of the Memory.’ ‘RIP’ was more like a credit roll, an outro to the whole album.”
The last song, “RIP,” does feel like an outro for the album, a cooldown before departing from the world of Faith In Persona. Built over an insanely creative Olivia Rodrigo sample, the song is a perfect lowkey conclusion that really feels like the end of something. It evokes profound emotions that reach depths beyond pure sadness. When asked how he made it, Rankin replied, “I ran the audio through this granular synth and did a bunch of iterations of it. The result was this almost whispery, really mangled version of that sample. After I had that, I added the synthesizer and the chords beneath it.”
At this point, I don’t have much more to say. You should probably just go listen to the album. There is only so much I can communicate with words, and I can’t blow your mind like this record will. I’ll just say that I’m quite excited for what’s down the pipeline for death’s dynamic shroud. Rankin fed this excitement, stating, “I feel like since I made this under a time restriction, there’s more to do and there are more ideas I have with that pop structure. And obviously people seemed to like it a lot.” If this is the pop album Rankin could make in a couple months, I can’t wait to hear where his music will go next. Maybe it will be pop music from three hundred years in the future — hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
Edited by Nate Culbert, editor of Music You Need To Know
Cover art by Louise Gagnon
