After several years as a drummer and keyboardist with various bands in the Midwest and the Boston area, John Strate-Hootman (a/k/a Vir Unis) went solo to pursue his real passion: experimental sound sculpting by blending electronic and acoustic textures.

Besides exploring the sonic arts, Unis is also an accomplished visual designer. His uncanny images grace the covers of Steve Roach's "Midnight Moon" CD as well as his own releases: "The Drift Inside", "Aeonian Glow" and the forthcoming "Blood Machine".

INTERVIEW WITH VIR UNIS

SPACE.com: Your early work possessed a drastically more rhythmic quality. Do you anticipate a return to this percussive style in your future work? Or has your heart bonded too strongly with your current ethereal sound?

VIR UNIS: This newer material, such as "The Drift Inside" and "Aeonian Glow", is a sort of return to the initial spark that led me to atmospheric music and the romantic vision of space in the mid '80s. I spent years creating this type of ambient music in solitude, which remains unpublished, but helped shape the music I'm doing now. The percussive style was more experimental for me; I was really hoping to achieve something that was more dynamic and compelling than most of the ambient music that I had been doing.

As far as a return to percussive music, I have another collaboration with Steve Roach titled "Blood Machine", which is due out in Spring 2001. This is high-energy ambient groove music, a further and deeper journey into the sound that we developed for "Body Electric". Still containing an ethereal atmosphere, there’s a lot of rhythmic pyrotechnics and fractal mutation.

I also have a collaboration with Saul Stokes, which we just started this summer, that also promises to be quite percussive and frenetic. Another album, under the name "Subatomic God", is expected for 2001 release. This is a project with Steve Roach and the drummer of Mudvayne, a groove metal band. It explores an even deeper journey of dark and cathartic industrial grooves at hyperspeed, filling in the need for the more hardcore aspects of textural electronic music that we really crave to do.

I’m beginning to consciously realize that most of my groove-oriented music tends to be in collaborations, whereas my introspective and ambient space music is mainly a solitary experience. It’s certainly not organized that way consciously, but it is more a natural process for me. I find that working on a more extroverted and communal or tribal type of music is a deeper and richer experience with others involved. It's the joy of jamming together with your bros and feeling the energy connect. The other side of the ritual, which is me alone in my studio with a bunch of blinking lights, computer glow and incense burning, is a deeper introspective event because of the solitude.

SPACE.com: As electronic music has evolved over the years (from the atonal experimentation of the '60s to the Berlin School of the '70s through the ambiguous ambience of the '80s, and into the duality of spacey atmospherics and BPM-heavy techno music of the '90s), what do you foresee for the next decade?

VIR UNIS: I see music as becoming more physical and something more tangible, such as a hologram. I particularly see electronic music becoming alive in a sense, taking on the shape and physical texture of the listening environment, a total immersion. I mean, this is the ultimate goal of ambient music, I think -- to become the environment, or at least to simulate or mirror it.

I believe music and holography will merge. I can see people downloading musical holograms off the Internet and simulating journeys through all sorts of musically created worlds. I would love to see this happen.

SPACE.com: What was the last scientific discovery that made you go "Wow!"?

VIR UNIS: There are actually many, just about on a daily basis, as science and its technology are moving at such a rapid-fire pace. It’s hard to think of the last big one really. I was quite awed when I heard about the Human Genome Project closing in on mapping the human DNA sequence and identifying all 100,000 genes. I think a lot of great things can come from understanding the blueprints of the human race. Information is everything. Identifying, processing and understanding the information that (in)forms the human body will undoubtedly open many doors to the universe and beyond.

Next page: Howarth reviews several great Vir Unis albums, ranging from collaborations to solo work.

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MA JA LE & VIR UNIS: Imaginarium (CD on Mirage Records)

Set your controls for the uppermost fringes of the stratosphere with this 1998 debut release by Vir Unis, done in collaboration with the renowned Midwest ambient duo Ma Ja Le. It features contributions by Steve Roach, who also co-produced this 74-minute release.

The instrumentation here ranges from synthesizers to guitars to ethnic percussives to woodwinds to sample loops to didjeridu to reality warping. The distant hints of tribal percussion maintain a subliminal presence. The same came be said of the guitar (ranging from atmospheric processed strings to distinctly electric strains), the woodwinds . . . and even the electronics themselves, which soar and intertwine with rattling and sighing sounds.

MP3 Sample

Sample from "Adrift" (track from album "The Drift Inside")

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	MP3 Page
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The result of all these diversely utilized instruments is a sound that combines minimalism and evocative moods. The melodies are soft, drifting with an aloofness which casts mysterious shadows on the landscape. This softness is frequently punctuated with both eerie and earthly aspects.

VIR UNIS: The Drift Inside (CD on Greenhouse Music)

Although featuring Steve Roach on guitar loops for two tracks, the soundscapes on this CD belong primarily to Vir Unis, who explores a beatless region of inner space for 73 minutes.

Electronic textures dominate this music, swirling in a void with limitless resonance. This synthetic calm swells, expanding with a sparkling unearthly quality. Hidden in this mix of soothing electronics, the faint traces of wood flute add a surprising humanity to the cosmic vastness of the music.

Although lacking in prominent melody, the music is rich with harmonics that drift with a magnetic charm, luring the listener into a hypnotic and unobtrusive mood. The use of gurgling liquid sounds further entices the listener into a state of relaxation.

The pace of these compositions is unhurried, following a slow evolutionary progression. The tonalities ebb and return like an intangible surf, washing away tension and worry, and leaving a watermark of holistic purity that is deeply ingrained on the gray folds of the brain.

VIR UNIS: Aeonian Glow (CD on Greenhouse Music)

Here, we have Unis alone, generating quietly simmering ambience for 69 minutes.

Again, the electronics are calming and soft. With a broad basis of elongated tones which breathe with unnatural duration, this music creates vast sonic lakes that sit immersed in mist-shrouded valleys. The occurrence of dawn is achieved through the interplay of less-ethereal tonalities, caressing the music like light streaming through swirling vapors.

A melodic flow gradually swells during each composition, producing gentle heat amid these liquid sonics. Amiable waves of gaseous sound merge and blend with each other in an atmospheric example of oil in water. Although airy in nature, each wave possesses a distinctly contrasting identity, from sparkling echoes from an intergalactic distance to haunting sighs leaking through from another dimension.

These textures are tinged with a pleasant eeriness that elevates the music beyond mortal comprehension, plunging each track deep into a realm normally occupied by prehistoric secrets. The impression of cosmic revelation dominates these compositions, as if this tuneage were somehow channeled through Unis from spirits who ruled distant eras.