Viiaan is an artist who defies simple categorisation. Originally hailing from Mexico, Viiaan is now based in New York where she says has given her the confidence to explore who she is and be more experimental with her sound. It’s also a city where she feels the safe to do it, surrounded by likeminded artists such as the Kindergarten Records crew and Dripping who she played for at Nowadays. Over the years, Viiaan has built a distinctive yet dynamic artistic vision whether that’s through her self-released works, contributions to esteemed labels such as Woozy or via her record label Voragine where she released her debut album, ‘Fusagasuga’, and is a platform for championing experimental club music and visual arts.
Weaving spirituality, vulnerability, and self-exploration into her music and art, these themes all come together on Viiaan’s latest work, ‘Marakame’, a new album which has just been released on DJ Plead’s SUMAC. Featuring remixes from Cassius Select and Siete Catorce, ‘Marakame’ is deeply personal body of work that she started working on around two years ago as a way of dealing with grief.
In this interview, Viiaan opens up about the journey that led to Marakame—a deeply introspective work influenced by her connection to indigenous spirituality and her quest for healing through sound. Her art is a manifestation of raw emotion and personal growth, inviting listeners to embrace their own vulnerabilities. Viiaan’s approach is as much about transformation as it is about creating music, making her a powerful voice for authenticity and introspective creativity. Through Marakame and her immersive style, Viiaan explores what it means to be grounded in oneself, yet open to the mysteries that lie beyond. This conversation delves into her creative process, the influence of spirituality in her work and the ease of being vulnerable within her art.
Hey Viiaan! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me. How are you doing at the moment? What has the last month been like for you?
Hey Chanel! Thank you so much for taking the time to have a chat with me, last month is been a really introspective and amazing journey of change for me, since I step a foot in Europe I found out i am very different from the person i was 4 months ago, I feel full of love and very thankful to have my friends and new people around me and reconnecting with music. I been based in Berlin for the past three months and it definitely changed me .
We’re here to talk about your deeply personal brilliant new album, ‘Marakame’, which was just released on DJ Plead’s SUMAC label. What can you tell us about the early beginnings of this work? What was the initial source of inspiration for this album?
I started working on this album two years ago, and it happened to be the time when I also lost someone I love and loved me.
What is the meaning behind the album name ‘Marakame’?
Marakame” or “mara’akame” means “who knows” or “who sees” in Huichol, an indigenous language of Mexico. Marakame also refers to shamans, who are considered intermediaries between the human and spiritual worlds.
The album was made during a time of grieving for you, which you state in the press release has been the last two years. What has the process been like channeling those emotions into your music?
It’s a full healing experience. Music is been always by my side and i appreciate the tools technology offers so I can channel my emotions through sounds. It was definitely easier to work on it at the beginning cause I was full of sadness, I became a loner, it was just me and my emotions, my friends tried to be there for me but honestly sometimes you can’t put yourself outside and be vulnerable, i didn’t really had energy to talk much I was in survival mode. I was feeling alone in a different country with none of my family around me. I experienced dead in different aspects of my life in that period and it was just very hard for me to understand what was happening and what was my role or what I was supposed to do to feel better, so music was my only refuge as always.
Do you find it easier to be vulnerable when you’re producing versus day-to-day life?
Definitely, I make music most of the time when I have something to say but not really with words cause it can be hard to define how deep I can feel certain feelings but within music. Its my second if not primary language, I think every single track I made has a personal speech.
How has it felt creating music that is so personal to you knowing that this will be released publicly and that others will most likely bring their own perception to the project?
I don’t think about that much. I’m just down for people to see me for who I am and If they want to know me I think a good way to do it it’s through my music. I am very extreme, either very introverted or very extroverted so with music I’m just there and it’s nice that people can have their own opinion about what they perceive about me. I don’t want be just only one thing, I would like to be whatever people thinks or feel about me cause why not?
There’s mentions of spirituality and ritual practices within the album’s concept and how you connect with those two themes. One relating to the relationships of people passed and the other is with the way the music sounds, using percussion to emulate the sound of rituals. What is your personal relationship to these two themes?
I love music that makes me feel I am in a trance, very primitive, like a monkey, so for me a ritual is a form of meditation which can help me or others to just be present and be able to let go control over things and thoughts, a ritual is a way to connect with energy and mostly my body. It’s another way to go other “places” to visit other people that might or not be alive.
Has music helped you get closer to them?
Music is that car you drive to go away. To go somewhere you want to feel free and safe. When I am dancing I’m nowhere but in my heart.
What was the production journey like making the album? Were there any key lessons or breakthroughs discovered along the way?
The first 5 tracks were made in a period of two – three months, I was working on them mostly every night, and once they were ready I got feedback through email from one of my music heroes Omar – Batu from Timedance, then I had a period where I was a bit blocked. I didn’t know what was next the only thing I knew was that the album wasn’t ready and that I needed more time to figure out the next step. After 7 months Batu and I ran into each other and we had a brief conversation about production during Sustain Release and basically Omar got my inspiration back into place and I was ready to start working on the tracks again, with a more solid idea of where I wanted to go with this project. I started working on the Dub versions and I was feeling pretty good about the result. Then I met Jarred/Dj Plead in the backyard of Nowadays and Lavurn/Cassius Select was also there, it was like for a reason I happened to be at that exact moment when I crossed with two people that I truly admire, I think life really wanted me to be there and talked to them.
Did you face any creative blocks during this process? If so, do you have any routines or practices that help you get through them?
As I mentioned earlier I actually was struggling for a couple of months – tried to get into production but nothing really worked for me. I was not able to find any inspiration – I really needed some help to get through that period and other people’s perspective where key for me to focus on the next step.
Having lived in both Mexico City and New York City, how does the environment you’re in impact your art? Do you think these cities have influenced you in different ways?
Definitely growing up in Mexico City helped to shape and define my personality, it gave me the courage to leave and find my own identity. It’s been interesting seeing how much I grew up with ideas that no longer belong to me. It takes time to see yourself in the mirror and understand you are not who you used to be or that you are in a place you don’t identified. I think it all depends on who you are, I don’t really know if i belong to a place, I love traveling and staying in places for short periods of time, sometimes longer than I expected, I’m in Berlin right now and I don’t know how this happened but the fact that SUMAC is based here made sense for me to stay cause it feels like home.
I think I have a long distance relationship with Mexico and I want to keep it as it is.
And living in New York definitely gave me the confidence to explore more who am I within the experimental music. A lot of my favorite producers live in NY so I think its like a safe place for my sound.
Were there any influences outside of music that helped form ‘Marakame’?
I think my relationship with loneliness and depression, I was not only grieving a person when I started working in this album, I was also grieving my culture, my country, and some friendships.
How does this album fit into your wider artistic narrative? Are there any connections to your previous releases?
Absolutely, my music is like a time travel through my life. It’s like the history channel of Viiaan. I can also hear or perceive within my sound how I changed my way of thinking about music and how also I always have this distinctive emotional moments that remind me what I was doing at those moments. In this album I also wanted to explore the club sound, I wanted my tracks to be more for the dance floor and for different types of vibes, I wanted to create an album where no matter what are you into in music you could relate to MARAKAME in certain ways.
How did the connection with SUMAC come about? What makes this label the perfect home for ‘Marakame’?
Well, Dj Plead is another favorite, since I heard his music long time ago I thought it had a very similar ritual forestry vibe that I always tried to find, Cassius Select is I think the artist who I played the most tracks. I really liked the way he use vocals and this dark textures within the club sound. It’s such an honor to have his remix as part of this project, it feels like a dream to me to have the chance to collaborate with Lavurn, and Siete Catorce is someone i look up, his music is so unique – full of contrast and rhythm, percussions, broken drums and kicks. So when i thought about this three guys together i was like: this would be just the perfect outcome of my album, to be able to be with them in a project and be a part of a label that i always wanted to be in. But of course Jarred gave me the confidence and validation that i needed, and as soon as he listened to the tracks he got back to me and we started working on the final stage of the album.
What do you hope people take away from ‘Marakame’ when they listen to it?
I hope they can connect with their bodies, I hope they can be in the dance floor or if I could choose the perfect scenario it would be in the woods and feel comfortable within nature and sound to let go anything that is keeping them from being their primitive self.
How does listening to ‘Marakame’ now versus during the production process make you feel?
I feel in peace – very grateful and rewarded for the response. There’s nothing like having people i admire and my friends supporting me and taking the time to listen to my work. I feel ready for the next chapter and MARAKAME just got me started on this new journey.
Thank you so much for his interview I was every happy to have a space to talk about the deepest part of this 9 track album.
‘Marakame’ by Viiaan is out now via SUMAC – buy here.