Fischer King “Memory Into Error”

Los Angeles based producer and composer Fischer King creates pitch-black alternative pop, with influences that range from James Blake and Nine Inch Nails to Claude Debussy and Herbie Hancock. As a child he forged an early love for tense, bombastic classical music before diving headfirst into the punk rock and hip hop scenes that surrounded him in Detroit. After moving to LA as a young adult, Fischer has spent years working behind the glass for a host of artists, producers and directors, constantly absorbing inspiration and refining his sonic identity.

Released in the fall of a chaotic 2020, his debut self-titled EP epitomized what he calls “existential crisis pop”: familiar pop mechanics wrapped up in an often claustrophobic package, and lyrically preoccupied with self-deception, addiction and rootlessness. Built around simple drum beats, pitch-shifted guitars, and strings and synths that are always falling out of tune, the songwriter explained, “Ultimately I wanted everything to feel just ever-so-slightly bent.”

His latest single “Memory Into Error” veers into more lush, cinematic territory, floating above his signature textural unease, rumbling low-end, and distinctly upfront vocals. Of the song, the musician states, “In a broad sense it’s about how things slip away – time, people, life – both in a literal sense, and the way you feel about them. But more specifically, it’s about how deeply malleable human memory is. It’s not a photograph or a recording. Memories invariably become stories that you’ve told yourself over and over and over again. And sometimes those stories are better than the truth.”

In addition to preparing for live performances around Los Angeles, King also recently completed his first feature film score for the drama “This Is Your Song” and is currently composing music for “Into That Good Night – The Last of The Nightingales,” a documentary about the tragic loss of sound in the natural world, centering on the work of Bernie Krause, a soundscape ecologist.