RIP Swirl makes cinematic music for shoegaze fans

RIP Swirl, aka Luka Seifert, makes tunes you’d want to listen to on the bus on a wet afternoon. His most recent album, the moody, reverberated Perfectly Blue, was inspired by a barrage of toxic positivity he saw on social media.

“[I called it that because] I feel like I’m bombarded with stuff about needing to be happy and content all the time,” he says, calling in from his flat in Kreuzberg, Berlin. ​“Otherwise I get sponsored Better Help ads. It’s so unnatural!”

In order to build the world of the album, Luka immersed himself in films made by his favourite directors: Jim Jarmusch, Harmony Korine and Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation is his favourite film). ​“I like movies that don’t have that much of a plot. [It’s more about] something that surrounds you, a feeling,” he explains. Fitting, given that so much of Luka’s music is best enjoyed while wandering around and romanticising your day.

The German musician and producer grew up in Hamburg, where he started playing guitar as a teenager in death metal bands: ​“When you’re into metal, you’re only into metal. Everything else seems shitty.” His first foray outside of the genre came at 18 when he began going out to clubs. ​“When I first saw acts like Justice, they had the energy from a metal show, but it was electronic. It was different from the trance, techno stuff I had seen before.” It was a pivotal moment for the artist, who credits those early days of partying with giving him a more open mind.

This experimental approach would later come in handy at university, when Luka realised that his friends and bandmates were beginning to take music less seriously than he was. ​“I was the only one who was really playing with the idea of it as a full time job,” he says. As a result, he went at it solo, collecting electronic equipment to expand his sound and moving to Berlin after graduation.

Like many in the city, he started as a DJ, gaining attention for his expansive sets in clubs such as Tresor. But over Covid, the shuttering of nightlife drew him away from the decks and back towards his guitar. In 2022, RIP Swirl produced his debut album Blurry, a pensive, dream-like offering that would lay the foundations for his next album. Now with two shoegaze‑y examples of electronica under his belt, he’s considering a return to DJing.

​“The scene is at a point where indie and electronic music is fused, like in 2012 and 2013,” he says. ​“We’re back to a time where it’s cool again. I enjoy playing an electronic set and dropping a Yeah Yeah Yeah’s track or something.”

Where does your artist name come from?

There was a show that I really liked on HBO called The Larry Sanders Show. It’s a really good nineties [series] about a TV host. His manager’s name is Rip Torn and I thought that was really cool, but I didn’t want to rip his name off so I gave it a morbid [spin]. It’s basically nonsense.

Who’s your dream collaborator?

Kevin Shields. I’m a huge My Bloody Valentine fan. Or [a collaboration with] King Krule. I think he’s one of the most talented writers of our generation.

If you could get a guitar lesson from anyone dead or alive, who would it be?

Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth.

What was the last movie you watched?

I rewatched Heat and I loved it. The soundtrack is so minimal and so good. I love when a crazy action scene starts and the music just goes away. I prefer it to something like Dune which has this maxed out, epic soundtrack.

What are you tired of seeing?

I’m a little bit tired of content in general, I can’t even go on Instagram anymore. Between the 900 accounts of content and the crazy personalised commercials, it’s too much. It’s very tiring seeing the same shit over and over again on social media.

Have you ever stolen anything?

When I was about 16, my second girlfriend really wanted some earrings from H&M but she couldn’t buy them so I just took them for her.

If you had 15 minutes left to live, what would you do?

Probably spend it with Coco [his cat], she doesn’t have anyone else. I would feel bad doing anything else for the last 15 minutes.

If you were to score a film, who would direct it?

A Jim Jarmusch movie would be amazing. The music is already so good and it’s inspired me so much, I would love to make something for him.

What’s the weirdest DM you’ve ever received?

I received a really weird one last week where someone wrote to me and said that they needed to know how I make my drums, otherwise they were going to lose their mind and go to the mental hospital. That was weird.

What’s your most treasured possession?

My guitar, my Fender Jaguar. It’s a signature Johnny Marr and I customised it a bit. I’ve never needed another guitar, I don’t even touch the others anymore. I got it before Blurry and I think it was part of why I got back into the guitar as an instrument. A good connection with your instrument can almost change the way your life goes.