FMSAO’s music has always been driven by experimentation rather than following a fixed formula. His work moves between ambient, IDM, house and other electronic styles, with each release reflecting another stage in his musical evolution.
His latest single, “Voda,” sees him leaning further into dance music while keeping the lo-fi character that has become part of his sound.
We caught up with FMSAO to discuss his various projects, the making of his 24-track album Ultimae, his experience running Fuselab, and the moment he decided to stop chasing trends and return to making music on his own terms.
Your project is called FMSAO – can you tell me what’s behind that name, and how you landed on it instead of something else?
I used to have a project called Feldmaus – that’s where I was recording field recordings and layering them over analogue ambient. At some point it ran its course and it was time to move on. FMSAO as an abbreviation doesn’t really mean anything specific – it just kind of echoes the sound of Feldmaus as a shorthand, and on top of that I’ve always had a thing for FM radio. Everything just kind of fell into place.
You’ve worked under several different names – FMSAO, WOLS, the duo Narcissi, and also 25/4. How do you decide which sound or idea belongs to which name? Does it ever happen that a track just doesn’t fit into any of them?
I think it’s more about form than content, really – because across all the projects I’m channelling roughly the same vibe. WOLS, for instance, leans more into bass and dancefloor sounds, a bit more aggressive and energetic, with a slight future flavour. Narcissi is pretty straightforward – that’s me and Sasha Koett, vocals and folk themes. And 25/4 is kind of a side project for remixes and features – exactly for those cases when something doesn’t quite fit anywhere else. A catch-all, basically.
Between “Salt” (2021) and “Ultimae” (2024), you released several other records – “OST ZAL” and “Tales of Severe Damage.” How did your internal compass shift over that time – what were you searching for sonically at the start of that stretch, and what are you searching for now?
I started out with more abstract forms – closer to lo-fi ambient – and then classical electronic and IDM elements started creeping in. From there I moved toward a more dancefloor-oriented sound: house, dancefloor IDM, even some jungle influences. That’s roughly how the FMSAO sound picture has developed – not in a perfectly straight line, but you can definitely trace the journey by ear.
“Ultimae” is your biggest release so far, 24 tracks. How did an album that size come together – was it a single vision from the beginning, or more of an archive of ideas that eventually clicked into one story?
I don’t usually start with a specific concept for an album. I just write different tracks throughout the year and build up a kind of archive. Then I go back through it and look at what fits the vibe I want to put out at that particular moment – and that’s how the album takes shape. I get a rough sense of it, and then I start polishing and finishing everything so it holds together as a coherent whole. I also do a single mastering pass across all the tracks to make sure they share one unified sound.
You’re one of the founders of the Fuselab label. What changed in your relationship to music once you became not just the person making it, but the one deciding what gets released and how it reaches listeners?
Honestly, my core vision hasn’t changed – it’s just that the stylistic boundaries have expanded and keep expanding. It’s been a genuinely useful experience for me as an artist too. The label puts out a wider range of moods and sounds, sure, but ultimately I still ask myself whether I personally love the music – because I don’t have any real measure other than my own taste and instinct. Commercial logic is unreliable and short-lived. But music you truly love with your whole heart – that always wins in the end.
Tell me about a collaboration that went off-script creatively – one that ended up somewhere you never would have predicted going in.
That’s probably the Narcissi project. Sasha and I got together just to reminisce – we used to play in a band called Modul together. We started messing around with synths in the studio, no particular idea or goal, just enjoying the process for its own sake. And then at some point it just hit us: why not sing a folk song over our music? Take a traditional song and completely reformat it into our electronic world. What came out was totally unexpected. The whole thing clicked – we ended up releasing an album on Aisha Devi’s label Danse Noire and played some pretty big shows. Neither of us had any real experience as vocalists before that. It was pure DIY, start to finish.
Ambient and IDM are often treated as “background” music. What do you build into the sound so it can sit in the background and still reward full attention if someone chooses to really listen?
Yeah, that’s often true. A lot of people treat ambient and lighter IDM as wallpaper. But I think the key to getting people’s attention is rhythm – not just drums, but a tight, groovy mechanism that makes your body want to move. That’s hard to ignore, and honestly, it’s just fun. As for music that has no rhythm at all – classic ambient, say – there you need strong emotions that break through the grey stream of everyday noise. That’s how it earns attention too, in its own way.
Is there a track or album that listeners have interpreted completely differently from what you originally intended? How do you feel about that?
You know, I’ve come to realise that happens pretty much every time. The artist thinks one thing, the listener hears something completely different. There’s always a shared thread, sure – but the nuances of perception vary. Electronic music is basically built on the subjective experience of the listener. And since no two people or lives are the same, there will always be different readings. That said, a shared cultural frame and the artist’s intention do set the overall tone – and it’s worth trying to make that readable and clear. That way the listener has an easier time finding their way into what you’re doing.
One of your latest releases is called “X-Flies.” Can you give a hint at what it represents for you – a continuation of what came before, or a deliberate turn in a new direction?
This is actually that moment where I turned more toward dance music. There’s a clear house rhythm here, a bassline, repeating melodies – a pretty classic approach to house. But I still keep my own vibe and lo-fi techniques in there, because without those it wouldn’t really be FMSAO. This direction started taking shape a couple of years ago and I plan to keep going with it this year.
Was there a turning point in your musical life that changed something not just for you as an artist, but as a person – after which you saw the whole reason for doing this differently?
Yeah, I think there was. Early on I was in a band called Modul. We started with IDM and dub techno, all kinds of sound experiments – it was very much part of the DIY culture and the electronic hippy scene. Then, almost without noticing, we drifted into the club world and started playing more and more late-night venues. The music shifted toward minimal techno and tech house, the goals changed. We were releasing on vinyl, DJs were playing our tracks – the whole classic dance music story. And honestly? I didn’t even fully understand why I was doing it anymore, because where we’d started was something else entirely. Good dance music is great, but when it becomes about commerce or following trends – that’s the death of experimentation and DIY. At some point I ended up in hospital, and I had a lot of time to think about where I was and where I was headed. Something reset. I realised I didn’t need commercial dancefloor success, the expensive clubs, all of that. I started going back to my roots and just making what I actually love, without any particular agenda. And you know what? The music got so much better than when I was chasing what was fashionable. Honest music always wins – even if it’s not a mainstream style or a popular form. What matters is that you love it deeply, to your core. When that’s there, the listener feels it – and the success follows.
If someone discovering FMSAO for the first time could listen to just one track to understand who you are as an artist, which one would it be, and why?
Tough one, given how wide the range is. But I’d say the most recent single with Vika Kuchak – “Voda.” I think that track has everything that’s characteristic of me as FMSAO.
FMSAO‘s story is ultimately one of experimentation, independence and finding the confidence to follow his own instincts. From the early days of Modul and Feldmaus to the constantly evolving FMSAO project, his approach has remained rooted in curiosity rather than commercial expectations.
As FMSAO continues to develop its own distinctive space within electronic music, the project’s latest release, “Voda,” with Vika Kuchak, offers another example of that evolving sound.
Sitting somewhere between warm house and soft IDM, the track combines FMSAO’s familiar lo-fi textures with an ambient feel, creating something subtle, warm, and immersive.
With a broad catalogue, multiple projects and a philosophy built around making music he genuinely believes in, FMSAO continues to prove that electronic music doesn’t need to follow a fixed path.
Listen to ‘Voda’ below!
