Q&A: REIFIER ON HORROR, ANXIETY, AND CRAFTING THE WORLD OF ‘THE FLAME’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY DANY MIRELES ☆
REIFIER INVITES US INTO THE SONIC EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE OF ‘THE FLAME’— In conversation with The Luna Collective, Reifier talks about the upcoming EP The Flame, inspired by horror literature and the sensation of being pursued by an unseen force, transforming anxiety into almost something cinematic; a presence that grows louder the more you try to outrun it. Rather than framing fear as something to defeat, Reifier explores what happens when you stop running and allow yourself to feel it fully.
Rooted in a multidisciplinary background that includes theatre, composition and production, Reifier’s music unfolds less like a traditional song cycle and more like a carefully crafted atmosphere. Every sonic feels intentional—not just as texture but as a narrative. It places the listener into an emotional environment rather than simply telling them about it. From unconventional time signatures to tactile sound designs, this EP reflects an artist unafraid to let sound lead the story.
Photo by Soledad Violeta
LUNA: The Flame is inspired by a horror novel and the idea of an unseen force pursuing someone. What drew you to horror as a creative lens? What does “the monster” represent to you?
REIFIER: For me it represents anxiety, something I’ve been dealing with for quite some time. I think that when it comes to mental health, everyone experiences it differently. In my case, the more I tried to run away from or avoid what I was feeling, the bigger the “monster” became. That’s why in the song I express how sometimes it’s necessary to stop and allow yourself to feel what you’re feeling. Of course, we can’t always do that on our own, and it’s important to surround ourselves with both professional help and a strong support network.
LUNA: You used matches and fire as percussive elements on the track. Was that a conceptual choice or a sonic experiment that evolved into meaning?
REIFIER: It was a conceptual choice. When I first started the song, it was meant to be part of a multidisciplinary concert I was creating, and in one of the transitions, I needed the audience to feel surrounded by fire. In the end, I didn’t use the composition for the performance.A year later, I decided to revisit it and give it a new meaning.
LUNA: How does this single set the emotional or narrative tone for your EP as a whole?
REIFIER: The Flame sets the emotional tone of the EP by introducing the idea of facing what pursues us instead of running from it. It establishes a space where vulnerability and introspection coexist, which becomes a recurring thread throughout The Unfolding. Narratively, it opens the door to the inner world of the record where fear, desire and self-reflection are not resolved immediately but are explored throughout the songs. In that sense, the track acts as an entry point, inviting the listener to stay with uncomfortable emotions and to move through them rather than escape them.
LUNA: How does your background in narrative and performance shape the way you build a track compared to a traditional producer?
REIFIER: I think my background naturally shapes the way I build a track, even if I’m not always aware of it in the moment. I grew up developing theatre and music side by side, so storytelling and performance are part of how I instinctively think about sound. That sensibility often comes through, even in my vocal delivery, which people have described as having a theatrical quality.
Rather than starting from a traditional song structure, I tend to think in terms of atmosphere and emotional movement, allowing the music itself to carry the narrative before the lyrics step in. That’s why I’m drawn to working with non-traditional sound sources like paper, water or fire, using them to create immersive environments that place the listener inside the emotional world of each piece.
LUNA: Your music feels very cinematic and physiological. When you start a track, do you picture a scene, a character or an emotion first?
REIFIER: I’ve gone through many different stages, from starting with lyrics to creating conceptual records where each song had a specific role within a larger idea. In the case of The Unfolding, my exploration was primarily sonic. I would improvise and then listen closely to where the music was taking me, allowing that direction to later be explored through words.
It was a process that helped me move away from approaching songs in a purely rational way. Instead, through sound textures, I began to build the scenes and environments that the music itself was guiding me through.
LUNA: As a composer, producer and vocalist, do you experience those roles as separate mindsets? Or do they all exist as one creative voice when you’re working on new music?
REIFIER: I mainly try to divide the process into two stages—something I’ve been doing more consciously thanks to Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being where he talks about the phases of experimentation and crafting. In the past, I would often start a song and immediately begin applying mixing processes, which would slow me down because I’d get stuck crafting the sound of something as specific as a snare drum instead of moving the song forward.
Now, I try to experiment and progress as much as possible during the composition and sound design phase. Once the idea is clearer, I move into the crafting stage, where I think more like an engineer and producer, focusing on refining each sound and the overall sonic picture. It’s not always easy to resist jumping back and forth between the two mindsets, but this approach has helped me a lot. I follow a similar process with vocals. I first record a guide vocal, and during the crafting stage, I record the final vocal.
LUNA: You’re based between Mexico City and London. How do those two scenes influence your artistic vision and textures in your music?
REIFIER: Living between Mexico City and London constantly reshapes the way I approach my music. Mexico is an essential part of who I am. That influence often emerges in my songwriting, especially in the way Spanish allows me to build vivid, almost cinematic images through words. That sense of place and storytelling is something I carry with me wherever I work. London, on the other hand, marked a turning point during the creation of The Unfolding. Moving from an environment that felt completely familiar to one where everything was unknown brought a spectrum of emotions, ranging from curiosity and excitement to moments of isolation. I believe relocating to a new place reveals sides of yourself you might not otherwise encounter. Experiencing both cities has ultimately reinforced my belief in music as a universal language, one that allows me to connect with very different audiences while still feeling true to myself.
LUNA: Was there a moment during the making of The Flame where the piece surprised you or changed direction from your original idea?
REIFIER: Yes, the bridge. Once I had the intro and the verses, I wasn’t entirely sure where the song should go next. I ended up taking short vocal fragments from the verse, duplicating them, changing the pitch of each one, and letting them shift differently over time. As the passage progresses, the relationship between the voices subtly changes. I really liked the result because it felt like an abstract way of representing fire and its movement, and I think it also gives the listener a moment of release from the main theme.
LUNA: Is there a technique, sound experiment or compositional risk on the EP that feels like a breakthrough to you?
REIFIER: I think there were several moments like that. “Dreamscape” began as a composition without a metronome, and when I tried to assign it a time signature, I struggled to find one until I decided to count it in 11/4 instead of forcing it into 4/4. In that same track, I also used paper to create textures by tearing and crumpling it. In The Unfolding, I used water as a percussive element, and in The Flame, fire. Overall, I allowed myself to experiment freely. Through that process, I discovered new ways of creating, which expanded my horizons both as a composer and as a producer.
LUNA: With your EP on the way, what else can we expect from you? Should fans expect to hear these songs live anytime soon?
REIFIER: Yes, I’ll be performing in Mexico City during the first months of the year. Over the summer, the plan is to play shows in England and in different parts of Europe to promote the EP. At the same time, I’ll continue creating new music with the goal of releasing more material in the near future.
