Posted by Mikey Rodge on October 23 2015

Aaron Spence, a.k.a. Fractal Sky is an electro-soul producer from Arkansas. In the last few years, he has been steadily mastering his sound and creating an impressive following in his home state and beyond. With the incorporation of a full live backing band and even live dancers, Fractal Sky has been getting booked more and more at festivals around the region such as Wakarusa, Backwoods Music Festival, Dancefestopia and has rocked club shows with acts including GRiZ, The Floozies, EOTO, Freddy Todd, and more. We sat down with Fractal Sky about his music and what he plans on next.

Fractal Sky - Leaves

How did you first get into making music?

I was like three or four years old just fooling around on my grandmother's piano, and the second I touched the keys I was hooked on just creating my own type of sound. I later went on to play in the concert and jazz band in high school then went through the screamo and hard-core metal stages all in the meanwhile I was producing music on Fruity Loops. I created my first track for a PowerPoint project in high school class. I used to make breakbeat and trance and then I later discovered newer styles which slowed down my BPM's to what I make now.

How did Fractal Sky get started?

It all began in 2009 when I started my first EP and after that one day a friend asked me to play his birthday party and I honestly didn't know how to play live or anything so I was mostly winging it. Around my parts in Arkansas no one was using Ableton so I had to pretty much be self taught and that's how I've gained a lot of my knowledge through online references and teaching myself. I had already been seasoned and Fruity Loops, Acid Pro and Reason. However, moving to Ableton was definitely a different thing but the creative workflow is unlike any other so that is my choice for my work platform.

Can you describe the type of sound you play?

The Fractal Sky sound is all about releasing organic feelings and emotions into sound. Whether it be happy, sad, hard, heavy, or soft, you're going to get that from Fractal Sky. Now, with the live band we take that to a whole new level. When we play you may never know what to expect. Sometimes we have improvisational moments where we just release our feelings.

Speaking of the live band, can you tell us how that came together?

I had been in bands prior to that of course, but the only way I knew what to do it all myself was by playing solo DJ sets for a few years. When I met Jon, my sax player, one night we jammed at a house party and it just clicked. So we decided to do this live band thing. That was in 2013. After that, we began playing shows and the crowd response was incredible so we knew we were on to something. Now we are starting to rise up and get booked on some festivals and we are pretty much making a whole performance by implying live dancers and aerial silks, fire dancing, trumpet, sax, and live drums along with me doing live mixing and analog synthesizers and effects.

How has the last year been for you, and what are your plans for the future?

2015 has been one of the biggest years for Fractal Sky with the band formulating the last couple years we have really honed in on our live performances and we have hit some amazing milestones. The highlight of the band was playing the main stage at the Backwoods Music Festival in Oklahoma, and one of my personal highlights was playing a DJ set in Canada earlier this year.

I am currently working on the next album that I plan to release in 2016, and we are going to continue to play shows as much as possible. We hope to be able to bring a full live performance to future shows including all of our new additions. Our next show is at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, Arkansas on October 24th with Henry + The Invisibles and others. This is a big homecoming show for many of us, and is sponsored by Fayettechill, one of our favorite clothing spots in town.