Dear readers, the band spoke exclusively with Progressive Rock Journal about their new release “Reunion of Broken Parts,“ diving into its creative process and artistic vision.
Hi, it’s a pleasure to have you among our pages, how are you?
We’re very well, thanks, we appreciate you taking the time to speak with us! Idiogram released “Reunion of Broken Parts” in March 2025.
Can you tell us how this project came to life and what inspired you?
Lesley (piano, keys) started the band, recruiting Keith (drums, samples) and Ali (bass) in quick succession. Ali (guitar) arrived a little while later. From the beginning, our only shared intention was to make some instrumental music, simply for the love of making music and the creative process – everything else that we are has come along quite organically and collaboratively, which is just how we like it. Perhaps partly as a result, this album (our first!) has been in gestation for something like 5 years.
Let’s talk about the name Idiogram. What does it represent, and how does it reflect your identity as a band?
We cycled through a couple of different names before settling on Idiogram. In biology, an idiogram or karyogram is a standard format for graphically displaying chromosomes. It was really the sound of the word that appealed to us more than anything else, but a friend pointed out that the word originates from Ancient Greek as an ‘image of the self’, or ‘self
portrait’. Which in retrospect is quite fitting: we feel that our music is an authentic reflection of the music that we want to make, without being beholden to a particular scene, or genre.
Musically, this album explores a rich and immersive soundscape. What are the main influences—both musical and conceptual—that shaped this work?
This could be a whole interview in itself! Some of our earliest get-togethers were sharing music that we like and finding some kind of midpoint; we’re all coming from slightly different angles but there was quite a bit of overlap. Musically in the centre of that Venn diagram are composers like Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass, a lot of electronica (Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, Massive Attack, many others), more jazzy groups like GoGo Penguin, EST and Tortoise, and of course some post-rock in the mix as well too; the textures and soundscapes of GY!BE’s “Lift Your Skinny Fists” were a particular touchstone for instance. Some might be more surprising upon listening to the album (Fugazi, for instance), but there’s a fair bit of inspiration that we take that doesn’t necessarily translate sonically.
How would you describe your songwriting process for “Reunion of Broken Parts”? Did it differ from your past approaches?
Yeah, we were keen (and remain keen!) that the process is completely collaborative and there’s no single ‘songwriter’, so in that sense it’s different from some previous bands we’ve been in. A lot of the tracks evolved from small sketches or ideas that someone would bring in, then seeing how those fitted with other ideas on the table. The tracks sound natural now, but there was a surprising amount of shuffling sections around and finessing them behind the scenes. We have described this process as ‘assemblage’ or other similar terms previously, but there’s a healthy dose of – shall we say – ad-hoc, creative chaos in there too.
From a technical point of view, where and how was the album recorded and produced? Were there any particular challenges or experiments during the process?
We recorded the album with Graeme Young at Chamber Studio in Edinburgh. He really pushed us to experiment with new sounds and layers, so the recording process was more about creating an ‘album’ rather than recreating the sound of a band in a room; we’re super pleased with the results. As for challenges, Lesley came down with COVID the day we were supposed to start recording keyboard parts, so a lot of the keyboard and guitar recording sessions and the subsequent mixing were more piecemeal, to fit around Graeme’s schedule.
The album title evokes fragmentation and perhaps healing. What’s the meaning behind “Reunion of Broken Parts,” and is there a thematic thread running through the record?
That phrase comes from a translation of the Arabic ‘al-jabr’, from which we get the modern word ‘algebra’ (again with the scientific nerdery!). Beyond that, it appealed to us as it has a number of different interpretations: it might reflect a mixture of our personal trials and tribulations over our time together, the process of writing the music, a sonic ‘brokenness’ that we deliberately pushed in places, and as you mentioned, more than a little of the fragmentary state of the world today. We quite like that people can attach their own meanings to it too. In truth, the album title came after the music, and so while we didn’t compose with this in mind, we’d like to think it works on several levels. Similarly with the thematic threads; the music being instrumental (apart from a few fragmented voice samples) lends itself to listener interpretation.
Visually and conceptually, “Reunion of Broken Parts” has a strong identity. How important is the visual component to your music, and how was the artwork conceived?
We’ve pretty much always had a visual component in mind for this project, even when we were first starting out. We’d considered a visual artist as a full fifth member for a while, and it may still happen in the future. The cross-pollination of ideas between visuals and sound is something that’s really interesting to us. Being a largely instrumental act might help invoke a visual and conceptual response as well – we’ve had numerous people tell us they found our music was cinematic and that’s something we’d love to keep exploring in the future. We found Katie Hallam’s artwork online and she was gracious enough to let us use it as our cover art. The interface of the analogue and digital really resonates with us and our music; we also loved the idea that, similar to the music, beneath a serious and imposing exterior, there’s a multitude of dazzling colours.
How do you experience live performances as a band? Are you planning any shows or tours to promote the album?
We’re a monstrously over-equipped live act with each band member having at least one piece of electronics, a laptop, sampler, or other fiddly piece of kit in addition to what you might call the ‘typical’ gear for their instrument. This expansion happened during album rehearsals as we tried to recreate the record we made with Graeme for live performance. As a result, getting physically onto the stage is kind of a mission, but we certainly enjoy it once we’re up there! Following our album launch show back in March, we’re in the thick of applying to festivals and events where we think we’d be a good fit – near and far – at the moment, and keeping our fingers crossed.
What’s your perspective on the current Progressive/Post-Rock scene in your country and internationally? Do you feel part of a specific movement or community?
There’s a small community of DIY musicians in Edinburgh making interesting music that goes beyond the indie/rock/metal scene; that community’s not too specific to particular genres but it’s mutually supportive and people are generally open to expanding their horizons a little. Beyond that, we’re slowly finding our way in the progressive scene; our current visuals collaborator, Sam Healy, is a former member of a fantastic prog-influenced band North Atlantic Oscillation and current member of electronic duo Boardgame. Earlier this year prog band EBB launched the Temple of Prog festival not too far from us; it’s just been confirmed to return for next year, so we’d love to play that if we get the chance.
Outside of music, do any of you pursue other forms of artistic expression or have passions that feed into your creativity?
A couple of us have a mild-to-moderate obsession with space and astronomy, and I think that sense of the cosmic comes through in our musical work in places. We’re definitely all naturally curious people and that for sure feeds into the creative process in unexpected ways. Never a dull moment!
Thanks to Idiogram for their time and thoughtful answers. Check out their new album “Reunion of Broken Parts” now available via Bandcamp: https://idiogram.bandcamp.com/album/reunion-of-broken-parts