We’re excited to introduce Argonaut, the evocative new indie-folk project from a Belgian songwriter Iason Passaris who has taken a departure from his background in the progressive metal scene for this solo endeavour. His debut EP, Rêveries, is a truly introspective soundscape evoked by the carefully crafted blend of cinematic melancholy and stripped-back, lo-fi intimacy. Although it’s his first single-handed release, it’s clear that he’s a seasoned musician able to draw out the emotional authenticity inspired by his personal trials. His particular songwriting style shares subtle similarities with the likes of Ben Howard and Adrianne Lenker, although the unique quality comes through Passaris‘ ability to balance light and shadow, hope and despair. Written in the wake of burnout and recorded largely at home, this EP reflects a period of quiet transformation. For On The Record, we asked Argonaut about the making of Rêveries and how friendships, fatherhood and the search for healing shaped it.
Welcome to Unrecorded! For those who aren’t already familiar with Argonaut, can you introduce yourself?
I’m a songwriter from Belgium who’s previously been active in (progressive) metal bands. Argonaut is my first indie(folk) project and is currently a solo venture. This EP is my first release and serves as an introduction before I release my first full-length next year.
Your artist moniker is super interesting and it indicates your Greek roots, how does your Mediterranean heritage shape your identity, both personally and creatively?
I’d say that it shapes me more on a personal level rather than creatively in my music. Even though I’ve never actually lived in Greece, I do speak the language and love the culture (the food in particular). I’m sometimes envious of artists like the Belgian-Egyptian songwriter, Tamino, who manages to incorporate his roots into his music but if it doesn’t feel genuine there’s no point in pushing it. Maybe if someone bought me a bouzouki (traditional Greek lute-like instrument), I might give it a go (haha).
We recently heard your EP, Rêveries, so was there a specific moment when you knew you had to make this record?
Not really, although an online songwriting course I took in 2022 was the trigger. I met two very talented American musicians, Andrew Sommers (Drew A. Will) from Pennsylvania and Kevin Palmer (Velocity Of Tears) from Texas and we decided to work on a few ideas I had lying around. Andrew features on 3 of the 4 tracks playing drums, bass, piano and horns and singing some backing vocals, whereas Kevin wrote the intro arrangement for the final track of the EP ‘My Head Is Your Summer House’. Another very talented musician I met during that course, the Portuguese Diogo Sarabando (himalion), ended up mixing 3 of the 4 tracks.
How did the act of songwriting help you process the burnout that ignited the songwriting process?
When I first had my burnout there was a while when I didn’t feel like playing guitar or writing music at all. But soon after, I started writing a lot of material and had a very productive period. Writing songs was the way for me to process the emotions that came with this difficult time in my life. The songs for this EP were written when I started abandoning the ‘burnout theme’ and wanted to explore lighter themes again. Finalising these songs and releasing this EP brought an important sense of fulfilment that I was missing not being able to work.
There’s a strong emotional undercurrent in your music, teetering between hope and despair. How conscious are you of those emotional contrasts while writing?
I think I’ve always been better at channeling darker emotions in my music as a means for catharsis. Most of the music I enjoy is also very moody and nostalgic. I love a song which can make you smile and cry at the same time (well, mostly cry). I guess I’m conscious of the fact that I lean toward ‘the darker side’ and sometimes I will deliberately try and write a happy tune or incorporate a hopeful message in an otherwise sad song. But in the end music will always feel most genuine when the songwriter is just channeling whatever emotion he’s really feeling at the time of writing and that’s what I aim to do.
You’ve cited Ben Howard and Adrianne Lenker as inspirations. What have you learned from their music that influenced how you approached the EP?
I think the main thing I took away from their music is the use of open guitar tunings, an emphasis on fingerpicking rather than chord strumming and their approach to vocal melodies and phrasing. I didn’t set off writing this EP thinking of replicating their style tough. I’ve learned that you can try to write songs in the style of someone you admire but the end result usually will just sound like you. Whatever that may mean in my case, I haven’t figured that one out.
How do you think your decision to record much of the EP at home affected the sound and construction?
It was my first time recording final takes at home – in an untreated room – and I think that definitely had an impact on how the EP ended up sounding. I usually write songs around an acoustic guitar but getting a high quality recording at home is not that straight forward if you lack the experience, like I did. That’s why two of the songs (A Last Date With Destiny and Front Door Porches) are based on electric guitars which are easier to track at home. For the two acoustic songs (American Dreamer and My Head Is Your Summer House) I chose to embrace the lo-fi vibe by using a very closely-mic’ed vintage hollow-body gypsy guitar.
Furthermore I was using an iPad with limited editing and take-management capabilities. This forced me to commit more quickly to the takes I’d recorded, which was a help for a perfectionist like myself.
In the end I do have to give massive credit to Simon Reyners and Diogo Sarabando who managed to create beautiful sounding mixes based on pretty flawed raw material.
Can you unpack the story or emotion behind the evocatively titled lead single ‘A Last Date with Destiny’?
The song was written during a songwriting course and the assignment was to write a song using no more than four tracks, like on the old 4-track recorders. Although I totally failed at sticking to that limit, it did help me keep the song relatively simple overall.
As for the lyrics, the task was to use snippets of dialogue from movies and eventually turn them into a story of your own. This gave ALDWD a bit of a dystopian edge.
It tells the story of someone on their way to a date, just as a world leader (you can probably guess who …) has activated the infamous “atomic football,” launching ballistic nuclear missiles into the sky toward their targets.
At its core, the song is about the banality of the lives we lead amidst a chaotic world order that’s constantly balancing on a geopolitical tightrope.
How about the quiet and nostalgic ‘Front Door Porches’, what inspired this song?
Around that time, I was listening a lot to the beautiful album ‘songs’ by Adrianne Lenker, and her descriptive, fast-paced narrative style really inspired me.
The lyrics stem from another songwriting assignment in which the aim was to quickly jot down a description of random images without overthinking it. I opened a small booklet containing movie posters and wrote several pages of impressions which I used as a basis. I then combined those with bits of conversation I’d overheard, and the occasional line inspired by current events. So in essence, the lyrics are a patchwork collage of images and fragments of dialogue that, somehow, ended up forming a certain coherence—and, more importantly, conveyed the melancholy I’m always chasing.
I feel like the song ended up kind of American-themed, which fitted well with the other songs on the EP.
Now that Rêveries is out, how do you feel about letting it go and sharing it with the world?
It means a whole lot to me that this body of work is finally out there. I was planning to release my first music a lot sooner but due to my health receding this wasn’t possible. I’m very grateful that I met the right people at the right time and that a completely digital collaboration is possible these days. I literally didn’t have to set a foot outside the door for the completion of this EP, which was exactly what I needed at the time.
With a 9-month old daughter at home and my health issues persisting I’m not in a position to promote the EP by playing live. Nevertheless the two singles and the EP as a whole are doing surprisingly well in terms of streams, which I honestly did not expect at all. There’s a lot to be said about the state of the streaming industry but I don’t think I would’ve been able to reach so many people all across the globe without it!
Check out ‘Front Door Porches’ in our Folk This Way playlist.
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