More Ephemerol has a new member and a fully analog approach
Ahead of their set at Purple City, half of More Ephemerol sat down with The Gateway to chat about the set, their new member, and their releases.
Liam HodderMore Ephemerol is a Los Angeles (L.A.) based synth duo made up of Chad Fjerstad and Gina Khun. Ahead of their set in Y Afterhours as a part of Purple City Music festival, Fjerstad chatted with The Gateway.
New member, Khun couldn’t get into Canada because of “certain things that can happen to you in the [United States (U.S.)]. And, if they’ve happened to you, if a police officer busts you for certain things, you can’t come to Canada.” As a result, Fjerstad was left as a solo act for the night.
“I created these songs with the intention of always having a few people. One thing I can’t offer myself is a feminine energy, and that’s an important part of this project,” Fjerstad said. “So hopefully it’s still satisfying for people,” he added.
Their last full length release, Apotheosis Pageant came out in 2023, and Fjerstad said production began in 2019. For that record, and the beginning of the project, Fjerstad had a different bandmate, Tamara Sky. She ended up leaving the project to focus on family outside of L.A. and Khun entered the project.
“It’s like riding the line between wondering how much it’s going to control us and how much we’re going to control it,” Fjerstad says
Their next release, a single called “Disengagement Ring,” is set to be the first with Khun on vox.
“It’s about not living in fear. I feel like fear is the mind killer. I think there are a lot of things to be concerned about with the world, and a lot we can fight against, but I always push to not let fear control your life,” Fjerstad explained.
He said a change in membership isn’t likely going to change the project’s sound since Fjerstad “has always done a majority of the composition and a lot of the lyrics.” But, he added that it could “turn into a thing where [his] new bandmate has a little more she wants to infuse into the lyrics,” but it’s currently too soon to tell.
On Apotheosis Pageant, Fjerstad said one of the biggest themes is “technology in general. And, everything we’re moving towards. It’s like riding the line between wondering how much it’s going to control us and how much we’re going to control it.”
“The idea is to stick to classic hardware synthesizers and machines,” Fjerstad says
When Fjerstad first began writing the record, it was around 2019, before artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT was released. And now in 2025, he acknowledged how widespread discussion of AI is now.
The record was also almost fully analog. “With More Ephemerol, the idea is to stick to classic hardware synthesizers and machines. It’s a specific sort of warmth and [there’s] different tonalities to it,” Fjerstad explained.
He said there is also something to be analyzed in regards to their analog-only approach and their narrative topics. “We have all these digital instruments and software, and you can do everything in the box, just making computer music. But, at this point, we’re using ancient machines.”
“Disengagement Ring” is expected to release this fall.
