Biography
London-based electronic producer Visionist, born Louis Carnell, shifted from an innovative club-music maker into an artist whose work defies easy labels, shaping intensely felt compositions grounded in personal experience. Early on he focused on dancefloor hybrids of grime, dubstep, and U.K. garage during the first years of the 2010s, yet his productions gradually opened into more expansive, atmospheric territory built from intricate rhythmic structures, fragmented vocal fragments, and deep, resonant low-end frequencies. His opening two albums, Safe in 2015 and Value in 2017, arrived as demanding, introspective experimental statements confronting anxiety and questions of self-worth. By 2021’s A Call to Arms he had moved well beyond U.K. bass traditions into a realm closer to post-industrial art-pop and experimental ambient, replacing his trademark samples with his own vocals.
After first receiving airplay on London’s groundbreaking dance station Rinse FM in 2010, Visionist accumulated international live dates and issued digital and vinyl material through imprints such as Left Blank, 92 Points, and Signal Life. He launched the digital label Lost Codes in 2012 and supplied a remix for its inaugural release, Unknown Vectors by experimental grime producer Sd Laika. Further appearances came on grime anthologies from Big Dada (Grime 2.0) and Keysound (Keysound Allstars, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, This Is How We Roll), while 12-inch singles emerged on Leisure System (Snakes), Ramp Recordings ("M"/"Secrets"), and Lit City Trax (two volumes of I'm Fine). In 2014 he also reworked Kelis’ “Friday Fish Fry” and tracks by Ghostpoet, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Glasser, and others.
Visionist revived Lost Codes under the shortened name Codes in 2015, issuing 12-inch EPs by Acre/Filter Dread and Kamixlo. That same year his stark, severe debut full-length Safe appeared on Bill Kouligas’ Pan label. The second album, the abrasive and volatile Value, followed on Big Dada in 2017. He contributed to Ben Chatwin’s 2019 remix project Altered Signals. Signing with Mute, Visionist released his third album, A Call to Arms, in 2021. Though more abstract and experimental than earlier work, the record is also his most candid and collaborative, introducing his own vocals for the first time alongside singer/songwriter Haley Fohr (Circuit des Yeux, Jackie Lynn), black midi drummer Morgan Simpson, Japanese noise legend K.K. Null, and additional musicians.
After first receiving airplay on London’s groundbreaking dance station Rinse FM in 2010, Visionist accumulated international live dates and issued digital and vinyl material through imprints such as Left Blank, 92 Points, and Signal Life. He launched the digital label Lost Codes in 2012 and supplied a remix for its inaugural release, Unknown Vectors by experimental grime producer Sd Laika. Further appearances came on grime anthologies from Big Dada (Grime 2.0) and Keysound (Keysound Allstars, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, This Is How We Roll), while 12-inch singles emerged on Leisure System (Snakes), Ramp Recordings ("M"/"Secrets"), and Lit City Trax (two volumes of I'm Fine). In 2014 he also reworked Kelis’ “Friday Fish Fry” and tracks by Ghostpoet, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Glasser, and others.
Visionist revived Lost Codes under the shortened name Codes in 2015, issuing 12-inch EPs by Acre/Filter Dread and Kamixlo. That same year his stark, severe debut full-length Safe appeared on Bill Kouligas’ Pan label. The second album, the abrasive and volatile Value, followed on Big Dada in 2017. He contributed to Ben Chatwin’s 2019 remix project Altered Signals. Signing with Mute, Visionist released his third album, A Call to Arms, in 2021. Though more abstract and experimental than earlier work, the record is also his most candid and collaborative, introducing his own vocals for the first time alongside singer/songwriter Haley Fohr (Circuit des Yeux, Jackie Lynn), black midi drummer Morgan Simpson, Japanese noise legend K.K. Null, and additional musicians.
Albums
Singles
