Almost two decades into his career, Lionel (Vinyl) Williams is an enduring fixture of the psychedelic scene. He unveiled his Vinyl Williams alias in 2007, immediately establishing the blueprint for a sound that shimmers like bioluminescent glitter. With releases on labels including Chaz Bear’s Company Records, Requiem Pour Un Twister, and Harmony Records, Williams translates vast, galactic concepts into cosmic sonic textures. It seems fitting that Williams is the inventor of a system for understanding relationships called Musical Astrology — an app that allows you to hear the music of your birthdays, as well as the precise musical pitches of the planets in relation to Earth, on any given day.
Williams grew up in a musical family, and spent his childhood orbiting recording studios. He initially wanted to push against the grain and avoid the family business to become a roller coaster engineer, physicist, or architect. But he stopped being able to deny his calling after picking up the drums at 10 years old. As a teenager living in Utah a few years later, Williams formed his first band. His career inadvertently snowballed from there, and Williams found himself a burgeoning force in a bohemian corner of the indie rock landscape.
Upon relocating to Los Angeles in the mid 2000s, Vinyl Williams ascended in tandem with the blossoming California underground. He cut his teeth circling influential DIY spaces like Non Plus Ultra — where he also lived at one point — and honed his process across the 3rd & 4th LPs with Brunei and Opal. Williams fondly reflects on that period as being filled with music “all the time, every day.” As similarly sun soaked bands dominated the critical conversation, Williams began to share stages with kindred spirits including Toro y Moi, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Mount Kimbie, and others.
A formally trained visual artist who studied at California Institute of the Arts, Williams’ identities seem to feed off similar senses of imagination and headiness. He has crafted music videos and 3D interactive worlds for Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Tears For Fears, serving musicians he admires away from his solo pursuits. Williams is also a freelance booking agent, and embraces a regimented workflow to maintain balance. “Most of my time is spent creating pieces for other artists,” he says, reflecting on juggling practices. “I definitely have to dedicate entire days to visuals or a song.” Even still, this array of symbiotic pursuits all seem tethered to his roots with Vinyl Williams in unique ways.
Williams' new double LP, Polyhaven / Portasymphony, emphasizes the flip sides of his sound. Polyhaven is a word that Williams uses to describe an image of a floating island in the sky. It was recorded using reel to reel and digital techniques, as an exercise in extreme high fidelity. Portasymphony is titled as a reference to recording a symphony using a Tascam Portastudio. An experiment in lo-fi limitation, its 17 tracks came to life entirely on the titular 8-track cassette machine. Held side by side, Polyhaven and Portasymphony contrast opposing qualities in intriguing ways. Across both records, Williams pulls from trippy memories such as going to The Integratron and feeling completely weightless. Packaged together as a gatefold LP with a lenticular cover, the records will live on as an eternal artifact symbolizing Williams’ seemingly endless wellspring of ideas.
