With a court case between the label and its former artists ongoing, Reichwald can’t say much about the situation. “It just ended bad,” he reiterates politely. “A lot of stuff wasn’t what we thought it was, so we had to part ways. I don’t owe them my next five projects, so it is what it is.”
Emilio Fagone, the co-founder and artistic director at Year0001, felt the split was “coordinated and personal.” In an email, Fagone writes that he was “disappointed we couldn’t talk about our disagreements face to face. When you’re as intertwined as we were, you’d expect there to be conflict but I can wholeheartedly say our intentions were pure. In the end, all we got was a very long letter from a lawyer.”
I tell Reichwald about Fagone’s response. “We always trusted them as friends, but when we got a lawyer it was brought to our attention that a lot of things were not in order or standard,” he replies. “It was not a personal decision, but a professional one, to part ways.”
This leaves Reichwald at an interesting juncture: At nearly 31 years old, he is more relevant than ever to his legion of young fans, free to use his newfound cachet in any way he chooses. But when I ask what he’s been up to when he’s not working on music, he stumbles: “Mmm, what have I been up to? Umm…” He occasionally enjoys attending art and fashion parties, but he describes his natural state as borderline ascetic. “Sometimes I do nothing to the point where I’m pushed to the edge of my existence, and I have to create something.” He feels happiest in moments when inspiration comes, describing the art life with an almost evangelical earnestness. “That’s what’s important to me: when I feel my purpose,” he says serenely, “and when I make better things every time.”
Often in the aftermath of releasing an album, Reichwald becomes convinced that he has nothing more to say. “But then,” he says, “something appears.” He isn’t ready just yet to enter his next phase, though he has an idea of how it’s going to be. “I want to make something with Whitearmor again, and it’s going to be something more positive,” he says slowly. “I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s something with Saint George—I’m trying to use Saint George to make some music.” Which saint is that? I wonder, and he responds with a smile: “Oh, he’s the one killing the dragon.”
