Nick Kaelar

Early life and success

Kaelar was born on May 15, 1990 in Tampa, Florida. He claims to have had a connection to music from a very young age, and his family supported his passions. At the age of 11, Varien began playing the guitar and attempting songwriting, and joined a number of bands experimenting with genres of rock and jazz, but grew weary with both. He then decided to focus on composition and began producing in 2009, with music in video games serving as his most longtime influence to date. Kaelar considers himself a "storyteller" and seeks to avoid the "throwaway tune mentality" which he feels "pervades most of the electronic music industry today."

In August 2010, Kaelar achieved internet virality with his slowed-down remix of Justin Bieber's "U Smile", titled "Justin Bieber 800% Slowed Down". He was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, MTV, and had articles written about the track from all over the world.

2011-2013

In July 2011, Kaelar released his first Monstercat single "The Force" under the alias Halo Nova. He subsequently released two more singles under the alias before abandoning it. In December 2011, Kaelar was hired by dubstep producer Skrillex to do an orchestral suite of his most popular songs. In the suite, the songs "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites", "All I Ask Of You", "Scatta", and "First Of The Year" were rearranged into an orchestral fashion. To date, the "Skrillex Orchestral Suite" has received over 4,000,000 views on YouTube.

As Varien, Kaelar has remixed popular acts such as Gareth Emery, Rebecca & Fiona, and Celldweller, and to date remains a veteran member of Monstercat. He has had songs chart on the digital distribution website Beatport a number of times, including "Mirrors", "Valkyrie", and "Toothless Hawkins (And His Robot Jazz Band)" all of which hit #1 on their respective genre-based charts.

On February 26, 2013, Kaelar released Pick Your Poison Vol. 1, a compilation album of trailer cues that he had done strictly for the purpose of film, television, and video game licensing. Pick Your Poison Vol. 2 released a year later. Also in 2013, Kaelar and Klayton of Celldweller formed the cyberpunk/electronic music project Scandroid.

2014-present

In 2014, Kaelar teamed up with Two Steps from Hell on a private trailer cue compilation entitled Open Conspiracy. 2014 saw an abundance of licenses for Varien. His music was used in trailers and promotional media for 300: Rise of an Empire, Bones, The Purge: Anarchy, Face Off, America's Next Top Model, PlanetSide 2, and Monsters: Dark Continent. Los Angeles-based singer Roniit's song "Runaway", produced by Varien, was used in multiple trailers and TV spots for the film The Loft.

During his time with Monstercat, Varien reached new levels of success with all his tracks nearing or surpassing a million views on YouTube and topping worldwide charts. His track "Gunmetal Black" was made in a record six hours

In April 2015, it was announced that Kaelar contributed to the soundtrack of Furious 7, the seventh in The Fast and the Furious film series.

Debut album

On August 5, 2015, Kaelar released his first LP, titled The Ancient & Arcane, on Monstercat. Prior to this, he released two tracks, "Beyond the Surface" and "Aether and Light", both of which he claims have a sound that reflects his musical approach to the album. He has described The Ancient & Arcane '​s tracks as very "organic" and containing "lots of unique ideas that I'm very proud of." In an interview with UKF, he elaborated on his songwriting process for the album, saying: "I make so many other types of music so I thought I’d sit down and write – no theme, no story. It’s a very Zen experience. Very spiritual. Wake up. Do yoga. Make music. No regard for the club. No regard for where it will be played or comparisons to my past music or anything else that’s going on. I’ve never gone to any of these places I’m exploring right now. I want people to listen to it and think ‘is this Varien?’ Psychedelic, worldly, ethnic, trippy… People have never seen me go there. Yet." To further promote the album, Pittsinger did an AMA on Reddit, answering fan questions and elaborating on his musical process.

The album contains collaborations with vocalists Veela (on "Supercell"), Laura Brehm (on "Ghost Spores"), Miyoki (on "Firefly" and "Kamisama") and Charlotte Haining (on "Hypnotique") - Kaelar stated that instead of hiring them for a specific role or part, he "invited them to write with [him], handing music to instrumentalists and telling them to do what they want. Or singers and asking them to sing what they want. There’s no pressure. No rules." Describing his collaboration with Miyoki, Kaelar added, "We were working on a track together and she sent something back that she felt worked… In fact it worked so incredibly well I rewrote the song around it. That’s a beautiful thing; I’m not hiring, these people are coming into this album and contributing. Which is pretty spiritual." Vocalist Aloma Steele provided her voice for sampling in the track "Snowlight".

The Ancient & Arcane was acclaimed upon release, with EDM website Dancing Astronaut calling it a "cinematic masterpiece", giving particular praise to "Ghost Spores" as "reinvigorat[ing] the soul with its harp-tinged melody and orchestral instruments that once again highlight Varien’s idiosyncratic musicianship."

Discography

Main article: Nick Kaelar discography

Albums

Film/TV/Video Game

Kaelar also composes and licenses music for all forms of visual media. His music has appeared in the following: