Frequently Asked

Yes. I am married to the amazing Juniper Vale, aka Sarah Jane. It’s the classic story of a producer falling in love with the artist he’s producing. We wrote songs about falling in love and then accidentally fell in love.

I’m not a Christian artist, I’m an artist who’s a Christian. The music is written for people of all backgrounds and beliefs. My faith evolves all the time and the concept of the divine is complicated and often weaponized, so I just focus on writing songs that say you matter in a world that says you don’t.

Short answer: No. All Vian Izak music has always been written and performed by humans. All album art before 2023 and after 2024 is human-illustrated. Two albums in 2023–2024 experimented with AI-assisted imagery alongside human illustrators; after hearing from artists and fans, I stopped. Every cover since “where do we end up when life goes on?” has been fully human-made.

The longer story: I grew up on Isaac Asimov and have always been a sci-fi nerd. The Vian Izak project actually started in 2016 as a multimedia story about two brothers traveling the arctic with their AI companion, “I the AI.” I never expected real AI to arrive in my lifetime.

When generative AI emerged, I felt both awe and anxiety about what it would mean for artists. In 2023, for my 4th album All the Worlds We Built, I partnered with renowned illustrator Andreas Rocha on a comic book about an evil AI being defeated by an AI built on the best of humanity. I included some AI-generated images inside the comic to literally illustrate the question the story was asking: how do we use this technology to help artists instead of hurt them? The comic was given away free with the album; it didn’t feel right to profit from it.

For my 5th album, where do we end up when life goes on? (2024), I worked with illustrator Nekosa to see if I could pay illustrators their full rates while using generative AI to expand the project’s scope and offer fans something immersive.

After the album released, I heard the backlash, particularly around generative AI being trained on copyrighted work. I researched it, listened, and decided to stop. Every album cover since has been illustrated entirely by a human being, and I have never used AI to create any of my music.

The core of art is human connection. I’ll keep writing songs that tell people they matter, in a world that often says they don’t.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the world’s most talented illustrators. Many of them have illustrated for Marvel and DC, AAA video games, and bestselling children’s books, among so many other things that make our world visually beautiful. Support them and check out their work.

• Hein Zaayman
• Romee Catalotl
• Andreas Rocha
• Stuart Ng
• Charlie French
• Rocco Casulli
• Nekosa

Each illustrator is also credited on the album they worked on. See the credits page for per-album details.

Are you an illustrator who’d like to work on a future album cover? Send your portfolio to mgmt@vohnicmusic.com.

I love to tour and do it as often as I can. You can see upcoming dates on the tour page.

The truth is, as an indie artist, I have no big company funding my tours. Here’s how I know where to tour: by seeing how many people sign up to my mailing list in a given region. If a few hundred people from one city have signed up, I book a show. So the best way to get me to come to your city is to get your friends to sign up.

I’m planning to launch a vinyl record club in 2026. The best way to stay in the know is to sign up to my mailing list below.