Name: Kadri Sammel aka Bedless Bones
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, interdisciplinary artist
Nationality: Estonian
Current release: An extended re-release of Bedless Bones's Sublime Malaise, featuring four remixes, is out via Metropolis.

If you enjoyed this Bedless Bones interview and would like to find out more about her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

The origin of the impulse to create - does it stem from an idea that finds a narrative, a metaphor and a way to be told through the sources you mentioned or do these sources inspire an idea that needs to be formulated as a musical piece? I don’t know which way it is. I think it’s a dance of those two, when sometimes one takes the lead, and sometimes the other.

It can start with a strong feeling that is nonetheless very abstract, and the artist takes on the challenge of taming it into music, looking for references, sounds, stories to tell it. For example, I was thinking about a lazy guilt, numbed by a self-inflicted inability to change the situation, and channeled that through the mythological story of Niobe, her hubris and loss.

At other times, I experience something from the outside, like art or an interaction with someone, and it lingers and wants to be reshaped and released into music.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I’ve become better at planning the results out, but it still steers towards just going with the flow. Experimenting and getting lost in the music is very appealing to me and I cannot seem to reduce the tendency of letting chance overpower the course of the process.

However, when you mentioned visualization, I instantly thought about imagining visual images to evoke ideas for sound, and I have done that too.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

I have a daily routine of creating something. Usually I just open Ableton and sketch. It's like automatic drawing or something, I don’t put much purposeful thought into it. Most of it never makes it out of the demo phase. But when I’m in the process of putting together an album, it does need more serious work.

Most songs have early versions that change quite a lot. Since I’m the composer and the producer at the same time, I have to switch the roles at some point and silence the child who wants to keep playing.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Coffee is always nice, it’s definitely a morning ritual. Although I went through a period when I couldn’t drink coffee for two months during an intense period of working on my upcoming album. I guess it’s adaptable.

I’m also very receptive to all sorts of sensory stimulation. Dim lights, the scent of burning sage, the serenity of nature outside the window - that’s always helpful in getting into a better space for inviting ideas in. But sometimes it happens very organically in an unexpected situation.

When I get stuck, I go for a walk. The movement of the body definitely stimulates the mind in tandem. When I’m working on the mixes of my songs, I always take them outside every once in a while to listen to them without any visual representation on a screen.  

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

Music comes first. Not difficult at all. Since I’m inspired by sound, and the atmosphere and feeling it can create, the starting point can be very simple. A hum of a home appliance or a simple synth melody, for example.

I’ve consciously rooted out any habits to apply repetitive methods or routines of songwriting, so I always try to start with something different to allow my imagination to find itself in unfamiliar places.

The beginning is always easy, but taking it to the finish line is another story.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

I wish they would enter the picture more swiftly! It takes a lot of time for me to find the right words.

I have a notebook I try to keep more or less up to date with thoughts that are on my mind, and attempts at rhymes, poetry. But when I’m writing a song, I quickly cast it aside and go back to the music to find the inspiration for the lyrics.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I’m gravitating towards discovering the idea. I just have to be in a good enough shape to give the idea a form that can do it justice and make it somehow tangible to others.  

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

I start out with a raw chunk of an idea and try to chisel out something more interesting from that brick.

I’m a maximalist and tend to overflood the initial idea with too many subsidiary ideas, so a huge part of the work for me is the process of omitting elements and making sure that the particularities, obscurities of the form don’t drown out the substance.

The substance is the heart of the music that evokes emotion and opens the gateway for the mind to wander along.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Go crazy first and edit later. I definitely don’t let anything, not even the pressure of needing to finish a song, direct or interfere with the process of writing. It’s so precious and valuable when you have these moments when the words just flow.

At times, I push myself to write a song and suddenly the floodgates open and all these stories, verses come out that are absolutely no good for that song, so I have to write new music for those lyrics.

I used to be more protective of my lyrics, not wanting to leave anything out, but the editor in me has become more ruthless over time. Writing more, culling more.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

It does happen. It can lead to a new outcome or become overwhelming altogether. When I was writing my second album Bending the Iron Bough, this happened a lot, and I had several pieces using the same musical or lyrical motif.

Many songs went through the process of idea swapping between them. And a selection was made. “Ashes Indigo” was built around the lines “halfway to river to join what was severed” that were from another song that didn’t work out.



“The Golden Bough” is actually a collage of sound samples from other tracks.



There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

On an ideal day it is very much a journey into that spiritual state when everything aligns and it feels like the music writes itself, and afterwards it’s like you wake up and can’t recognize your own doing. It’s also a natural high and very therapeutic.

But on many days it’s not like that. Pushing through hesitations and unknowing. Feeling like pressing the delete button a lot. However, valuable work can eventually come out of those days as well, after reevaluating it with a fresh perspective. I do try to finish those difficult songs as well.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

As I don’t have collaborators, it’s a must for me to leave the work and come back to it later to stay objective. I refine things until there is nothing more to refine according to my assessment at the time.

I can live with things not being perfect, especially when looking at them in retrospect and after acquiring more knowledge and experience; but if something bothers me when I’m working, I will go to extreme lengths to solve that situation.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

All of those things are important and cannot be undervalued to allow the music to reach its full potential.

I mix my own tracks, and keep track of mastering as well, even though I leave that job to someone else.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

It’s true! There’s an emptiness, almost like disillusionment or withdrawal even. Immersing yourself into the art of others helps. Or going on a trip. If one can, because there are obviously so many more things to do promotionally when the album is done.

I reignite the creativity through visual art, by shooting my music videos, or concentrating on other projects.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

There doesn’t have to be a difference. One can definitely live their whole life as a work of art, from eating to dressing to loving.