Name: Carmen Electro
Nationality: Finnish
Occupation: Producer, DJ
Current release: Carmen Electro's track “Viviane” is part of the compilation Various Artists 02, out via SEVEN.
Recommendation for Berlin, Germany: The Heideglühen club.
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I strongly believe that everyone should harvest their own kefir as it’s such as easy and cheap way to keep your microbiome healthy and happy which will positively affect your overall wellbeing. <3

If you enjoyed this Carmen Electro interview and would like to stay up to date with her music and live performances, visit her on on Instagram, and Soundcloud. She also has an artist page on the SEVEN homepage.



There can be many different kinds of energy in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

Different expressions of playful energy: sparkly, sensual, cheeky.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of energy?

For me it depends on the genre. In house music, I think vocals used with intention can deepen the message in a meaningful way.

For my track “Viviane,” I didnt intend to use vocals at first actually, but I accidentally came across this beautiful vocal which enhanced the message in the track. It is about those who fight for you even when you don’t have the power to fight for yourself.

In techno, I don’t really enjoy vocals so much because they are often used as filler elements and don’t add anything to the messaging of the track, often just pulling you away from a trance state.

When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing this energy? [Where do you feel it, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

I experience high energy states as white light that fills up my entire body, tingling in the stomach and in the limbs.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

I will need to write 5-10 tracks for one of them to be good.

I try to make tracks quite quickly and move on with ideas always starting a new track instead of changing one idea endlessly. One of those versions/tracks eventually combines all the smart ideas of the previous versions, and then I tend to find  happiness in the outcome.

For “Viviane”, what kind of energy were you looking for?

Even though it wasn’t my original intention, as the track was born out of an organic chain of events.

I think it ended up perfectly representing my relationship with my friend whom it is about.

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

In general I love underground house and techno for the fact that they often feature complicated emotions that are not straightforward – only ‘happy’ or ‘dark’ for example.

They even express emotions that are not describable in words, or combine different emotions that you wouldn’t think make sense together. Such as love for your loved ones. It’s not so easy to put that into words, but perhaps easier to express in music?

I wrote “Viviane” from a place of deep melancholy, which turned into optimism thanks to talking to the person who gave the track its name. The energy of that exchange and our relationship in general is reflected in the outcome on SEVEN.

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

If it was up to me we could still do crazy unprocessed stuff like in the 90s when they just recorded field recordings and used those raw, or used volume changes just because it felt good. Creating arrangements without having to think about the perfect timing for the DJ to drop this, but rather how the producer felt at the time or the arrangement. The energy from those times was so raw!

But to answer the question, I’m not highly technical in my productions, so for me it’s all about the idea being strong.

I think that's why house is ‘easier’ for me to write than techno, because melodies allow you to dive into different energies and moods much easier than percussive tracks where you only have little tonalities to play with and the rest is up to amazing sound design.

In terms of energy, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

On stage you can’t be so honest. If you’ve been booked to entertain, you have to entertain, no matter how you actually feel in that moment of time.

In the studio, you can lay down your authentic feelings and explore any given energy or emotion that you might be experiencing.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the energy of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

I tend to suffer from getting too focused on my mixes and not looking up to the audience a lot, even though I care about their presence so much. It really means everything to me to be able to share this highly private passion that I have towards music, with people who also appreciate it.

When I can hear and feel how the audience resonates with me, it makes me play even crazier sets. Recently I tried to remind myself to party with the audience a bit, to give them more of my energy instead of just the turntables receiving all of it.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

I often get told that my sets have this aspect of rawness and authenticity that doesn't bow towards trends, for example.

I think - or at least hope - this encourages others to have the courage to be who they are, too, and do what they want to do without limits or social expectations playing a part.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

When everything aligns, it really is the music that takes charge.

I don't need to think anymore which record to play next, the records just show themselves to me. Beatmatching is no longer a topic. It all feels like a higher level of consciousness.

But it doesn’t happen every gig of course, and I also love to work the decks and be able to share a great set even if, for example, the technical setup is challenging and therefore preventing me from entering a total flow stage.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

Share your authentic self through your music. You can deeply resonate with and even help someone who is dealing with the same topics as you.

Social media and algorithms encourage us all to do the same thing. Don’t let the tech giants choose your sound for you. You might lose yourself.