Name: Cassie Wieland aka Vines
Occupation: Composer, producer, audio engineer
Nationality: American
Recent release: Cassie Wieland's Birthday Party is out August 18th 2023.

If you enjoyed this Vines interview and would like to find out more about her work and current projects, visit her official website. She is also on Instagram, and tiktok.



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?

I don’t fully understand where my impulse to create comes from; creating just feels like something I’m supposed to be doing. I do draw a lot of inspiration from personal experience, visual art, etc. - but primarily in an adjacent sense, where I want to recreate a sonic version of a feeling that a piece of art or an experience gave me.

Making music has always felt like a safe way to express emotions for me, so it feels important to keep feeling.

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?

The start of my process feels like a lot of procrastination sometimes, but I think it’s necessary for me to let something brew internally before I start trying to control it externally. To be honest, there’s a lot of journaling and staring out my window before I even get to a more concrete visualization of what I want.

The good news is that I really only need a tiny snippet of an idea to get started. I’ve tried a lot of different processes, but I think my favorite is starting with one small idea and just watching where it goes when I mess around with it.

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'?

It can take me a long time to feel “ready” to start a new work; I’ve tried research, drafting, etc., but the most consistently successful preparation I have found is just remembering to live my life in an open and receptive way.

It feels like pretending sometimes, but if I live my life as an artist, then by default whatever I make is art.

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?

I do need to feel like I’m in “artist mode” in order to create. I’m pretty picky about my environment when I sit down to write; I have to have quiet, temperature regulation, soft lighting, a fun drink (usually coffee or sparkling water.)

To prepare mentally I sometimes do some stretching or listen to a favorite album. I like to make an event out of sitting down to create so it always feels special.

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

I don’t think I’ve told anyone this before, but I have a very chaotic running note in my phone that has any and all small ideas I get throughout the day. It’s mostly lyrics and ideas for sounds, but sometimes there’s a special form or rhythm that I want to try; really anything that I think of throughout my day (mostly on the subway) that I want to try. And then I have a second running note that has logistical ideas: collaborate with this person, start the new album this way, etc.

I use these notes as a “menu” when I start something new, and I let myself mess around until something clicks. The first note is daunting, but the key for me is giving myself the time and grace to have fun until the answer arrives.

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?

Maybe both! I think you create with the tools you discover. The building blocks of musical ideas have surely been around before you, but how you decide to use them can be brand new.

“Discovery” does feel more true to how the process feels though.

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

It’s a weird thing for me, it often doesn’t feel like I’m getting anywhere until the work is done. I tell myself that the act of trying to create is the important thing, not the product - it’s a great philosophy for my mental wellbeing, but it also means I never know how “far along” I am with any song.

It does feel like the work emerges when I least expect it - “a watched pot never boils” type thing. I just try to keep a consistent schedule of trying.

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?

Once I’m in the process, I feel like what needs to happen gets clearer and clearer. I don’t always know what I want, but I almost always know what I don’t want, and I let that inform the creation.

I am prone to judging the creative process, mostly out of anxiety; I worry if the process feels too easy that means I’m not being as expansive as I should be, and if it’s too hard I’m just not good enough to be making music.

I don’t think those conclusions are real things though. I just try to follow whatever gets me most excited.

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?

I rarely find an alternative road that is opposite to what I’m trying to achieve, but when that happens I do try to at least entertain it. I try to be aware of whether a new creative road is asking me to expand beyond a comfort zone, or to push me back into one.

I also always go back to the root of how I wanted the work to make me feel originally; if the new idea doesn’t feel aligned with the original concept, I set it aside for a different song.

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?

I’ve actually been practicing pole dancing for the past year or so, and creating feels very emotionally similar to dancing. It’s a lot of hard work, and while you’re in it you feel like you’re flying blind, and just going with how you feel and what you think is best. You don’t really get to enjoy the product of your work while you’re in it, but you’re having fun and it’s good exercise, so you just keep going.

I do think there is a bit of spirituality involved for me in that I really have to surrender control of what I want to happen when I create.

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?

I don’t usually come back to a song once I finish it. I’ll allow for some technical refinement production-wise, but I don’t really revise a work creatively after it’s completed. I feel like each work is a representation of where I’m at in a moment in time, and of course I’m not going to always resonate with it, because people are always growing and changing.

If I let myself revise too much I feel like I’m disrupting the integrity of capturing who I was when I started the work.

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?

Production to me is a huge part of the creation process because you have the opportunity to put your music into a space that informs the whole vibe of the work. Like that expression “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

I’m pretty involved with my own production and mixing, but I do love collaborating with other musicians and engineers on this part (my collaborator Mike Tierney was a co-producer and the mix / master engineer for my debut EP Birthday Party.) It’s almost always helpful to have an extra set of ears on something.

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?

I do often have a mourning period after finishing a big project - it feels like an impossible task to do another big thing.

What’s been key for me is encouraging myself to rest, and accepting that rest is a big part of creation. If I feel pressured to do something I resist doing it, so it’s important to me to keep my artistic process free from any pressure, including from myself.

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?

Writing music is special to me because it’s what I know, but I can’t speak for people who have the same feeling about their own creative practices. No one person’s sense of purpose is more important than another, and I think anybody can find that sense of creativity with whatever practice they choose (or whatever practice chooses them.)

I do think that listening to music is deeply meaningful for a lot of people (I often have more fun listening to music I like than I do writing my own) and I very much enjoy being able to potentially offer a meaningful experience to someone through my music.