Part 2

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

I recently released a 7 track EP called Kilumi on the French label Infine and it is a piece of work that is very dear to me.

When I produce I typically start each idea on a semi blank canvas. I say semi blank because it’s usually inspired by one particular thing but not constrained to that direction. I also start these without any thought that they will end up anywhere because this removes the pressure of putting something into a mould.

For example I am currently working on an album to be released on Infine, but I make a point not to think about this when I am producing because the pressure to produce an album can stifle creativity because there are set deadlines and expectations. I am mindful of the timeframes to deliver work, but that is all I think of.

I like to start with sketches of ideas, usually building up from either a drum loop or a percussion loop. I then add layers of instruments until I am tired of hearing the same thing, which will happen after about 2 hours of working on the project. I then switch off everything and go and do something else. This approach allows me not to get frustrated with an idea because I understand the starting point of any new idea are not cute (especially for a perfectionist who is a bit impatient to see the final product). This can put you off the idea entirely if you hit a wall and refuse to allow yourself time to revisit the idea with a fresh pair of eyes and a new mindset.

We are continually influenced by our surroundings and our life so anytime you open a project in progress, you see it and feel it differently. I love this process and any time I shut a project down and reopen it  I have new fire to continue creating.

I then try to push it to its final stage by tightening any lose ends, any drum hits that are not timed properly or any notes which are off key, and then I think of a texture I would like to add to the project. It may be a sample from a previous recording, or a loop from something I have in the project already but layered with effects (effects I usually just pull randomly from the panel and push to their limits until something ‘interesting’ happens)

Once I am satisfied with the exploration of new ideas and I feel that I have added all the elements I want to add for a particular piece, I then play and replay the project very many times with loud volume and see how I feel about it. Most of the time by this stage I am absolutely in love with the composition and may want to play it for the people who are closest to me to see how they feel about it.

It is at this almost finalized stage that my collaborations will happen because some people who listen to the demos will feel moved to drop some words and feelings onto the tracks. I usually send the track over to the different artists and then arrange for a day to do the recordings with them. Once recording is done, we will sit together and work on basic arrangement and then I will go off on my own to go and finalize all the processing, mixing and pre-mastering of the tracks.

Usually this stage will take upto 3 weeks to finalize taking into consideration that the artist will have an idea of how they would like the vocals to sit and I will have my own. We usually will come to a middle ground we are all happy with and once this moment is reached, the track is ready to move on to mastering.

Kilumi was mastered by mastering engineer Dominic Clare of Declared Sounds and this took on average about two to three weeks to finalize.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

My preference when creating work is to recoil into my safe space and pour out ideas into my laptop using my preferred techniques. This makes my process more solitary - however with my recently released EP, I featured several collaborations and this pleasantly surprised me in the way that I am used to working. I broke out of my comfort zone and invited people into my creative process and this took a level of being open to the feelings of vulnerability.

The benefits of working alone are that you work at your own pace and when you are comfortable you are able to experiment with all the ideas you could ever think of on your own. The downside is you block yourself from the possibility of an even more original piece when working with two or more minds. Creatively speaking, your works are limited to your mind and depending on how much you explore, your works can over time start to sound monotonous.

Working communally also has its pros and cons. A pro is that we are all so unique and complex in our thinking and this makes the product of a collaboration very exciting and original.

The cons are that the creative process tends to be longer because our uniqueness sometimes leads us to want differing results and therefore we need to work harder to strike a middle ground through some level of compromise.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Music in society has been a medium of communication to relay so many things. From stories of the past, feelings of the present, ideas of the future, be it political, religious, cultural, music is the most powerful tool of communication in our society. Nobody can dictate what you use the music you make for. No message is off limits.

I am honored to have made a creative contribution to the world. How it relates to the world and it’s people is something I am discovering every day and it is a beautiful thing. I appreciate anyone who takes some time to listen to my work.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

I have experienced life, loss, love and pain and in each of these occurrences I have been pulled into and out of different states of emotions. Emotions guide what I want to do with music. Sometimes in the depths of depression I want to listen to absolutely nothing at all, and sometimes I want to drown in this feeling of sadness with music that pulls on the heart strings. Classical music and piano music such as anything by Nils Frahm often will allow me to sink into my feelings.

[Read our Nils Frahm interview]

I used to tie emotion to music early in my life, so strongly that years later if a particular song plays even today, it has the ability to throw me back into that exact state of feeling. I try not to do that nowadays because depending on the feelings tied to the music, it can render me paralysed in the moment.

I am interested in new exploration of sound. Nowadays I move freely, guided by my state of being. If I want to replay a song 30 times, I will do it, but I will not tie it to any life occurrence to this music. I seek more to understand the work on it’s own, and I then suck from it the particular feeling I am craving to get.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

Music’s ability to affect someone emotionally, reveals that there is some level of science at play.

The way the brain perceives sound waves is already an interesting biology lesson, from the vibrations in the eardrum, to the auditory cortex channels carrying messages to the brain from these vibration. The fact that there are certain types of sounds, chord progressions, noise waves that make us react emotionally means that there are studies towards a deeper understanding of what music is really capable of and how it can be used to influence how human beings behave.

Music is both art and science basically.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee?

Writing and performing music is more complicated than making a good cup of coffee to be honest.

When making coffee, you have a set of instructions and possible outcomes of your cup can be different, but not so varied that there is an infinite amount of difference. With music however, it is as complex as our minds and ways of thinking. We are so different and this has a chance to be relayed into our musical pieces. One piece can be similar to another, but ultimately can never ever be exactly the same.  

Also there are so many ways you can make coffee but again, these can be listed into a book of recipes. The many ways music can be approached by individuals cannot be documented. There are too many.

What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more mundane tasks?

When I was young, if I didn't have the courage to tell someone how I really felt, I would send them a song that relayed the message I wanted to tell.

Through music I can express feelings of sadness and similarly I can uplift somebody’s mood. You can tell someone how you feel but you cannot make them feel your feelings. Music comes in as a very handy medium to share a feeling because ultimately the person listening might feel the same way you do about it, and therefore if used correctly can be a cool medium of communication.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I am not very sure of this but, going back to the science of music, I believe studies have mapped out the different ways in which sound waves affect the feelings within a person. Waves are energy and energy makes up our entire being. We feel music as much as we listen to it and when music is made in tandem with the artist’s feeling, more often than not the effect it will have on the audience is the same or a very closely similar feeling.

For example if I make a song that makes me feel powerful, because I am moving to the frequency of my own brain chemistry, the result is a song that will elicit feelings of power in a different listener, who is inclined to perceive these forms the same way I do.

If I now tie a message of say political resistance to this piece of power, then the message is likely to make the listener feel that they are able to take on anything along the same vein. They will tie power and resistance to the same unit and probably it will alter how they think or behave.