Name: Melati Malay aka Melati
Nationality: Indonesian
Current release: Melati ESP's hipernatural is out April 28th via Carpark.

If you enjoyed this Melati interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and twitter.  



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

It was Gospel and US spirituals originally, like Odetta. I was obsessed with Odetta when I first started properly getting into music in my teenage years, and when I first picked up an instrument I guess I was trying to get this type of feeling.



It might seem odd, but I loved music and was always very moved by it, but was always so shy and never saw myself in that role at all. I thought that was for other people. When I first moved to New York I had a friend push me to get up on a mic one night and I was terrified. But it nudged me over that first cliff.

I joined a few experimental bands in New York, one with the guy who produced the Gang Gang Dance records, and the other with big group of people who were more into classical, folk and sound art, and these live bands kind of became my de facto school where I learned a lot about contemporary music performance and production, from playing basement DIY venues and to recording demos in friends' apartments. It was the first time I learned about spatialized sound, which felt like magic to me then.



I’m back in Indonesia at the moment, and it’s been a new chapter of learning. Music isn’t a separate thing from “regular life” here, it’s part of the fabric of everything that exists. And I’ve noticed It’s the same whether it’s an outdoor rave in upstate New York, or Javanese ceremonial court music. Music has this virtual reality type of connective tissue. That has always drawn me to it.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colors. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

That’s so lovely to hear. I guess it’s different when I’m making my own music, compared to when I’m listening to a friend’s record for instance.

Listening to other music - whether it’s older music or more innovative music- it’s more common for me to be able to let go and have this kind of multi-sensory response. With my own music this will only occasionally happen in the process of recording … and something just shifts. It’s these moments that help act as beacons to help guide me in certain directions.

I guess I would describe the feeling as tension, then release. Particularly recording, which is kind of like this playful dance with the intangible, yet somehow becomes imprinted onto this physical disc forever. I really like the push and pull of that.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

It’s a constant development and growth. Everything that’s happened in the past has led to what I make now, whether it’s hipernatural or the records with my other project Asa Tone.



Recording vocals in Indonesian was definitely a shift for me too, because I know deep down it was something I was scared to approach for years due to insecurities around not knowing the language beyond a rudimentary level. But at some point I woke up and thought, why am I completely shielding this part of me? I was almost limiting myself due to some kind of colonial thinking and fear, and not representing where I’m actually at in my life, which is exactly that - a kind of hybrid between worlds.

If a personal voice is the truest voice of your experience, then this is my messed up, imperfect, alien voice. It’s informed by technology, but built through intuition and nature. Each record I guess I’m trying to get a little closer to this balance.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

Well it’s really something I tried not to focus on in the past, as I’ve always wanted to just be treated equally. But if I'm being honest a “mixed” identity definitely isn’t something that the external world ever lets you truly forget.

I’m sure many people have a similar experience, but I grew up in Indonesia, yet between 2 countries and cultures. So I think what happens is you miss out on big chunks of the cultural experiences and cultural languages of both, which in the end, means that neither country see you as completely part of “them.” Subconsciously, I think you tend to be viewed as the “other” first, which is fine, it’s just a very different way of communicating, and sometimes makes you feel as if you just stepped off a spaceship. And of course your way of being informs everything you do.

All art is political in its very nature but you have choices, to ignore this or to be inquisitive and ask questions. Now my practice as a listener is to look at how to decolonize my way of thinking, and this influences everything I do, from the day to day as both a creator, and a listener, and someone that shares a lot of music too through mixes and collaborations too.

[Read our Sorathy Korwar interview about Indofuturism and colonial language]

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

It’s twofold. On one level it’s to make things I love and contribute in some tiny way to the organized sound that is happening in the world. I also really like storytelling through sound as a preferred method of communication.

On another more abstract level, it’s nice to connect with whatever you want to call that “connective soup” that is at the heart of all perceivable reality as we know it.
 
How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

It’s a good question, because more and more I've started to not really see them as mutually exclusive. It might be this constant movement and the interplay between both that I think is most interesting?

In the near future, music we’ll think of as “part of tradition” will be music which is considered futuristic now. In a way, any new tech could just be something in the “natural” world - plus time. The modern human could just be a technologically advanced version of its previous incarnation, and so on.

I play the MIDI flute, sampling my own voice to create new music, which I guess is a piece of “future tech” from the vantage point of the Western classical concert flute music. But then in turn a silver Western classical flute of the 19th century is a piece of alien future tech from the vantage point of hand-carved flute 50,000 years prior. The boundaries are in perception.

I guess for me it’s about these binaries we’ve made between “organic” and “inorganic,” or “traditional music” versus “future music” I’m still thinking about it all, but I’m not sure why there has to be a divide between either or?

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

The computer as an instrument, because it is an instrument that marks this period, like the electric guitar did in the mid 20th century. I’m interested in technology that gets used creatively and adapted to modern forms of making. Also the EWI, which is like a digital midi flute. I can’t play flute, so I like that it has this kind of very loose, free form approach, particularly paired with generative software. It gives unique results.

These techniques for working have largely been informed by my friend Tristan Arp and Kaazi in our project Asa Tone, and this kind of application of using organic sound sources, field recordings of the environments, pieces of recorded voice reciting dream, etc, and letting “tech” collaborate in your reimaging. It’s kind of chance based-composition, where you duet with the tech, and respond in real time changes. I’ve been really enjoying this recently.  

The other newer instrument is the Internet, which I try to sample frequently, the same way I do with field recordings of recordings of my own voice. I feel pretty strongly that there should be no hierarchy or classism around the origin of sound sources. I don’t care if its a cheap sample, a youtube rip or an expensive modular setup, or an 18th century cello. They all live together. Not everyone has access to gear and time, particularly in the global South.

Whatever way you choose to express yourself making music is up to you and is valid.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Well, I wake up around 7am and it’s already 30 degrees celsius outside. I ride my scooter around the corner to a local warung to get a coffee and maybe a nasi breakfast. If the ocean is looking agreeable I'll try to get up a bit earlier and go surfing. Then I shower get changed for my day job which right now is helping a venue in Bali with their music and arts programming, so among other things, facilitating Indonesian and international artists performances. It’s a challenging role but really rewarding.

Then my nights and weekends are reserved for shows, or nongkrong (hanging out), or listening to music, or recording music, with a little bit of touring and travel mixed in between.
 
Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

Working with Asa Tone in Indonesia was particularly special for me, with a Gamelan Orchestra from Tabanan called Sudimara. I learn so much from these type of collaboration in such a short space of time.

It was interesting because the three of us showed up with electronic instruments, which require power and amplification. The first hours we spent micro tuning each piece to fit the key of the orchestra, which consists of 30 or so instruments, and amplifying our own instruments so we could match their volume. However once we started, we found this commonality in that we both had none of our music written down on paper- we had to do everything from listening.

We performed later that week with a dancer from Jakarta named Siko Setyanto, who hadn’t heard the rehearsals, and improvised on the night. He was incredible - we were all close to tears. I really loved this experience of collaborating with Siko and seeing his interpretation in real time.

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?

I often start music privately, usually in headphones, but everything is finished collaboratively with trusted friends.

Asa Tone I do with Kaazi and Tristan Arp, and everything is improvised, arranged, mixed and mastered together. This project is 100% collaborative from the ground up, and I think you can probably hear this in the recordings. Melati ESP is something that Kaazi and I will work on separately at first, and then build on together in the studio. Perhaps because it’s more melodic vocal music, it’s less improvised and much more structured around a conceptual base.

To be honest it’s been really nice having both outlets. If I go too far into one, I feel like I am losing my spark with the other. So bouncing back and forth between both constantly keeps things interesting.
 
How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Music is omnipresent, it’s a key part of how we communicate and collect into groups. My offering is only a small contribution to a community I love so much.

I think music in some form will always exist as part of human society even if our institutions change shape. We’ve always listened and danced, but we might not always work in a bank. It’s my small contribution in a big world.

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?

Music is a way for me to process things I’m a little bit awkward in unraveling through speech or in person. Maybe it’s to do with my upbringing, but we never really dove into emotions directly. Making the music in the way I do in some way is an oblique strategy to gather and examine this inner monologue.

As a music listener, it’s also helped me tremendously with healing and been a guiding force in almost everything I've done. I can’t really imagine a life without an ever-expanding musical accompaniment.
 
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? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think it’s more in the conditions that you create, and your intent of course. I know it’s cheesy but surfing is analogous for me to music, this weird experience of flying across a wave, without knowing what it is going to do next. You can’t predict it, can’t be elsewhere, or can’t be thinking about anything else, you just have to be there.

How are you going to respond? You could rush, try all these different things you’ve seen other people do, photocopy them, etc. That could be your intent in creating your experience. Or you could do whatever feels right to you, be creative in the lines you draw, do things in harmony with whatever the wave is presenting.

It’s the same with waking up, making a coffee and going about your day, or gardening, or recording music, or anything really. The future is unknown and there is no right answer. It’s all about a feeling and your approach at the end of the day.
 
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?

It’s incredible. The ears are little receivers which help convert waves of energy sent to the brain into recognizable feelings, which in turn make the entire physical body have a physical response.

I’m not really sure what else to say but if you can’t see that process as some of the most fascinating alchemy in this brief human experience, then you may have lost your way.