Name: Abdulla Almatrook aka O Squared
Nationality: Dubaian
Recent release: O Squared's I Found A Unicorn is out via Gabu.
Recommendations: For books, read Factfulness by Dr. Hans Rosling. It’s one of the most insightful books I’ve read in a while, and it teaches about poverty in the world. Second, check out "Easy Lee" by Ricardo Villalobos. Most of his productions are lessons in creative production techniques.

If you enjoyed this interview with O Squared and would like to find out more about the band's music, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



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?

I started teaching myself piano at age 13, eventually learning to play with both hands. When my mother saw and heard me play, she mentioned some of our family members with a musical ear and that I must have a similar talent.

Eventually I left for university and made my way to Boston. It was there that I met some students from the UK that worked on an Akai MPC and introduced me to DAWs. It took off after that intro to software and it’s been 15 years into production and 13 years as a DJ.

My inspiration to produce actually came from Deadmau5 in the early days and different genres continued to inspire me to arrive at my current musical taste. I draw inspiration from artists such as Ricardo Villalobos, Nobodi, Mihai Pol, Mehdispoz and Tommy Vicari.
 
When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Music is the most effective way of delivering emotions. If you want to deliver a mental message to someone, you open your phone and text them. On the other hand, If you want to deliver an emotional message, you send them music and replicate the emotion in them.

My body perceives music as a plane where lower pitched sounds hit your lower body and higher pitched sounds are received by the upper body.

Then there are the characters of the instruments themselves. Different percussive elements can come together and shape the way you move on the dance floor.
 
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 was tough to get recognized in a region that had no infrastructure for budding artists, and while we do have a very rich music culture and history, music as a professional career is generally frowned upon in our society.

As such I was mostly self-taught, skimming info from the Internet and endlessly experimenting in the studio to understand the function of each field of music production. At some point I lost my voice as an artist and felt no effort that was put into production sounded good or fruitful, even after many years worth of projects.

My breakthrough actually came through last year, when I had epiphanies about the direction that my music should lean towards as I was listening to an extended Raresh set in a sunwaves Zanzibar in 2021. That was followed by a trip to Garbicz Festival and I ended up moving to London for a few months thereafter.

While incubating my new musical tastes there, I saw a flurry of activity in the music scene back in the Middle East, so I decided to head back and attended Boiler Room Bahrain, where many of my regional peers shared their music and connected with eachother.

This connection deepened at the end of 2021 in XP Music Conference in Riyadh, and I managed to confirm a gig in MDLBeast Soundstorm’s UG4 stage (that was wild). The cherry on top was when my partners and I worked on our first edition of Soundscapes Zanzi. It’s been a lovely journey since then.
 
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.

Probably the most crucial point after gaining a skill set in production and Deejaying was to infuse my identity into the music. I looked back and saw that I was limiting myself and trying to conform to the popular tracks we hear.

So I removed those limits and allowed my personality to flourish and freely express itself in the music. I brought in influences from my childhood and other parts of my life, such as my love for astronomy and inspiration from 8-bit video game music.
 
What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

I came to the conclusion that before melodies, there was only rhythm. It’s about asking how you can effectively get your audience to move. It’s sophisticated music for the dance floor. There has to be cohesion between different elements of the music.

Musical instruments have a soul, be they organic or electronic.
 
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”?

They are one and the same. There are no barriers between the past and future when it comes to music. All the sounds I produce are influenced by the sounds I’ve heard throughout my life, be it music or just the sounds of nature or of the city.

I definitely feel that the music we love in our scene is cutting edge and at the forefront of new musical culture, where genres are constantly being absorbed and reinvented alongside discovering totally new sounds to produce with.

It comes down to good pairing, like pairing different ingredients into a meal.
 
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?

It’s the DAW. It’s an essential tool for the modern day producer and incorporates all the individual tools you need to start producing. The instruments are not as important as the knowledge behind the instrument, which you need to know to fully tap into the instrument’s potential.

With that being said, I currently work with a collection of synths, most notably the Juno 60 alongside a Yamaha Motif XS stage synth and a Dave Smith Prophet 12.

More recently and in line with the my current sound, I’ve put more effort into working on drum machines and sequencers. I worked with Arturia’s Drumbrute and recently started dabbling with a Roland TR-909.
 
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I’d wake up in the morning and start the day slow, with 15 minutes of stretching then enjoying a coffee to some laid back music. Then I head to the gym for a quick workout, followed by breakfast and heading to work. After work, I either head out and socialize with peers or head home and begin working on personal projects, whether it’s studio time, festival work, or personal investments.

The day ends with a chilled out dinner at home or out with people and then back to the room to wind down and prepare for the next day, with some all-nighter work evenings 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?

I have this belief that the starting point of any project will drastically affect the end result.

Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night having dreamt of a song, so I go down to the studio, punch the idea in so I don’t forget it, and work on it the next day. Other times I go in with a project in mind or collab with a friend to get inspired.

Mostly though there is no plan and the idea is totally in the moment, which allows for creativity to flow freely.

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?

The formula that works for me is to have a very fun and collaborative atmosphere during the initial stages of a project, where most of the creativity is put into the project.

Once we reach the later stages of mixing and mastering, it tends to become more solitary as it requires more focus. Although having a trained pair of ears with you during this stage can be a big help - especially if you need a reference to make sure your project sounds crystal clear.
 
How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

My work has one message: spread the love. That’s all it’s about: borderless love.

When everything comes together the right way (the music, the audio quality, the location, the crowd, the vibe) then the magic can happen: new friendships blossom, valuable connections are made, and personal problems are dampened or resolved by remembering that life is beautiful. The dance floor takes on a life and culture of its own at this point.

The role of music is really to unite people from all over the world and to equalize through the music and the dance floor.
 
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 can heal a person in so many ways. It can show you the path to healing, and this path is personal to you and the way your mind works. It could be a rhythm, a melody, or words in a vocal that trigger your mind to connect the dots in your life.

While working on the first edition of Soundscapes Zanzi, I lost a dear childhood friend. My mind set aside dealing with the grief as I was too busy planning the event. On the last day, I was on the dance floor as I heard a serene track played by Andrey Pushkarev, and for some reason the sounds I heard made me smile as I realized that life is fleeting and we should accept the natural order of the world, and focus on what we CAN change. For example you cannot control the weather, but you can get an umbrella and adapt.

I then walked over to the beach and emptied my tear glands to a beautiful sunrise over the Indian Ocean, and made peace with the fact that our friend has moved on to a much better place we can’t even imagine, and such is life.
 
How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

They are both intertwined. Knowledge in one field will help propel the other to new heights. I made sure to put the effort into the science of sound: the wave function; the effect of different frequencies on the body; the frequency response of the eardrum; the mathematics of rhythm. Knowledge of these topics can help give you that edge to make your music special amd unique.

It also helps our understanding of life. I found out recently that there is a topic in astronomy called the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations: that the shape of the universe and the positions of galaxies were determined by massive primordial sound waves that travelled at half the speed of light, at a frequency range of 10Hz (below the audible range of humans). That information blew my mind.
 
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?

While these are two different tasks with different skill sets, they are essentially the same: it’s how you can nurture your knowledge of a topic and your effort to allow the creativity to flow.

Intention also plays a big part. If you cook with love you can almost taste the improvement in the food you make. Likewise if you produce with the intention of making people dance, or to let go of a bad emotion inside you, then it will be reflected in the end result of your track.

The only difference is that music is fluid, in the sense that it can sway your emotions in many directions in a short period of time and is more easily consumed (you can fill your belly in 30 minutes but your mind can stay hungry for music for extended periods of time.)
 
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?

Vibrations have frequencies and amplitudes among other characteristics. This gives rise to potentially unlimited numbers of combinations that you can shape the sound with.

The “feeling” sound itself can be determined by one’s character, expression, intent, and soul. That is what brings music to life and gives it depth.