Name: İlhan Erşahin
Nationality: Swedish-Turkish
Occupation: Composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist
Current release: İlhan Erşahin's new album with his band The Istanbul Sessions, Mahalle, is out via nublu.
Recommendation for NYC, USA: Visit my clubs nublu and studio 151 :)

If you enjoyed this İlhan Erşahin interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, bandcamp, and Facebook. 



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?

Well, it is a mystery many times to be honest.

It can be started by a sound I hear or a track or a show I see that inspires me.  But usually I guess it is the direction of the specific project I am recording and I'll try to focus on that color.

And then also just waking up and trying to be creative in your mind and then project that to your instruments.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a "visualization" of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I am more of a chance kinda person I think.

But yes, it is like colors. Certain projects have certain colors and others have other colors, and then when you get to work just trying to project that.

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"?

In my case, since I have lots of different projects I really compose and improvise in the style I am projecting for a certain band or group of people. Both when playing live and when in the studio.

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 don't know. I think that is a distraction somehow.

You really have to be in the moment with the surroundings. Because every studio or stage or sideman is different.

For Mahalle, what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they? Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

For my band Istanbul Sessions, when I write songs for it, whether I prepare them beforehand or when we write together in the studio, I really think about my band mates.

Like this kind of rhythm or vibe fit or doesn't fit us basically. To try to write tunes for the people we are, not just a random song that can be played by anyone. It has to be special for us.

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?

For me it really comes and goes.

But it seems I can call it up whenever I want usually, since I do record originals all the time.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on?

I never really listen to my old work once it's released.

How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practice?

I never release anything until I am really satisfied with all elements, from the writing/composing to mixing and then mastering and then the pressing of the vinyl.

If it's all to my satisfaction, then I'll OK it.

How do you think the meaning, or effect of an individual piece is enhanced, clarified or possibly contrasted by the EPs, or albums it is part of? Does each piece, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

Yes it has to be - for me at least usually.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of their contribution to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?

It is actually more important than the music itself somehow.

The mix the master and the writing of the vinyl - all those have to be perfect.

Music and the accompanying artwork are often closely related. Can you talk about this a little bit for your current project and the relationship that images and sounds have for you in general?

I always work very closely with the person who is creating the artwork.

I feel very connected to that and want to be involved until it is really finished.

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?

Yes, the world is always empty :)

But one has to look past all the difficult things of being an artist. You can't get too emotional with things because then it really can start to depress the situation and that is exactly why you don't want to continue the flow.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Well, people can say anything really but I try to listen and learn. And to see comments as a good thing.

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?

It is a deep deep thing to create and actually finish ideas. It is never mundane.