Part 2

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'm not the sort of artist who enters into a trance-state where I forget to eat and sleep until I get ‘the thing’ out of me. It's much more that I have mini-moments of creative flow that occur during the time I am in my studio.

I do think there is something spiritual in these moments, in the sense that there is a channelling of sorts that takes place. I can't describe how it happens. It's as if everything that I have been inspired by, that I have absorbed as a music lover, and reader and human being - this multitude of input is somehow fused inside me in a moment of creative impulse, and channelled into some musical idea that comes out of me.

In the best of cases, this musical fragment then resonates with my intentions for the thing I am working on (in a way in which I cannot fully understand) and thus creates a feedback loop connecting what I have made to the sources of inspiration that are mixed together within me.

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?

For most projects I am working to a deadline, and in these cases it’s rarely possible to let things lie. Many pieces created in this way have been edited after they have been premiered, between performances. This is not really possible with an album, obviously.

With both my albums, however, I was mostly working without a deadline, and was therefore able to leave things for a while and come back to them before they were released. This was essential, as each break brings with it new perspectives.

At some point however I start to sense that the material works and I set myself a deadline in order to bring the thing to a close. Otherwise I think I would lose interest at some point.

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?

The two solo albums I have made are both conceived of as a whole, as concept albums. Dramaturgically they are also somewhat inspired by the archetype of a (positive) psychedelic trip, strange in the beginning and becoming more emotive and perhaps even overwhelming towards the middle, before tailing off into something that hopefully leaves the listener feeling touched.

This dramaturgy is not really planned, it kind of just happens naturally as I work on music. It's how I approach music in almost all projects I'm involved with. I try to create something that grabs you slowly, without you noticing, sweeping you away on some sort of wave.

So in this sense the effect of listening to the whole album is central to my intention with the music. At the same time, it's important for me that the individual tracks also function in isolation.

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

Well, I create music directly in Ableton, so the production aspect is important from the get-go. I don't write on a piano and then transcribe for a group later. I am searching from the beginning for the sounds I will use.

I mix roughly as I work. And the final mix is also something I do myself, so for me composition and production are interdependent. In fact, a lot of the vibe comes from the mix, even the early rough mix.

For example, on the newest record, a particular reverb-send I was putting on basically every element, when disabled, completely changed the feeling of the music. So in this sense, there were elements of the mix that were contributing to the atmosphere and therefore the development of the composition.

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?

On this latest record the artwork is very design-based. I love what HIT Studio (who took care of this) proposed.

I knew I wanted to include an image by Meyer Filho, who was an artist from Florianópolis, an island-city in southern Brasil. He painted and drew very colourful and fantastical birds, very cosmic and often trippy images. In the end, however, we went for a simple black and white drawing. The title of the first two tracks on the album are borrowed from another work of his, ‘Ave Sideral’, which means ‘cosmic bird’ in Portuguese.

Meyer Filho is actually the great-uncle of my partner, and in her family home, not too far from Florianópolis, there are a few of his original works, which I've always loved.

The cover of the LP also features a very beautiful text written by Maikon K, who also wrote the lyrics for the record. This text, coupled with the small image, means you really have to explore the artwork in a way that I like a lot.

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 can definitely relate to this. After finishing a project that has consumed me for a significant amount of time, and required creative energy, there can be a depressing few weeks to deal with. It's strange, even after successful shows, I can feel quite down.

What I try to do is quickly get reading again. I love to read, but during a creative process I usually don't have the mental space to absorb books. So I find the moment between creative phases is often the moment when I read most voraciously.

I usually end up reading something that is so inspiring that I need to get creative again.

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?”

With both my albums I wanted to make music that is playful, surprising, weird. So I was very happy when a reviewer of the first record said that the moment they put it on, they were immediately filled with a childlike excitement.

They went on to say that the album 'is like a cosmic kettle, in which all existence has been reduced into a primordial soup', and that listening to the music is like hearing a simulated hyperreality.

I thought this was a pretty spot-on analysis.

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?  

For me, music is a way to explore and express something that is otherwise difficult to get to grips with. You might make a good or a bad or even a great cup of coffee, but in doing so, I doubt you could express quite as much, or quite as profoundly, as you could through making music. Maybe I'm not going to the right coffee shops.

For me good music taps into the ineffable. It’s often not possible to describe why music moves us. And yet I think everyone has very strong connections to certain albums or concerts. Listening to particularly meaningful records transports me back to a moment in place and time, or to a certain feeling. It’s very mysterious.

It might sound cheesy, but for me making music is a way to grapple with these great mysteries, like consciousness and the universe. It’s like tripping, a way of looking inward and at the same time feeling super-connected to the vastness of existence.

A good coffee might get me going on this trip, but I personally need a little more to 'break through'.