Name: Arun Dhanjal aka Zar
Occupation: DJ, producer, composer
Nationality: British-Indian
Current release: Zar's new single "Rivulets" is out via Tabula Rasa.
Recommendations:
1. LudoWic - SUEPR8 MEMORY: Created with an old not very well known synthesiser called the Trautonium, it’s a gorgeous earnest, wistful and longing piece of electronic music. Highly recommend.
2. Flight - Song For The Road: Gorgeous song that captures the true essence of coming home, however you interpret that!

If you enjoyed these insights by Zar and would like to stay up to date with his music and activities, visit him on Instagram, Soundcloud, and twitter.

For a deeper dive, check out earlier Zar interview.



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?

The impulse to create is always within me, it’s more allowing myself the time and space to channel that impulse into something. It manifests not just through music, but through drumming, photography, writing, DJing.

Whilst I don’t actively seek inspiration through dreams and other art forms, they definitely inspire in ways I’m aware of and unconsciously too. It’s during the creation process that I'll realise the source of inspiration oftentimes.

Quite often the creation process for me is just playing, and only after I'll realise where the source came from.

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

It varies, I’ve experienced both. I’ve gone through periods of time where I’ve mostly had concrete ideas of what I’d like the finished work to be, and usually it doesn’t end up how I hear in my mind.

At the moment I’m enjoying playing without an idea of what it could be, and letting the process unfold in that way. Those moments where I clearly hear sounds in my mind, I'll chase as soon as possible, those moments are rare and should be honoured when they do come.

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'?

Again this depends, sometimes I’ve had music just pour out in an effortless way, other times I’ve had to rummage through the research and tools to get to the sounds.

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 usually need a quiet room away from distractions and on my own to just play and create. I generally like lighting incense and having a herbal tea ready to go.

What do you start with? And, to quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

It varies from song to song, sometimes I start with the drums, sometimes I land on a lovely chord progression or lead melody idea.

I don’t really know if I’ve created the idea really, but I’m just grateful that the ideas come out, and that I’m able to actualise sounds!
 
Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I really like that space in between where control gives way to following those ideas that arise. There’s a beautiful juxtaposition and dance between those.

The process for me is a constant movement between both having control over certain things and then also letting of of other aspects. I try to incorporate that in my music, it creates a sense of tension and mimics real life in that way too.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Properly guilty of this, most of the time I have a lot of ideas in my tracks and I’m working on trying to hone in on a few really strong ideas and making them really effective.

A lot of my favourite musical pieces do this, although there certainly is a time where this is useful in a track.

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?

The creative state is a really weird and wonderful thing to enter, I think it’s really closely linked with flow states. For me, once a sense of time has disappeared I generally know I’m in that state. It’s true presence, and I feel that’s a spiritual state to enter to some degree, yes.

Doing something purely for the sake of doing it is, in my opinion, getting to the crux of here and now, which is truth, and spirituality is a searching and accepting of truth I think. So yeah, definitely.  

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?

In the past I’ve been very rushed with finishing something and closing the book on it, sending it out to people, only to realise it was far from being “done” - although I don’t think music is ever “done”, you just get to a place with it in your current moment in life with your experiences to understand that there’s nothing else that can be done with it.

I listen to my old tracks and still have ideas about how I could change certain things. Now I’m practicing allowing that space, revisiting it in the future and with a new perspective and experience I'll be able to develop it more.

I think I have a good sense of when a track is “finished”, so I’m happy to work on it until I get that sense. And that changes from song to song.

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“

Coming from the perspective of being a drummer, performance is really important to me.

I’m trying to get the most human feel out of electronic music possible, but this is a lifelong practice and I’m always learning new nuances in this.

Even recording a solo song is usually a collaborative process. Tell me about the importance of trust between the participants, personal relationships between musicians and engineers and the freedom to perform and try things – rather than gear, technique or “chops” - for creating a great song.

Good personal relationships between collaborators beats chops any day. Collaborating is a really vulnerable thing for me, it’s allowing yourself to make mistakes in front of others, and if you’re with someone who you’re at ease with, it’s really easy to create together.

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)?

They’re all important to me really. I value production aesthetics and a good mix (which is to say, a mix that makes sense to the song rather than a polished shiny sounding mix), and the mastering is just to enhance everything you’ve done already.

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 usually feel tired after a song is released! I don’t feel like making anything for a while and usually need rest time.

The urge to create comes naturally though.

Music is a language, but like any language, it can lead to misunderstandings. In which way has your own work – or perhaps the work of artists you like or admire - been misunderstood? How do you deal with this?

It’s not my problem once a song is released, I know what it means to me and my intentions with it, everything else is secondary.

Music means different things to different people, so I try to not pay much attention to anything that is misunderstood.

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?

I guess through music I try to express my personal sense of perfection. But I’ve done this with other aspects too, it’s all the same to me.