"I wouldn’t say my idea of music evolved much over the years, it actually became very stripped down, released from the baggage it was trying to carry, almost devolved. Currently, it’s mainly and almost entirely concept driven.

 

I have always advocated the idea that music serves multiple purposes: for dancing, having background noise, signaling important dates such as birthdays or holidays; but also, obviously, it has commercial value, be it commercial jingles themselves or pop hits; that music is made to earn money. Music is a legitimate way of earning money, and I’m not arguing against it. However, it is important to distinguish that music can also serve as art, as a concept in itself. A story, an emotion, an auditory experience that serves itself, and will stay here for good (well, at least longer than the artist).

 

I do realise that the word “concept” is very pretentious without further explanation. I’m self-aware enough to know I can’t guarantee the best explanation or definition of “concept”, but I am confident enough to try:

 

It is widely accepted that life began on Earth 4 billion years ago (give or take a year!); skipping much forward, Neanderthals came to exist; more importantly to us, Homo sapiens did as well. Current belief is that Neanderthals had bigger brains than their more upright cousins, Homo sapiens. However, we’re the ones digging up their bones and making up theories, not the other way around, so I suppose we showed them, huh! Well, having won that battle, let me get back to my point. Homo sapiens are animals - we are animals. We share basically everything with our ape relatives, so why do so many people consider us special? Well, apart from completely and utterly dominating this big living rock, I’d argue that art is what makes us special. Is it divine? Is it just based on our rough, very intelligent brains? That is out of scope for this story, although I’m very aware I’m the one setting the scope, my opinion on religion and faith can be found out at the local pub, if you catch me. Getting back to the point, art is what separates us from animals. From caves to the Louvre, from lullabies to rock operas, art has always been in humankind. As mentioned before, I do agree that art serves other purposes, like easier communication, signs, work rhythm synchronization, and so on… The point is, we were never satisfied by just that; we’ve always wanted more. More than the extrinsic or technical value art can serve. We wanted to create, think of “what-ifs”, impose and expose ourselves to emotions, the full range of emotions and all the possible mixtures. We want to be remembered, and we are. Every person who ever created something on purpose had an idea; if that idea connected to another, it became a concept, and the person became an artist.

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This all has been a very long way to say that concept is at the core of art, and I want to nurture it. I want to let it breathe, let it lead, let it go wild if it wants to; and oh boy it wants to.

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As I mentioned in the beginning, I’ve not always really had the same opinion. Well, I did, but it had a lot of layers upon it. As my music progressed, the layers have been falling off, and from my current perspective it’s completely bare. No purposefully catchy parts to quickly get viral, no shortened intros or outros so the song is under 3 minutes just so it could be radio friendly, no limitations, no excuses, no reason not to serve the song’s wishes.

 

That’s not to say I want to make unlistenable music; I do very much take care of it sounding good. It’s just that good, in my terms, doesn’t necessarily mean comfortable. I enjoy playing with the listener’s ear. Expect the unexpected and you just might find what you’ve expected. A folk song with a dirty guitar solo in the middle? Released from the expectation, you’ll feel the solo coming and actually expect it, moments before it comes.

 

On a technical note, I am obsessed with the production, making sure each millisecond is perfect, the mix is as clear as it can be; and the master is as loud as it needs to be. I want to immerse you, and being a perfectionist is an effective (although not the most efficient) way of doing it. Being a perfectionist, however, only works if you have total control. So, I’ve given myself total control. Of course, just giving the control is the easy part, the hard part is teaching yourself basically everything: recording, producing, mixing, mastering, distributing; the living hell of advertising and promoting; shooting, arranging, editing and releasing videos; 3D modelling; making websites; writing an autobiography of sorts! Although that is what I called the hard part, it’s not really hard. It’s not, it might be more uncomfortable, more exhausting, but at the end of the day, this is what drives me.

 

I enjoy it, I enjoy the FUCK out of it."