Ace Pariston On the Making Of ‘papilio’
What was the creative process like for this particular 'papilio?'
You know, the process in itself felt very natural, the things I was writing about subconsciously mirrored what I was going through in this stage of life.
I chose to sequence the series into 4 parts, with a final 5th culminating into a full-length project, this way I could explore different sounds/themes in each part and take my time in crafting it.
Every chapter in the series is titled after a Latin term that sets the tone for the contents within, with the final being “papilio”, meaning “butterfly”.
This butterfly is represented as the main symbol and anecdote of the series, serving as a metaphor for “life”.
I use the term “coming of age” to reflect on this project and the journey that followed, since that’s what it felt like: Growing up and shedding your old self. A lot of emotions, especially pain and struggle, arose in the midst of this and you can definitely hear it throughout the track-list.
I simply feel like it was the music speaking for me, it was all very fluid, “papilio” almost turned into a musical train of thought of sorts by the time I was finished with the series.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for 'papilio?'
Definitely, I learned a lot from making mistakes throughout my time creating the EP. I ran into obstacles of all sorts during the process.
Everything from mixing problems, recording issues, tweaking things until they sounded worse than before, not getting a shot right for a music video, I even sent in the wrong audio file for one of the singles and had to re-release it as an “extended version” to make up for it (lol), you name it I wrestled with it.
But hey, that’s how you grow and evolve as an artist and most importantly as a person. I’m thankful that I get to experience all of this so I can better myself in all aspects as a creative.
As for breakthroughs, I thankfully had many of those as well.
Finding the right mixes for my vocals on different tracks, what ranges my voice fit the best in, discovering new ways to use my tone and actually putting emotion behind what I was saying in the songs. I got as much out of it as I possibly could and I feel like it’s safe to say that I improved levels since my first EP.
What is your personal favorite song from 'papilio' and why
Probably the title track, since I personally feel like it incapsulated everything that this project was meant to become, both sonically and lyric wise.
(Big shout out to my dear friend Joseph Cassini for blessing it with his god given vocals)
Can you share a bit about your musical background and the journey that led you to where you are today?
So I’ve always loved music, ever since my teenage years I always had my headphones on me and I kind of became addicted to finding new music and entertaining the feelings I felt while listening to different genres.
Rap was the initial spark that lit the fire for wanting to pursue it as a passion and career.
I went to a music school in southern Sweden where I started learning about recording, writing and putting out music. Since the first time I got on a mic at my brother Paulie’s house and laid my first verse down, it’s been history.
Now we’re here and I’m not planning on stopping.
Who would you most like to collaborate with, if it could be anyone in the world?
The dream collab would definitely be with LAROI, since we’re both ’03 liners and I’ve been following his process for a while now. I think we have a lot in common when it comes to the passion that we both feel for the art of music, so let’s run it!
