Freak Orlando On the Making Of ‘UNSOLICITED DEMO’
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in ‘UNSOLICITED DEMO?’
First off, ‘UNSOLICITED DEMO’ is not really a proper release - I mean, it is as it’s out there - this thing is a compilation in the form of a playlist from three volumes of demos I’ve been releasing since June. It is the beginning of a journey, the songs are not even properly mixed or mastered, it’s me experimenting with everything I can. For years I’ve been writing songs and making voice notes with my phone or any other device, but it wasn’t really until the pandemic I began putting all these demos together and learning throughout the process how to actually finish songs and then making a proper recording. So the interesting and unique stories would be me, locked in my bedroom annoying my family to put all the noise down, me playing the same parts over and over, me trying to record guitar parts in one take and cursing every time I’ve got a note wrong.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for 'UNSOLICITED DEMO?'
My songwriting began to make sense around 2018 and it was around this time I began to experiment with interfaces, LogicPro and stuff. The recording was really an act of desperation and frustration, for years I expected people to join me and write songs together, but that never happened, I had songs for years and always thought they were finished, but in fact those crappy recordings were just the step one of a long long journey. So the whole recording and production was putting all together, which sounds so easy, but it was a difficult thing to do, sometimes 10 ideas made one song, sometimes the song was finished in a few takes, Spectra Spectacle may sound so “right-there” but the “guitar-ballad-straightforward” song’s verses were so hard to figure out.
What did you enjoy most about making this EP?
What I enjoyed the most was the sonic part of it, I’m in love with reverb/delay and all these sonic landscapes, so the fun part was to make my songs sound that way. Back in my teens and through the years I came across The Verve and their use of the Space Echo, the distorted and textured voices of Slowdive, the Phil Spector’s echo chambers - you get the idea - so what I enjoyed the most was to put all of those elements in my own songs. Another enjoyable part was the idea of having the right gear for the right song, and not moving forward until you get that piece of gear. New equipment was always enjoyable, my credit card debt not so much.
Was there a pivotal moment in your life when you decided to follow your path as a musician?
Every day is full of pivotal moments really - I don’t sit in the toilet thinking how crucial is that sitting for my musical career tho - but in a way it is, being a musician is living the life I want to live. I’m a musician already but there’s still a long way to go, if you know what I mean.
Are there any specific venues or festivals that you dream of performing at?
Of course, there are! But listing them all would make any reader laugh their asses off, so I’ll keep them to myself. All I’ll say is that every venue and fest is part of the dream. - A lot at the “All You Can Eat: World Food Festival”? - Yes, it’s all part of the dream.
All the best.
