5 Q&A With FLORUL
What was the creative process like for this particular single?
This song’s creative process began with a synth bass. I wanted something gritty, and something that kept a pulsing rhythm throughout the track. After that, it was all about the pumping vocal synth and the drums. The drums were so time consuming, because they were re-sampled time and time again, adding more and more texture to each layer of the drums was a real focus for me during this track, but also the EP as a whole.
But my favourite moment throughout the creative process happened with the featured artist Mona Kaia. I had been singing different ideas on this track’s original demo, and usually this part comes very quickly, however, I just couldn’t get anything I felt was what the song was calling for. So fast forward a month, and I’m sitting in a session with Mona, while producing her debut album with her, and seeing as she always comes up with beautiful vocal melodies off the cuff, I asked her to see what she could do. At this point, the track didn’t have a title, but the chorus you hear in “LEAVE” today, is the very first thing she sang that day. She nailed it, and the song was titled “LEAVE” from that moment on.
How does "LEAVE (feat. MONA KAIA)" fit into your overall artistic vision and what can listeners expect from you in the future?
“LEAVE” fits into my overall artistic vision in that it has some really intense moments, coupled with some really spacious and emotive moments, which allow the track to be as at home on the stage, as it is during a sunset on the beach. I feel it’s one of the most important tracks to the concept of the whole TONIGHT/TOMORROW double EP era, as it’s the moment of desperation, realising that time moves forward at the same rate, no matter how present you are in each moment.
“LEAVE” is also a massive step forward for me as an artist because this is the first track of my own I have ever released with a featured artist, and it’s the first of two featured tracks on the EP. I love working with other vocalists because it’s amazing when you hear something you never would have come up with, but it just fits the track so well.
What listeners can expect to hear from me in the future, is a more refined and impactful sound. After the first two EPs, I have an incredibly clear idea of where FLORUL is headed, and it’s already evident in the tracks I’ve started for my debut album.
What did you enjoy most about making this track?
I think it has to be being able to work with Mona Kaia in another genre. We made a really beautiful, unique, band-focused album for her over the past year and a half, so to hear her voice, and process it in different ways on one of my tracks was a lot of fun. A close second would be making the bridge, the heavily pre-delayed vocal reverb pushes after each line were something that just made my soul smile as it came together, and it really locked in the emotions of that section.
Can you introduce yourself and share a bit about your journey into music production? How did you become a producer?
Well, this is fun, hey I’m FLORUL. I’m a classically trained, multi-instrumentalist who has had a burning passion for music and arts since I can remember. I’ve always been fascinated by how a collection of sounds can make us feel so many emotions, and my greatest goal in music has always been to make you dance while making you feel a host of those emotions as deeply as possible. But how’d I get here? Well, that’s a long story, but to put it briefly, I studied music from a young age, then attended John Curtin College of the Arts’ specialist music program over here in Fremantle, and once I left high school, I was hooked on a little thing called Ableton. So I took these skills to SAE Institute and got myself a degree in Audio and Studio Music Production.
So how did I become a producer? I’m not sure at what point that happened, I always played music, and if you have the passion for it, it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself obsessing over the 0.2ms difference between one reverb or another, in some dimly-lit studio at 2 am in the morning on a Tuesday.
How do you ensure that your creative vision aligns with the artist's while maintaining their unique style?
I think that just comes down to being very selective with feature artists. At the end of the day, the two feature artists I worked with on this project were chosen because I felt they already fit into my artistic vision, and all they needed was the concept of the EP, and they were able to run with it from there.
