5 Q&A With GIDE
What is the creative process like?
My process is usually somewhat chaotic in the sense that I don’t have a strict flow that I follow. Rather, I get inspired by one particular detail and start creating it and building other elements around it. Sometimes I start with a song structure, sometimes by creating one synth sound and sometimes by creating a catchy loop and expanding from it.
How do you feel "Virtually" represents your artistic identity?
Overall, I’m very happy with “Virtually” from a technical standpoint. Initially, I wanted to create something that resonated with the so-called “Organic House”/“Melodic Techno” style where the energy and beat sort of ebbs and flows within the song. In the end, the final work does not strictly represent that genre as it ended up becoming a stronger dance beat overall - but the principle of ebb-and-flow, I feel, is still very much there.
The song revolves around a few simple fundamental motifs, and explores them throughout the evolution of the song in terms of beat and harmony. Going forward, I would be happy to see more similar works completed.
What has been one of your most favorite memories along the path to making "Virtually?"
In my process, once the main song structure is (mostly) finished, I just play the song on a loop for myself again and again to find parts to improve. My favourite part was when after this annoying and painstaking work, it actually started sounding good and danceable, instead of just those small annoying or wrong-sounding parts dominating in my ear.
Finally, I was able to dance to it myself :)
Can you share a bit about your musical background and the journey that led you to where you are today?
I really just love music in all its forms. I’m always listening to, thinking about or making music. When I was young, I started off by listening to a lot of heavy metal, ambient and neofolk music. I have been playing physical instruments, like the Finnish folk instrument Kantele, for well over 15+ years now. I also started composing video-game like tunes very early on using general MIDI - I think the style is known as Dungeon Synth these days.
GIDE represents my artistic growth and transcendence from these various disconnected hobbies into a serious electronic dance music project - and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds.
Where do you find inspiration for your musical ideas?
To me, inspiration often comes in all kinds of varying forms. For mood and image, I’m often strongly inspired by the nature of my home country, Finland, with its calm and solemn tree-lined landscapes. For musical details, I often find one small detail such as a single synth sound or a cool set of notes or chords in a song I’m listening to, and try to jam and improvise with that idea. Other times I fall in love with the specific mood of a particular song and try to create my own work starting from that mood.