BeatBoyNinja On the Making Of 'The Elephant in the Room'
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in this album?
Combining an ambient palette with the 8-bit engines was a challenge because one side is soft and gentle, but the other is harsh and highly dynamic. I worried for some time, trying to balance this, but everything fell into place on its own in the process. This music style that I call Chipbient uses sounds and synthesizers from retro video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Game Boy, Commodore 64, and NES, and mixes it with soothing, and minimalistic soundscapes, piano, and pads. Ambient music often focuses on creating a mood or an immersive environment rather than a structured melody or rhythm, but Chiptune is quite the opposite and this mixture borns something new. And this is what I love about music.
What impact do you hope 'The Elephant in the Room' will have on your audience?
My main goal as a musician be more experimental, so I'm trying to entertain my listeners with those little interesting things on tracks like percussion made of paper sheets and clicking pens, singing pretending to be a synth, a synth pretending to be vocals, jazz piano improvisations, etc. I'm proud of this album and I hope it will create some unique listeners experience.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on the album and what makes them special to you?
The track “Blank Spaces,” which I made as a soundtrack for the game of the same name on Steam, became decisive. This is a thriller detective game in a dystopian environment so here I decided to go crazy. I sampled Sax-o-boom, played with different chiptune engines, and created this mixed mood that I wanted to convey throughout the album.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in music?
Behind the BeatBoyNinja is Sergey Snegirev, a musician originally from Siberia. I endured the harsh life in the Siberian snow and minus 40 degrees Celsius temperatures, which made me invulnerable to changing weather conditions. Now, I live in Cyprus at a temperature of plus 40 degrees Celsius.
I started to make music at the University about 15 years ago. I played drums in a local indie rock band, but then I wanted to make something more experimental. I played on synthesizers and blended them with acoustic instruments like drums and guitars. But It wasn't enough experimental for me. Since a child I always loved games. Now I'm working as a game designer so my love is on another level now. A couple of years ago I thought what If I can blend ambient with chiptune? Would it sound like an unusual game soundtrack? Since then I have played with this kinda genre, giving it the name "Chipbient" and trying to evolve.
Have you ever had any particularly memorable experiences while experimenting with your work?
I didn't like the ambient genre before. But a few years ago I fell into a terrible depression. I composed an ambient album in those days of anxiety, totally on my iPad instead of DAW. I didn't want to get up from my bed and live my life, and only music could heal me and make me stronger. On these days full of dark, I surrounded myself with cables and synths. I used different apps on my iPad with Cobalt 8M synthesizer, Polyend Play groovebox, and mixer. And it helped. Month by month I started to feel better because of this healing music power. In a new album, I mixed all those old feelings and skills with a new more happy condition of my life and game vibes.
