What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of ‘Electronic Spirit?’

‘Electronic Spirit’ was written and created over several years and really was a gradual evolution up to this point. I have been a musician all my life and grew up in the rock and metal world. As I got older I became increasingly interested in electronic music and I just love the unbounded creativity that the genre can have or at least has the potential to be. Every song on the album is quite different from the rest however there is a common thread that holds all the tracks together. I never wanted to produce an album where every song sounds the same. My and the listeners’ ear would get bored, right? The ‘unexpected’ in music is to me a very good thing, or perhaps to the art world as a whole. So perhaps the initial spark was the creation of some basic tunes many years ago that over time evolved, each time progressing and evolving. I also have a bit of a secret process which insures originality and variety across the songs but obviously I won’t tell you this…hah hah

Can you talk about the recording and production process for this masterpiece?

Well as I say, this was created over a long, long time and god only knows over how many hours? Hundreds certainly, maybe thousands? When I create a track, I will often disappear and hide away…. and just forget about time. I go into a state of hyperfocus and then once the base of the track is created I will keep evolving the track, adding bits and taking away. A song can often have many versions, sometimes over x30 before I decide when it’s finally finished, but at some point it just suddenly feels right and finished. I mean a song can always keep going through refinements and to better versions but at some point you just have to say that it is there. Regarding instruments its lots of programmed drums, loops, samples and a lot of my own use of synths, keyboards and guitars. In terms of software I’m a big user of Logic Pro which to me is just so intuitive and powerful I’m not quite sure why I would ever switch to another DAW, especially as I obviously use many external plugins etc/samples etc. As I go along I will continuously use AI mastering tools however the final album versions of the track end up in the very capable hands of Seppa (Sandy Finlayson - Producer) for that final polished mix and mastering process.

Is there a particular message or theme you hope listeners take away from ‘Electronic Spirit?’

My music is definitely more about how it makes you feel rather than any lyrical content. Even spoken/sung words are very minimal and sometimes played with so much in the production process it’s more of a sound than a human voice. In the creation of almost every song, I have a theme in mind, which comes from my own mind or is sometimes evolved from the use of a single short sample. That idea or sample may trigger a certain feeling or theme and then it grows from there. With “Intelligence” the theme was very much about the social climate we all currently find ourselves in regarding the advent of AI and how suddenly it is all around us and not going away. It is exciting but also terrifying. Like a lot of art you are not always aware of what was going on in the head of the artist on first listen/viewing but after explanation it makes much more sense. Listening to “Intelligence” now will make much more sense to the listener knowing this. Either way, I hope you the listener can guess anyway. In “Nomad” there was a theme of worldwide exploration, geographically but also in one’s own mind. As a teacher of meditation, I can tell you the mind is vast, much like the world, and “Nomad” was stylised on this principle. There is a theme behind every song and I could tell you about each one but we’d run out of space and time!

Are there any unconventional techniques you've experimented with that led to interesting results?

Definitely. The whole album is made up of quite extreme levels of experimentation. It is very much a multi-genre album and covers a lot of territory. So mixing different conventions was certainly part of it but experimentation also played a big part on the technical side. I’d often reverse samples and play with them until they were indistinguishable from their original source and produce something completely original. Also if I ever felt uncreative I’d pick an interesting sample and let that guide me into an entire song over time. What I find interesting about this technique is that it takes you well out of what you would otherwise have chosen to produce that day. Our own conscious minds can otherwise fall into the trap of just making what you know you are good at or used to making. I’m not much of an artist in the drawing/painting sense but when I do ever choose to draw I instinctively always choose to draw a face or person, so if someone or something else forced me to say draw say a tree I’d have to stretch myself creatively and be pushed outside of my comfort zone. So I’m doing the same thing here but with music. For me, it’s all about pushing the boundaries and creating something highly original and hopefully unusual.

Have you ever encountered resistance or pushback when experimenting with your art? If so, how did you handle it?

For sure. Certainly in artistic endeavours not everything is going to work. I will always keep plugging away at a track to make it work but sometimes it just doesn’t, so you have to abandon it. I always try and finish a track but I certainly would not release it. I have created about x30 songs in the last x2 years and only selected my best x12 for ‘Electronic Spirit’. That said some of them just did not necessarily fit this album but may do another. In fact there are x2 songs in particular I have reserved already for my future second album or EP. There’s also the classic writer’s block thing that happens to pretty much every creative and sometimes you are just not in the right head space to create. In such times I usually just sleep on it or take an entire week off to let everything settle and then come back into the studio afresh. It’s amazing also how things tend to sound better when you are in a more well slept and positive mind state. I’ve nearly abandoned or even deleted entire songs before only to salvage them the following day/week when I’m in a better place mentally. All in all though the whole process has been a really positive one and something I’ll definitely be repeating again. I’ve known from the start that this album was going to happen, I could see it in my mind’s eye. It was only a matter of time…I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did creating it.

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