Feature: Waterflower Decodes “Something in the Shadow”
What was the creative process like for this particular single?
Waterflower: I really like making electronic music, but this was my first attempt at making dub. Because I am so new to the genre, I showed it to Traq1Dub. He listened to it, we made some adjustments together, and he also decided to play saxophone on it.
Track1Dub: This was an original idea from Waterflower that was reinterpreted and rearranged with Traq1Dub. The process was very much of a dialogue, trying to create together a synergy that could tie together two approaches that are at the same time quite different, yet we believed could be made to sync. This was for me the most interesting aspect of it, being confronted with an alternative way of looking at the same song and expanding the lenses through which you can see it.
How did you approach the arrangement and composition of the music for "Something in the Shadow?"
Waterflower: The first version of the song was not dub at all, but still included nature sounds like water and bird calls (specific species - Common eider and Eurasian bittern) in the percussion. While I was happy with the initial instrumentation, I didn’t feel it took the listener anywhere emotionally. So, I tried again, changing the track genre to dub. That was not easy! It was so complicated to change the sound of a track so drastically, while keeping elements in place. Then Traq1Dub helped me shift through the ideas and keep the best ones. I kinda let him lead after that, changing and extending the structure, adding saxophone, live synth takes, dub-reverb production and so on. There was some back and forth work too, it felt like a real collaboration in the studio.
Track1Dub: After Waterflower jotted down the initial idea, in the spirit of Dub (with Lee Scratch Perry being a huge personal influence) the approach was to first try to get to the very few key elements of it, temporarily wiping out everything else, to then, carefully and gradually reintroduce the other elements that suited, adding a few new instruments when needed and try to glue everything together once again.
What impact do you hope this track will have on your audience?
Waterflower: I hope it can pull someone back into nature, maybe to motivate them to go on a hike! The natural world is wonderful, and every personal moment we spend with nature can move us. That way, anyone can become closer to ecology.
Track1Dub: I personally hope to spread the love of Dub as wide as possible, a genre that, in the very beginning, was so crucial to electronic music as we know it, and which has been reinterpreted in such an incredible variety of different ways and styles.
What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
Waterflower: Hard work, small success, and great community. Music is the underdog, but that’s the magic in it. If there is nothing to lose or gain, it can truly be a form of self-expression.
Track1Dub: I have been very much captured by music since I was a kid, and to this day it is still my favourite game to play, by far. Although I started with the guitar, as soon as I tried to use my first loop- station I realized that my real passion was the writing process, the excitement of putting together different pieces and never failing to be surprised about comes out.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Waterflower: For this track, I wanted to make a song that embodies a sense of pure existence. [To be] unpressured, to just follow and chill, but also not boring, leading the attention to places. I kinda felt that because listening to music is a linear experience, it can be a way of making an abstract form of emotional memory, that you can keep on returning to.
Track1Dub: Personally, yes and no, in a way… meaning that I always start with the music, rarely with a (conceptual) idea. I believe music needs to be able to stand on its own without the help of words. Only then, listening to the music, I try to find out what it is telling (and maybe starting developing ideas for some lyrics…).
