Yossi On the Making Of ‘Lost Souls’
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in 'Lost Souls?'
For me there is a story to the order of the tracks on the EP, however I’m not sure if it’s something anyone else would notice, maybe they would. For me, the first track “The City” captures a specific image I can see in my head rather vividly. It’s that of central London from the top of Primrose Hill. The paths through the park when lit at night and viewed from above create a mesmerising patchwork of people passing. It’s aesthetically stunning and I reference it in the line ‘The perfect moving image’ because the overall picture is still but within in people move along the paths. It’s interesting to notice how rarely anyone strays from that path. So it’s a good place to sit, watch, think and observe and I’m pretty sure it’s where I wrote most of The City. The first track connects to the second because I think most of us in ‘The City’ are ‘Lost Souls’ in some way or another. And for me, one of the ways I feel more whole, human and connected in this disconnected world is through nature, particularly the mountains. The final track Tryfan, although a somewhat cryptic piece, which disorients the listener between fragmented lines of conversation and internal dialogue is written in the beautiful mountains on North Wales. For me, the mountains are the cure for the disconnection of modern life. So it's pretty simple really – The City is a problem, it disconnects us, making us Lost Souls, The Mountains are the cure.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for this EP to life?
The EP is produced by my good friend Dylan Van Der Molen / VANDERS VIII. It was exciting to work with him coz I’m a huge admirer of his craft. He’s only got a few tunes out but is sitting on albums upon albums of greatness, I recommend you check him out. But the process was fun and experimental, we tried working in lots of different ways, exploring whether it was best to create sound first or record my lyrics acapella to create sound around afterwards. How could we create simultaneously? We tried lots of different methods and created around 7 tracks, 3 of which are on the final EP, 1 is available as a bonus track if you buy the EP on Bandcamp.
How does 'Lost Souls' fit into your overall artistic vision?
It is certainly a continuation of my first EP ‘For Some Reason.’ And the words of the titles make sense in order… For Some Reason Lost Souls… I hope the name of my next project will sort of complete that sentence. I would like to make a full-length album at some point and I’m currently working on a few different collaborations which will hopefully continue the journey.
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
Performing at the Back2Black Awards at the BAFTA’s was pretty cool, as was performing on YouTube. Getting an email from a guy at MTV and being invited to go and film some poems for MTV Facebook UK was cool. I filmed a series of pieces with MTV and one on occasion got to bring 2 of my good mates along to play guitar and drum live during the performance, we had a whole team with several cameras, mic guys, lighting team, the whole lot, in this big studio at the MTV building in town. Those were cool experiences but truthfully, I love performing at Write2Speak Speak Up Enfield every month. That’s my favourite gig. Come and see me there.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
The themes of disconnection and societal critique run throughout the project but if people are going to take a message from it I guess it could be that we need to connect with other humans and spend time in nature. Those are the remedies to a lot of today’s problems I believe.
