[When did you fall in love with electronic music for the first time? Describe!]
About seven years ago, in my mid-twenties. I was a performing musician for years already at this point, but I’d lost steam and I wasn’t sure about who I was and what I was into anymore. So for the first time in my life I started listening to my curiosity about clubs and electronic dance music. I did what many have done before me, I went to Berlin. And as soon as I set foot in a club there, was surrounded by people who shared my love of music, and let the beats pulse through me I knew that this was the path for me. It scratched an incredibly deep itch. It was a life-changing experience.
[What do you strive for, if anything, in your performances?]
In short, to stay true to that experience I just mentioned. Whether I go to an event to dance, or to be a performer, I’m always carrying myself with the intention to connect. The music sits at the core of what I do, but it is not the end goal. The end goal is sharing in a moment of energy exchange between a group of beautiful people. To align ourselves. To carry responsibility for the vibe, whether I’m making the music or dancing to it. Which is easier said than done when you’re also focussing on a bunch of complex, technical processes in order to keep the music going. That is, for me personally, the real challenge of making live electronic music.
[Imagine your music was made for animals, which animals would that be?]
I already make music for animals Anyway, here’s a cool fact about gibbons: they’re amazing singers, and they sing for many different suspected reasons. To mark their territory, to attract mates, to communicate, and to bond with their group, to name a few. Sounds familiar, right? I think our urge for making/enjoying/raving to music relates to a similar web of human social behaviors. So I think I’ll choose to make music for/with some gibbons.
[Who would be a dream to perform with? Why?]
I enjoy collaborating the most with people whom I also vibe with on a personal level. Communicating through music with someone like that is a guaranteed enriching experience. That’s why collaborating with Simone makes a lot of sense, I get along with him very well. I’ll also name someone who has influenced my values as an artist, and that’s Kae Tempest. There’s all sorts of reasons I could get into, but if you read their book titled On Connection (which I highly recommend you do) you’ll see why.