Peachy! – Blood!

By starrymag | February 16, 2021

By: Robert Warren

 

 

Q) How would you describe yourself as an artist?

A) I wouldn’t. I’m constantly changing and exploring new genres and ideas. My music is very different from what I made years ago and could be very different from the music I’ll make in the future.

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) Oh god, too many to name. In the world of ambiance and tape-looping: Chihei Hatakeyama, William Basinski, Brian Eno, Stars of The Lid and Tomasz Bednarczyk. In the world of lofi and beat-making: Luv.ly, Birocratic, Lanzo, elijah who, Aso and Tomppabeats. Japanese and Italian soundtrack composers like Joe Hisaishi, Piero Piccioni and Bruno Nicolai. I’m very inspired by the effect language has on music – artists like BOWKYLION, Ji Jin Seok and Dawid Podsiadło all use their mother tongue and flavors of their homeland’s folk music to create all varieties of pop and alternative music. In this day and age, I feel it’s becoming more and more acceptable for singers of non-English languages to be in the spotlight and it’s exhilarating to explore.

Q) Please tell us the story behind your new song “Blood!”

A) “Blood!” is about feeling betrayed by someone who was once a good friend. Often times the people who hurt us the most are the people we’ve been closest to. I hope this track can reach others who might have felt this way and show them they aren’t alone.

Q) Your new song “Blood!” is about betrayal from the people you love the most, why did you choose this subject?

A) I don’t start my writing process with “I need a song, what should I write about?” Rather I start with, “I need to express/talk about this, what kind of art should I make from these feelings?” I don’t want to write songs with no purpose, so I don’t force songs to happen.

Q) What lyrics do you connect to the most in this song?

A) Probably the chorus. The idea of someone dancing around in blood is gruesome and visualizes the pain I felt. It’s not subtle. It’s not something you can ignore. It’s going past the point of pain and twisting the knife just because they can. This chorus translates emotional sadism to a physical image. As soon as the line “you just had to make fun and dance around in my blood” came across my mind, I knew it was the perfect metaphor for how I felt.

Q) How are you able to allow yourself to be vulnerable in your music?

A) It’s a process and I’m still in it. I’m sure as I become a better musician, I’ll open up more. For now, I need an absolutely cleared mind. I need absolutely zero distraction and noise to dig into my emotions and psychology. When I understand how I feel, I can draw poetry from it, which I simply translate into the musical medium. I find when you have no distractions you have nowhere to hide from yourself. That can be terrifying but makes for great art.

Q) What was it like recording this song in the studio?

A) I sat alone in a cabin of glass walls in the middle of a forest. The first night I arrived I didn’t say a word. I shut off my phone, went outside and started a small campfire. Feeling the warmth and being surrounded by nature gave my brain a much-needed reset. I sat in front of the fire in silence for hours – not a word. I simply thought every thought I had until they slowed down enough to properly explore them. I went inside, ate dinner, woke up the next morning and finished the track by the next night.

Q) How much of a role do you have in the production of your music?

A) 100%. I produce, mix and master all of my own music. Always have. I’m not opposed to working with other producers and engineers, but as I am in the earlier years of my career, I find it important to know each step of the process and where my artistic expression lies within it.

Q) What was your favorite part of creating this song?

During the writing and recording process, I discovered a key ingredient for my music-making process: silence. I’ve always had trouble writing music with others around or in the studio. It’s so much pressure. Even if I’m alone, I’m not REALLY alone. Social media, texts and emails are all little paper airplanes thrown around my head and I’m left struggling to keep up and put energy into everything that comes my way. When I recorded “Blood!,” I realized I just need to exit the space – find isolation, silence, ground me and slow down my thoughts until I can really pour my energy and sincerity into it. Moving forward I’m likely going to do most of my writing and recording in secluded, quiet, or calm locations.

Q) Was there any challenges you faced when creating this song?

A) Personally, romance songs are much easier to write than songs about friends and me. People don’t always want to listen to songs about mental illness and anxiety and things like that because it has a purely negative connotation. It’s much easier to just write a happy song about someone than to really dig into your own struggles. I don’t think I’ve ever written a song about this person before, but I hope others who have been in similar friendships/relationships can find some value in knowing they aren’t the only one who’s felt this way. Most of the themes I plan to explore on my upcoming album are about issues within oneself, rather than what we hear on the radio 24/7.

Q) What goes through your mind when you sing this?

A) Music is something of a healing process for me. Many of the things I write about I don’t think about again after I finish the song. I feel like the song could have taken a darker turn (seeing as metal and hard rock were key parts of my growth as a musician) musically, but as far as the lyrics go, I’m happy with how I wrote it. I won’t go as far as to reveal who the song is about, but I try to sing it like I’m directly talking to them. That’s how I communicate.

Q) How about an album or EP coming up, what can we expect?

A) “Blood!” is the first track I’m releasing off of my upcoming 2021 album. This song is fully in English, but the album will feature tracks in both English and Korean. The next track I drop will showcase some more flavors to be expected on the full project.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and your music?

A) Genuinely, thank you. I never understood these stories of actors or musicians treating fans poorly because without fans we’re out of a job. My music career supports me financially, sure, but it also supports me emotionally. I’m fortunate enough to have a job where I can express myself and my ideas, nobody to impress. No competition except the person I was yesterday. This job helps me work through my own problems while helping others. I can’t think of anything better to do for a living than that.

 

Check Out Single “Blood!”