Contributing Writer
Anchoret has releases on Kiss and Kry, Level One and Martyn’s 3024 already under his belt. With a new release for Solar Phenomena underway, we sat down to chat with him about the EP, creative processes and musical motivations.
Hi Anchoret. Thank you for speaking with Music Is 4 Lovers, what have you been up to lately? Where do you find yourself right now?
It’s been a crazy year so far. Recently, I’ve just been putting the finishing touches on more releases to take me into the upcoming year.
You’re releasing a two-part EP on Solar Phenomena Music, where you released your debut previously – can you tell us something about the tracks?
The original track was something I had been messing with on and off for about 3 months. Earlier iterations were pretty good, then one weekend everything finally came together. My earlier stuff is kinda dark and dubby, and I never really made a happy, big room track. But once the melody came to me, I just kinda ran with it and everything else fell into place.
Anja Shneider is remixing the first part, with the second being remixed by Jay Tripwire and Hior Chronik. How did these remixes come about?
Anja had discovered my previous track Reign earlier in the year which was amazing coming from such a revered artist. When I asked the label to try and get her to remix, I knew she’d bring with her the vibes of the original and throw in her own unique upbeat “anjahouse” style. Jay Tripwire has been a huge influence on me producing. I have a 15 year old harddrive tucked away somewhere with my early Ableton project files all named tripwire1, tripwire2, etc because early on I was trying to emulate his drum tracks. The guy is a master at house grooves, and I really wanted to hear what he could do with something like Stay High. Finally, Hior makes some of the most emotional music out there right now. I knew he’d round out the sound of all the music on the EPs very well. He really took the upbeat sound of the original and magically made two deep brooding bombs.
Can you give us a brief overview of the vision behind your Anchoret project?
Honestly, my vision is just to keep making music that interests me and hopefully it interests other people.
How does your creative process work, particularly for these two releases? Is there a reason for the two parts?
I always start with just a kick and a synth pad. From there I add a bass line and some drum grooves, and then it just goes from there. Lot’s of adding new things and then removing even more stuff. Usually, by the time I’m done with the track, there are none of the original elements that I started with. Even the kick has been replaced and the song is in a whole new key. The two parts came by accident. We were planning to stagger them out more while waiting for the masters from the remixers, but everything came in all at once. We just decided to unleash both at once at that point as separate EPs.
How did you develop your musical skills, and what challenges have you faced along the way?
I learned guitar and bass as a teenager so I had the basics for songwriting engrained before I started producing. I think the most challenging part of electronic music is you are in control of everything. In a band, I just had to focus on playing the bass really well, and the other band members honed in on their own instruments. With electronic music, I’m doing everything which overall is a very freeing feeling, but also immense pressure to get so many moving parts just right.
What motivates you to keep learning and pursuing your music career?
It’s simply just really fun for me. It’s a way for me to be creative in an analytical world. There is an endless amount of things to learn, which is really exciting to me and makes me not want to stop.
What’s next for you? Anything you’d like to share with us?
I’m actually getting shoulder surgery at the end of August, so my future plans are to lay low for the rest of the year and knock out more tracks. Hopefully, I’ll start gigging again in 2024 once I’m ready to travel again.
‘Stay High’ Parts 1 and 2 is out now on Solar Phenomena