Creative Conversations 043: Exploring Ukiyo's Self Titled Debut LP

Perth’s Ukiyo dropped his self titled debut LP back in 2020 with a slew of collaborations. We caught up with the mastermind behind the project to break down his processes, the album and what’s to come! We also partnered with Your Favourite Team to cover some music career advice. You can read our break down of the Ukiyo album, HERE.

Futuremag Music: Congratulations on your debut LP but before we jump into it could you please outline your history with music? How’d you move into production and the Ukiyo projects’ creation?

Ukiyo: Thank you! It’s been a long ride that kicked off at the end of primary school learning guitar and clarinet, I was much more interested in taking those skills home and teaching myself piano though. The clarinet turned into saxophone when I started high school and the piano became an even bigger part of my life as I started listening to and (attempting to) make electronic music. John Williams soundtracks and Owl City were the big inspirations back then. Since then though it’s just been a long grind of learning production skills & finding my taste and style. I started producing pretty much every day in 2011 and I think it was 2013 when I first felt any kind of success which was when the ABC licensed some of my songs from Triple J Unearthed to play overnight when one of the TV channels was switched off. And then 2016 happened and I’ve been struggling to keep up since!

Futuremag Music: Your self titled debut album is jam packed with collaborations! How’d you pick your collaborators and are there any interesting backstories with any of them?

Ukiyo: I really have a thing for strong poppy vocals that have some kind of alternative quality or something unique about them. So I think that’s definitely a big factor because I think everyone on this album has those qualities. No crazy backstories frankly, I mean it's 2020 and I’m in Perth so the honest truth is I haven’t met nearly half of them, in person anyway. FEELDS is on here because I met him on my first ever show in Melbourne and instantly fell in love with his voice, Janeva because we scrambled together a session while she was over here singing for The Rubens, Maribelle I’ve just been absolutely in love with everything she’s made and I was lucky enough to see her when she was over with Young Franco, Panama’s Always EP is one of the reasons I got into electronic music, Sammi is an amazing songwriter, such a genuine person and super open about personal struggles and all that which I love so much and Bajillionaire and Brewer are absolute meme lords who also have some musical talent too.

Futuremag Music: With an album out in the world, what does the future hold for Ukiyo?

Ukiyo: I’d like to think a lot. I’m back working on the live show at the moment & pushing out a new demo every couple of days between all the album madness. I’ve got an album two playlist sitting in my iTunes and a million ideas I love which just need a bit more time and direction. There’s a heap of things ready to roll as well though and a bunch of stuff that didn’t make the album so it’s just a matter of working out how to package it all up. Apart from that though, hopefully a bunch more live shows as the climate allows, some more silly videos and I’ve been doing a bunch of writing for other people and projects so that should start seeing the light of day soon too.

Futuremag Music: In partnership with Your Favourite Team, what is a piece of advice or something you wish you knew when starting out following a career in music?

Ukiyo: Absolutely the thing I needed to know was to be patient. I thought my first demo was the absolute shit and I was emailing it out to people. The more I learned I realised how much I didn’t know and I realise now why no one wanted to listen to that early stuff. It takes time to learn how to technically make something people would want to listen to, and even longer to find your voice and inject it in.

Futuremag Music: To wrap it up, if Ukiyo was a cocktail what would be in it to best describe yourself and your music?

Ukiyo: Some kind of sweet berry thing I think, like a strawberry and pavlova kinda taste. Ukiyo’s all about escaping your stresses and everyday life so it’s gotta be some kind of crazy holiday cocktail you wouldn’t dare order at home.