CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 126: SAKR WALKS US THROUGH HIS PRODUCTION PROCESS FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF HIS DEBUT EP

Interview by Brooke Gibbs.

Sakr has unveiled his debut EP, Structures, a sonic odyssey that delves deep into the human psyche through a collection of considered tracks that explore emotion, identity, and the complex architecture of the mind. 

Futuremag Music sat down with Sakr to talk about his production process throughout this project.

FMM: It’s been a while since you've released music, and we're already in May, and you've gone out with a bang this year. You've released three singles and you've got the EP. Why is now the right time to get back into releasing?

Sakr: I actually don't think it had anything to do with a particular time or anything like that. It just felt like a point to give myself the chance to recalibrate my creativity. I never had any expectations externally for me to release music like Sakr, the artist. There was a lot of time for me to explore the music and really get into it and figure out what I'm trying to do with it. A big part of that was actually just me trying to find my creative voice again, because I felt like I had misplaced it a little bit. Once I sort of got it to a particular point with these songs, they almost felt like they were speaking to me, and I felt this incredible sense of what I had misplaced for so long. Then at that point there, that was when it was like, hey, and I spoke to my team, I'd be like, I think it's time to kind of move forward with these songs and do the thing I'm an incredibly big believer that art is never finished. It's abandoned. These songs and tracks and universes are speaking to me now. They're doing the thing. Now it's like, you know, how do we put it out into the world and what should it be and whatnot. I didn't have to work towards a particular time or release in the Winter or release in the Summer or anything like that. It was more just like, when it felt ready.

FMM: I love your perspective that art is never finished. It's abandoned. That's a really interesting intake, and I see where you're coming from as well.

Sakr: Yeah, because you can constantly tweak and move it over there, and it’s kind of a result of the things we have access to today. You can constantly edit, delete, re-record. I think there's something to say about songs just being captured in time, in that moment, in that thing, and being like, hey, it's doing the thing and then accepting that is the song. At that point, you say thank you for being that song and move on.

FMM: And it's great because the work that you're putting out there is great. Looking at your last single, All I Am, can you tell us a bit about the inspiration and what inspired that track?

Sakr: From a sonic point of view, I really wanted to test myself in a way. I’m a drummer and that was the instrument I grew up playing and know how to play. I I really wanted to write a song that had no drums and used my voice quite a lot. Both things that were completely terrifying. It was a creative challenge to ask ‘how am I going to approach this? And how does it feel if Sakr writes a song that doesn't have drums and is quite vocal heavy?’ So that came. That was the sort of spot, and I was feeling quite low and I was questioning a lot about myself and the relationships I have within my life. That's relationships with creativity, relationships with family, a broad scope of relationships in my life and how there are parts of me that I bring into it and that I can recognise are incredibly hard to navigate for the other person, let alone myself. I know I can't navigate it, and I'm losing my mind, but it's also hard for the other person.

I think a big part of that is recognising that part of you and then being able to communicate that part of you to another person so they are aware that, hey, I have this sort of reaction to a certain thing, or I'm geared this way or whatnot, and then being able to communicate that to the other person so that they're not caught off guard and they can hopefully take that on board and be like, okay, cool. This part of Sam is a little bit sensitive or doesn’t see this so well. I felt like All I Am was the output of that feeling. The last line of song is like, this is all I am, I know it’s hard, and it’s just solidifying. I've worked really hard to be aware of who I am and my good parts and bad parts, but I'm really bad at communication. I really shut down when things are going bad. I don't know how to communicate what I'm feeling, particularly in the moment. It's a song based on that concept of things.

FMM: You've explained it really well. Thanks so much for sharing that. When you mentioned that, you find it hard to communicate, do you find putting it in a song improves that communication process?

Sakr: Yeah, absolutely. I've mentioned it a couple of times to people. It's like creativity has always been and will always be my best form of communication. I feel like music is how you would get to know me more than me talking, if that makes sense. It's the place that I feel at most home. Sitting there and in a room of sound waves is just the most comfortable space for me. It feels like when I have an emotion, that's where I need to be and that’s what I need to do. It's like a diary. It's like I need to write it down to put some degree of separation between me and that feeling so I can get on with my existing in the world, you know?

FMM: Yeah, and is that a similar theme that will be explored in the EP as well?

Sakr: So the EP as a whole is definitely like an exploration type EP of myself. The EP was such a mirror for me. I just found so much of me in those songs that I didn't even know were there. It was just this beautiful thing of not only finding my creativity again and my voice, but also finding these new parts. My hope is that when people are listening through the EP, they can enjoy the songs on, like a surface level, but when going down deep into the feeling of the songs and the textual elements and getting lost in it, I hope that people can find parts of themselves, good or bad and just recognise them and, you know, look after them or embrace them, whichever may need it be needed.

FMM: That's such an important message and as you mentioned, it helps you communicate and it helps people connect.

Sakr: Yeah, I'm a big believer in music being immersive. It should feel like you are in collaboration with what you're listening to. I definitely hope people get that from the songs in the EP.

FMM: You're big on the production side as well, and you gave me a bit of a tour before of your setup, so can you just walk us through your creative process from when you have an idea to how you then produce and record it?

Sakr: I'm definitely more of a producer than I am a singer or the normal form of how you would say, an artist, if that makes sense. I'm a producer artist, so it's definitely my main thing. The process definitely changes idea to idea. It often starts with not actually opening Ableton, which is the tool that I use. I'll turn on all my synths and gear around, and then I'll essentially just sort of start making sounds across different things and start looping and sequencing things. I liken that to how a painter will get a big board and then put all their different mediums and different colors on it and then go, cool, here's what I'm working with. Then, they move to the canvas. It's a bit like that. I have all these boxes in front of me, and I've got, a synth here and a big modular system and effects and whatnot. Then I go and I just start making something. There's an incredible person who talks about creativity called Elizabeth Gilbert. She has this book called Big Magic and a really good TED Talk. She talks about this thing called your little creative genius, which essentially means that way back in Roman times or whatever, creatives and people who knew creatives believed that they had a being in the walls with them that helped them make what they do. It's quite beautiful because it removes the ego, and it also helps when you fail, cause you're like, I did really well. It's like, okay, great. Well, it wasn't all me. I work with this creative, little fairy and it’s like, oh, well, you know, the creative, little fairy wasn't helping me that day. It helps with my mental health and creativity, because it’s a hard thing to do to write song and pull things out of thin air every day.

So, I sit down in the studio, I do that thing, and I kind of collaborate with inspiration, and I go, okay, this feels good today. I don't know why, but it does, and then I go, next step, next step, next step. Once I have something that feels good, I feed that into Ableton and start putting stuff on the canvas into these little blocks. I go, okay, cool, what does it sound like if the canvas is split up this way? I go, okay, that's interesting and what if it's, like, this way? I go, that's less interesting, let's go back to this one. There I break down the canvas again. I feed everything through everything again. I'll go into the modular system. That canvas gets shredded through there and then back into Ableton, and then I kind of just recycle and push sounds as far as I can. That is the general process. Once I have formed an idea that is speaking to me, then I look at throwing in some vocals and lyrics if I feel it needs it.

FMM: It sounds like an incredible process, but also a big one. You must feel really relieved to have this EP out there, so you can continue making stuff you’re passionate about.

SAKR: 100%. The process is the only thing I can control, so I have to keep that as beautiful, fun and as inspiring as possible. The way I do it is definitely the long way around. It's definitely also the very expensive way around, but it's what I can control, and it does bring me a lot of joy and inspiration. That’s just how I do it, you know? I know some incredible creatives that can work purely just out of Ableton, and that's incredible. I wish I could do that, sometimes, but it just doesn't work for me, and finding that joy and inspiration is definitely the main thing.

FMM: You moved from Sydney to London. Did you find that that helped with the inspiration? Did you move for music or for personal reasons?

Sakr: I moved for music. My management is based out of here and the Netherlands, so on this side of the world and I’ve always been drawn to this side. I just think that a lot of the music I listen to and a lot of what I'm inspired by is always just on this side of the world. I think I’ve wanted to move to London for about maybe like ten or twelve years. When I was old enough and a responsible adult, I felt like I could. So far I've really, really loved it and I felt super inspired here. There’s something about the air. It doesn't make sense because you kind of walk around and everyone's kind of angry and a little bit busy and it’'s all very fast pace, but then there's just these little pockets of history or just this feeling of opportunity that I just love here.

FMM: Speaking of the opportunities, do you have any upcoming live shows you want to like plug or promote? How can people come out and see you?

Sakr: I haven't got any live shows at the moment. I just came off a live show thing, which was awesome, but it's definitely a big talking point with the team now to do more live stuff. Currently, there's no shows locked in or anything like that, but there will be coming into the next few months.

FMM: On an international level and being in Australia, obviously listening to your music helps. What are some ways that people back in Australia can still support you if they can’t make it out to your shows?

Sakr: Yeah, I think it's, you know, obviously listening to the music, and sharing it out as much as you can. It always, always helps. I honestly would love to talk to people. Reach out and message me. I really would love to know what the songs have said to people, how they've experienced them. It's interesting because I wrote the songs being like, these feel like very headphones on the bus songs and then everyone I've shown, they've said this would be amazing at a festival. And I'm like, what? It was just like completely out of the blue. So, I just love to know how people are experiencing the songs. In terms of supporting me, helping my social media grow, which I'm incredibly bad at, and just sharing the music would be incredible. But even just hearing from someone is incredibly supportive. To know that the song has influenced them in some way or inspired them in some way.

FMM: Amazing, and those different takes are so unique as well. Just hearing someone describe your music as headphones on the bus and then to going out clubbing, they're very different environments. It just shows that music is obviously universal enough that no matter what situation you're in, people want to listen to it.

Sakr: Yeah, I hope so. I mean, that's amazing if it is, but it definitely caught me off guard because it was like the most common answer, whereas, when I was making it, I was like, this is like perfect for the rainy day on the bus. It's been a funny experience seeing how people actually take the music themselves, which is amazing. I'm like, you know, I'm glad that they feel like it fits in a festival. Playing a festival would be so much fun.

FMM: Lastly, I'd be interested to hear, what are some albums, artists or music that inspires you and your sound?

Sakr: The first person that comes to mind is James Blake, particularly his first bunch of work. I remember I was in high school and I was playing hardcore, screamo drums in bands and stuff. I got shown this song called CMYK by James Blake. I had never heard anything like it. I liken it to like, imagine having water for the first time. Like just this thing that fills. It's like everything your body needs, you know what I mean? It's like, I need this to survive. It felt a bit like that and it really pushed me in the direction to explore electronic music and production. That song really changed my life, so definitely James Blake.

There's an artist called Caterina Barbieri. She's an Italian ambient, modular artist and she's just really, really incredible. Somehow her melodies and her use of repetition is amazing, and I found that super inspiring. There's another artist called Rival Consoles, and there is something about their sound design, structures, and harmonic movement of his music that is really, really, really good. There’s something about their music that really hits me, so I listen to a lot of that. Overmono as well. Their drum production is really, really cool and they’re also incredible at melodies. They’ve figured out how to bridge a lot of electronic genres and throw them into one. That’s what's inspired me as an electronic music producer. But, I think a whole part of it was growing up listening to hardcore music and bands like Enter Shikari, Alexis on fire, Under Oath, all these heavier bands that kind of do this heavy music, but a lot of them make pop songs in disguise.