EMIKA
Reaching the immortal
tech soul
Emika’s dark electronic flavour has the capacity to haunt your consciousness in an enlightening way. Her sonic world feels like a stream of existential wake-up calls that push you into a discomfort you’ll learn to love.
Exploring downtempo dubstep as well as more classically inspired tunes recorded with the City of Prague philharmonic orchestra, the Berlin-based electronic musician has been giving the world a peek into her perception of life and the universe since her first release in 2011. Many have been able to receive the gift of her stunning and often improvized live shows across Russia, Europe, and America.
We caught up with Emika to talk about being creative in 2020 and the process behind her newest music video, The Anti Universe.
The gift of the chart
2020 was a heart-breaking year due to the immense harm caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, making it difficult for creatives to find their focus and maintain their creative drive. Emika, who writes, produces, and mixes all of her own music, talks about her creative block:
"I was totally blocked last year (2020). I wanted to sing but couldn't find the words. I was totally grieving for the world when the pandemic started. I reached out to my astrologer and she mapped my conception chart, which goes a level deeper to the normal birth chart maps. She discovered some interesting things about the destiny of my soul and began to tell me about them. For me, it felt like she was giving me the song I was longing to sing, to be able to give people a sense of meaning and purpose of spirit. So everything she communicated was transformed into my new song: The Anti Universe."
Making of the Anti Universe video
For any artist, finding the right collaborators is a delicate matter. But when it’s right, it’s right. Emika talks about how she found the perfect match for making of the satisfyingly brain-aching visuals in The Anti Universe music video:
"I sent the track to the amazing director Zee Marla Osh, she cut visuals to it within an hour and sent me back her vision for the video. No one’s ever worked like this with me before, usually people want to pitch me a static idea as a PDF and then talk loads about how they need really expensive cameras to do an idea, which just isn't interesting. She was the first one who was all about the art, the vision, and collaboration. She's amazing."
The hybrid sound of the song
Classically trained in piano and composition and having studied music technology, Emika enriches her vision with the soundscapes of the Berlin club scene. She has become a sonic alchemist that weaves musical layers to create bewitching, painfully beautiful beats.
"I crafted many layers together using the Moog, Solina, and Prophet. I also combined them with my piano and vocal layers. It's a mix of classical, my voice, and synth. A hybrid world of tech and the immortal soul."
On using V Collection
For any sound explorer, it is a dream to find a source of never-ending inspiration - and with the right tools, this dream is attainable. She shares how working with V Collection 8 stimulates her process:
"There are just so many great presets and sounds, it's never a question of ‘What am I going to find?’ It's more like ‘Wow, there are so many good sounds - how am I going to choose just one?’ That's why I like layers and using many sounds I love, tweaking them, changing how they evolve, mixing them across the stereo field so they move in new and unexpected ways."
Transcending the world through music
Music combined with new concepts can be a powerful helper in navigating one’s confusion in a world that seems to be getting more and more complicated. To deal with reality, we sometimes need to step beyond it:
"As our reality feels like it has slipped into terror and chaos, the anti universe is an invisible world living within this one. It is the opposite of what we know, darkness is light and fear is love. We transcend duality by understanding this physical world and what lies beyond it. Can you imagine a world that is no longer good or bad?"
Connecting through a new artist model
Streaming has liberated ways artists can share their music with the world - but what does that mean for the artist-fan interaction?
"Being an introvert and running two labels, I feel very comfortable being in my studio creating and supporting other artists. 2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of my first album released with Ninja Tune. That's been a solid 10 years of independent music and I am redefining what it means to be creative via my new Patreon Channel where I connect directly with people - I know their names, no one is anonymously following me, and I share my new music there. It's bringing much light and inspiration to my life through the exploration of this new model for artists."