Ahead of a forthcoming album this beautifully realised collaboration between Afterlife and Moonseed is destined to sound like one of 2024’s very definite highlights. We talk to both artists involved about the creative process, the power of the internet, the adorning artwork, and the meaning permeating the music itself.
Tell us how the collaborative process worked when creating one of the tracks? Does having never met in person add to the creative spark between you?
Yushi: Steve and I drew inspiration from various chapters of the “Tao Te Ching” for our collaborative music project. Once we each composed a track, we exchanged the stems over the internet. We then refined the tracks by editing, trimming, and layering in additional instrumental elements. In the process, we openly shared our inspirations, as well as our interpretations and emotional responses to each other’s work.
Although we have never met in person, I found the music production process to be exceptionally smooth. I’m very grateful to Steve, he always seems to intuitively understand the musical ideas I’m trying to express. I believe it’s quite rare to establish such strong trust without having met in person.
Steve: We decided that we would take our inspiration from chapters of the Tao Te Ching. We each choose a chapter that resonates with us that day in our respective studios and create a piece of music leaving plenty of room for the other person’s input. Then we send the multitracks to each other and complete the process where the track is ready for listening and comments. Once we are both completely happy with the piece I master it and prepare it for release.
Never having met or worked together in person will surely bring about a different perspective and result as there will not be those spontaneous moments that happen when working together in real time but then we have great communications about a piece and tend to think along the same lines so it’s just a slightly different creative process.
Tell us about the forthcoming album. How have the ideas flowed into an extended play?
Steve: We just enjoyed making the first two tracks so much that we thought why stop? Let’s make an album, we might make more in the future. I find Moonseed’s work has an original purity to it that is rare these days and impossible to fit into any genre because she is just being herself, she graduated from the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles and it shows in her musicality and fearless approach to creating music. This falls somewhat in line with my classical music education as well as working with some of the best engineers in the business so we understand each other on that level which makes musical communications that much easier.
Yushi: The forthcoming album was deeply inspired by our interpretations of the “Tao Te Ching”, a sacred Taoist literary classic. Each time I read certain chapters, I always felt a strong sense of flow entering my consciousness, which made me eager to dive into music production. It was as though the “Tao Te Ching” was our guide, illuminating the path as we crafted this album. The entire journey was profoundly fascinating and inspiring.
Electronic music produced outside the dance music framework has become increasingly popular, certainly since what happened around Covid and people’s resulting isolation. What qualities do you think people discover that uniquely exist in the language of your music and how that reflects the world they find themselves in?
Yushi: The solitude of the Covid era has quietly intensified our search for meaning, yet we often look outward by habit. Our music offers a kind of returning force, I believe it will guide people back to their hearts—essentially their true selves, or the Tao. In this fast-paced world, People long for the harmony and tranquility of their inner worlds, which is our most natural state and is described as “the way” in the “Tao Te Ching”. We hope our album will act as a compass, leading people to rediscover this beautiful essence.
Steve: I think that dance music seems to have hit a wall. I rarely hear a piece of dance music these days that isn’t either a tribute to retro acid house or disco, or just regurgitated EDM. I think people are getting bored with it. At the same time a lot of smaller underground venues are now closed thanks to covid and the rest seem to have become corporatised. That’s not what dance music was about in the first place. I also think it’s about time we started dancing to a different beat instead of the ubiquitous thud of fours on the floor which is so restrictive to dance movement. The same applies to hip hop, dance music seems to have become a caricature of itself. I think this is a big reason why electronic music outside of the dance music framework has grown in popularity with the same people who discovered acid house.
I think when people were isolated they realised that they could really listen to music and perhaps they not been doing much of that being so busy clubbing so they had plenty of time to discover the wealth of non-dance music in the world and found that they liked it. Music is an incredibly powerful force. It can uplift the spirits or send an army to war. I think people rediscovered the beneficial qualities to ambient music (which actually played an enormous part of the acid house scene in the 90s – read Ocean of Sound by David Toop) as food for the soul.
Is being a musician an act of defiance to AI where machines manufacture emotion and the idea of music? In the end, could AI itself cause a creative backlash against itself?
Steve: No, being a musician or any kind of creative for that matter has to do with creating art, art is therapy for the creator, if it’s authentic then it is therapy for a lot of listeners who resonate with the creator via the frequencies, sounds and feelings that come across. However there are so many people who have no authentic art by copying original artists in the hope that they can make money out of a trend, they do not study the art form they copy or understand its true purpose, they are very similar to AI. They only use the intellect thinking it is all powerful, it is not, it is simply a tool of the spirit.
Yushi: I don’t see AI as a problem, and musicians are not in opposition or conflict with AI. Emotion isn’t the exclusive domain of humans; it’s a universal phenomenon that extends to all forms of life and even to inanimate objects in their own way. Like animals, plants, even a glass of water, and a table have their own essence. Machines can certainly produce emotions as well. Whether music is produced by humans or machines, each piece is unique in its own way.
Where did you get introduced to Yahnart’s Art and what does it mean to you? How do you feel about the cover for The Cycle Of Life and what it says back to you?
Yushi: I came across this wonderful artist on a social media platform in China, and her artwork immediately drew me in. Among the many pieces in her collection, this particular one resonated with me deeply as it seems to beautifully capture the essence of all the chapters in the “Tao Te Ching”. The circular wheel in the lower left corner, reminiscent of the “Wheel of Karma,” which is ultimately consumed by a black hole, symbolizing the concept of “It returns to non-existence.” The eye on the right side reflects human vision, which believes it sees the whole world but only perceives a glimpse. The pink sun in the upper right corner represents “The Great Tao,” observing everything that happens.
I absolutely love this cover. It adds a profound layer of richness and vitality to the album.
Steve: I will leave the first question to Moonseed as Yahnart is her friend, I have never met her but am seriously impressed by her work.
What instrument did you find yourself using most during this process? Which qualities do you love most about it?
Steve: I used the Buchla Music Easel a great deal particularly when responding to a piece from Moonseed as it is really an instrument in its own right rather than just a synthesiser. It draws you in to play it like an electric guitar but with a lot more choices of timbre so the right sound can be found very quickly. I love the fact that there are no presets, you create the sound as you go along so it’s always a new journey of exploration where the tiniest of control movements allow so much artistic control. You really have to learn how to play a new instrument which is a beautiful journey which may even be infinite. Don Buchla was a genius.
Yushi: In my production, the instrument I used the most is the Arturia Minifreak. It gives me a great sense of freedom and always allows me to design the exact sound I want.
Would your paths have ever crossed if it had not been for the internet? What do you like about the Internet? What do you not like about it?
Yushi: I believe that even without the internet, our paths would still cross because I believe in fate.
What I appreciate most about the internet is that it allows me to discover so many amazing musicians and listen to their music at any time. The internet is like a “consciousness grid” that connects every corner of the world. However, the internet’s double-edged sword is its potential for addiction. The time we spend on social media can sometimes detract from the profound experiences that come from truly being present in the world and engaging with nature. It’s a balance that we must all mindfully navigate.
Steve: Who knows? Music is a powerful energy, we could have discovered each other’s music in a different way and written to each other or met at a concert of an artist we both loved. Like attracts like. As it is we met on Instagram when she asked me how what instruments I used to make the track Sahara which she liked very much. I listened to her work and was blown away and felt that a collab would be meaningful to us both as we seemed to be in similar spaces headwise and with similar natural environments i.e. living near a river and surrounded by forests.
The internet is an amazing tool for communication and information but the dumbing down of search engines and censorious attitude of certain platforms is a concern. The major health issues surrounding EMF (wifi, bluetooth, cellphone radiation) would indicate that hard-wired ethernet is preferable and far more secure. It is also a concern that a govt can control internet feeds and even shut it down. This was not supposed to be possible when it was invented, it was supposed to be a free communication tool for everyone. We shall see…
Stream/Download Afterlife & Moonseed present – The Cycle Of Life/ Things Will Flourish on all platforms here and here https://orcd.co/n6ex10q https://orcd.co/thingswillflourish
Afterlife website
Afterlife on Instagram
Moonseed on Instagram
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