INTERVIEW: Stereo Underground

It is often said that the gaps between the notes are as important as the notes themselves. Stereo Underground pays homage to that attitude on his magical debut album ‘The Art of Silence’ immersing the listener in widescreen atmospherics, succinct, spacious arrangements and stunning melody throughout. This wonderful record for Balance Music follows previous full-length artists albums on the Australian label from the likes of Clarian and Brian Cid. We chatted with the Israeli producer on the eve of the release of his debut album…

Your career beginnings lie in rock and other acoustic genres. How did your love for electronic music unfurl, and do you think that having a background as a drummer gave you an upper hand as a producer?

I was 13 and my big brother brought me my first album ‘The Prodigy Experience’ on cassette. The crazy jungle and broken beats made me understand that this is the future for me. A year later I went to see them for the first time in Israel, I remember I did the Keith Flint (RIP) ‘devil’ haircut and the school principal sent me home to cut my hair.

Drums are the basic foundation of dance music, I think it gives me the ability to produce different rhythms like i did in ‘For A Moment Of Truth’ or ‘Little Redhead’ from my debut album.

You’re the co-founder of BPM College of Sound & Music in Tel Aviv. What is the most common thing you see in aspiring producers that might not aid their artistic success, and what advice would you give to people who fall into this category?

I think the most important thing for young producers is to be patient. To be a great producer is not just about technical knowledge. As a producer music is a translation of your soul, so first of all you need to know how to connect to your soul and understand who you really are and what you want to say to the world. 

The second thing is creativity, so my best tip is to listen to the top 100 tracks in your genre and do something different. 

The foundation of your albums context lies in the beauty of silence. With that in mind, did you approach the production of this album in a different way than you usually would?

Silence is the most beautiful sound, it gives your mind the ability to imagine and to complete the full picture. I don’t think there’s a big difference from my previous tracks, but maybe the biggest difference is that I gave myself the complete freedom to do whatever I want, with a complete disregard to labels, dance floor, genre etc. I just put 100% of myself into this without any filters. 

‘Little Red Head’ featuring Sealine is a beautiful track on the album, the vocals from Sealine really enhancing the spacial dynamics of the piece in a unique way. Working with a vocalist, did the collaborative process happen quite naturally, or did it take some time?

Thank you. Daniel Sealine was my former student at my BPM College, I was his teacher for music production so we have known each other for a few years. He is an amazing person and one of the most unique singers I know, something between Tom York and Brett Anderson.

He is the most professional singer to work with, no ego and no diva behaviour. We previously collaborated on ‘Words to Treasure’ and ‘Flashes’. Usually I write the lyrics and top line and he writes the harmonies, and, of course, sing it in the best way he can.

‘Little Red Head’ was written in memory of my deceased cat Goomi, Daniel was his babysitter a few times when I was touring, so he had this strong personal connection to the story. I think you can hear it in his performance of that song. 

‘The Art of Silence’ is your first studio album – congratulations! How are you feeling about releasing it? A little emotional, or are you relieved?

To be honest, I’m mentally exhausted. I put all of my heart and soul in that album but I’m super happy it’s out now and I’m very happy that Balance chose to release it on their label. It’s a big honour for me and I couldn’t ask for a better home for that project.  

What’s next for you?

I just became a dad, so it’s an amazing life-changing experience for me on a personal level. Regarding my album, I’m focused on my album tour and I am working on a unique live show with my Space Controller and with Sealine on the guitar and vocals.

Hope you’ll love the album!

The album is out no on Balance Music, more info here…