DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT - Interview

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‍(I)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

A number of the tracks on your Bandcamp have titles listed in Japanese. Being from the United Kingdom, what inspiration do you garner from the Japanese language/culture, and how does it support your artistic vision?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

“One of the main reasons I choose Japanese to title my tracks and albums in is because to the majority of my audience (in the western world) they are a set of aesthetically pleasing characters, and allows for the listener to paint their own picture of the album without relying on what titles I have used for each track. Obviously they can go and translate it afterwards, but for the first listen at least, the audio is truly what matters here.”

(II)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What inspired you to start making music in Vaporwave/Slushwave? How would you classify your specific sound within these genres?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

I always had an interest in the more experimental side of electronic music, and around 2017 I was spending a lot of time online and on Spotify delving into many genres of music, with t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 ’s “断線” being the first ever vaporwave album I listened too.

I had always loved ambient music as well, and so to discover ‘slushwave’, the perfect blend of ambient and vaporwave, was really a blessing for me, and as soon as I heard this music I just really wanted to try it out myself. My distinct sound definitely falls within Slushwave, sometimes pushing into the ambient/drone genres in my longer albums.

(III)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Outside of music, what inspires you creatively?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

Nature, long walks, forests, rivers - that kind of thing. Just being outdoors is so refreshing for me, and I occasionally put on J-pop & C-pop albums whilst walking and get huge bursts of inspiration from that.

(IV)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Your album art across your discography fits a unique VHS/retro ethereal eastern aesthetic; stylistically, why do you choose to represent yourself in this way?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

It is a lo-fi standard of album art that was set by early Vaporwave albums, and I really wanted to pick up on striking imagery, particularly from places like Japan and China. These neon cities are really a sight to behold, and to choose covers that have retro and nostalgic qualities allow people to explore deep feelings of their past. And of course, it really complements the music well!

(V)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

In our new music selects on astrxl, we featured your 2022 project '夢の砂漠.' What was your motivation behind this latest release?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

I always wanted to create a long-form album in the style of Virtual Dream Plaza, and when Dennis from Geometric Lullaby messaged me saying he wanted to do a large box set with me, I knew it was the perfect opportunity. 夢の砂漠 explores a lot of feelings I’ve been having over the past year - mostly a lot of self-exploration and I wanted to convey this a long and ethereal album so that other people can travel through the ‘dream desert’ and explore all of these intense feelings themselves.”

(VI)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

While listening to your catalog, We found that many tracks made me incredibly introspective and induced me into a calming/spiritual state. Have you heard of listeners conveying that your music has brought out spiritual/religious experiences?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

Absolutely!!!

This is the most common feedback I get - that my music has been a gateway for people to access emotions / feelings / experiences that they couldn’t with other music they listened to. I also get a lot of people saying that they have had lucid or vivid dreams whilst listening to an album of mine in bed. I sometimes receive messages from people just thanking me that my music is there for them, and how it has helped them through hard times, which is incredibly heartwarming.

(VII)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Across your social channels, the phrase, "If music didn't exist, the sand wouldn't be warm," appears. Can you elaborate on the significance of this concept?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

Music is what warms the sand around the desert at night, creating a cushion for you to lay on and gaze at the stars. Basically a metaphor for the impact of music on people who connect to it.

(VIII)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Do you plan on touring once things are back to normal?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

I would absolutely love to go somewhere and do a live show when I get the opportunity, and actually get out and meet some fellow vaporwave artists!

(IX)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

We were impressed with the quality/design of your vinyl collaboration with Needle Juice Records for '新世界の弟子たち.' Which variation of the vinyl release is your personal favorite?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

I would have to go with the Gold sand-pattern variant. The subtle ripples in the gold colours just make it look exactly like sand dunes from a birds-eye view, almost like satellite imagery of a desert. It’s so frickin’ cool. (LINK)

(X)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

While researching, I found that your work is entirely original songwriting. Why do you choose not to sample other artists in your work?

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM AT NIGHT

Not quite true - in recent times I have switched to entirely original works but a lot of my albums are sampled, including 夢の砂漠 which we talked about earlier. I shifted from sampled to sample-less just because I’ve been studying music and playing piano for over a decade, and I seriously enjoyed making little 80s/90s style snippets that I turned into slush songs. It also allows me to put my full creative vision into an album, because being able to create the samples means I can theme the album however I want and more easily create a conjunctive narrative.

DESERT SAND FEELS WARM: BANDCAMP - TWITTER

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