What was going on creatively or personally when TRANCE first began taking shape, and what did you want the album to become?
When TRANCE first started taking shape, I was at a point where I wanted to make something that felt bigger and more complete than anything I had done before. I had a lot of different thoughts and emotions going on, and music was where I could put all of that. I did not want it to feel like just a collection of songs. I wanted it to feel like its own world that you could enter and stay in from beginning to end.
Much of the album was recorded inside your Tesla late at night. What was it about being in that space, alone and away from a traditional studio, that suited the music you were making?
There was something about being alone in the car late at night that made everything feel more focused. It was quiet, private, and I did not really have anything distracting me. I could just sit there with the music and let ideas come naturally. It also fit the feeling of TRANCE because a lot of the album is about being inside your own head and getting lost in a certain mood. Recording that way made the songs feel more personal.
With 20 tracks intended to feel like one continuous journey, how did you decide what belonged on the album and how each track should lead into the next?
A lot of it came down to whether a song felt like it belonged in the same world. Even if two tracks sounded different, they still needed to carry the same atmosphere or emotion. I paid a lot of attention to sequencing too. I wanted the energy to rise and fall naturally instead of feeling like twenty random songs placed next to each other. Sometimes the ending of one track would help me decide what needed to come immediately after it.
You handled the writing, production, arrangement and creative direction yourself. Was that complete creative control liberating, challenging, or a bit of both?
Definitely both. It was liberating because I could follow every idea exactly where I wanted it to go without having to compromise the vision. At the same time, it meant every decision came back to me. There was nobody else to blame if something was not working. It could get overwhelming, but I think that also made the finished album feel much more personal because almost every part of it came directly from my own decisions.
You’ve said you often started with a mood or feeling before building the vocals and production around it. How do you know when that initial feeling has become a finished song?
Usually I know when I can listen back and the song gives me the same feeling that made me start it in the first place. I do not really think of a song as finished because every technical detail is perfect. It is more about whether the emotion is there. Once adding more starts feeling like it would take away from the mood instead of making it stronger, that is usually when I know I should leave it alone.
The action figure in the visual identity represents the polished, artificial version of yourself presented to the outside world. How much of that idea reflects the person behind the music?
A lot of it does. Everybody has a version of themselves that people see from the outside, especially now with social media and how much of your life can become an image. The action figure represents that version of me that looks put together and controlled, while the actual music shows a lot more of what is happening underneath that. I liked the contrast because TRANCE is very internal, while the figure is almost like this manufactured exterior.
You’ve described your own artistic growth as the biggest influence on TRANCE rather than a particular artist or sound. What changed most in the way you approach making music?
I became more confident in trusting my own instincts. Earlier on, I think I was more focused on whether something sounded correct or whether it fit into a certain type of music. With TRANCE, I cared more about whether it felt right to me. I also started thinking about the full project instead of only individual songs. Production, sequencing, artwork, atmosphere, vocals, all of it became part of the same idea.
Across 20 tracks, was there a moment during the process where you surprised yourself with where the album was heading?
Yeah, especially when I started listening to multiple finished tracks back to back. At first I was making songs and following whatever ideas I had, but eventually I realized there was a much clearer world forming between them than I originally planned. That was probably when TRANCE stopped feeling like a group of songs I was working on and started feeling like an actual album.
TRANCE is centred around getting lost in thoughts, emotions and surroundings. What do you personally find yourself getting lost in most when you listen back to the album now?
Probably the memories connected to each song. I can remember where I was mentally when I made certain tracks, what I was thinking about, and even little moments surrounding the recording process. Listening now is almost like going back into that period of my life. Sometimes I am listening to the production, but other times one sound or lyric will immediately remind me of exactly where my head was when I made it.
You’ve said TRANCE represents how far you’ve come, but also how much further you want to go. What’s the next thing you want to challenge yourself to create?
I want to keep building projects that feel like complete worlds, but push the ideas even further. I do not want to make TRANCE again with a different title. I want the next project to have its own identity and make me approach writing, production, and visuals in ways I have not already done. The biggest challenge for me now is figuring out how to keep evolving without losing what makes the music feel like me.
