Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with Naomi Sukeban

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

Listening radio during car rides with my family. I loved to hear music news and see how songs related to events. My first two favorite bands were Metallica and Gummy bear. This made me often switch between radio stations and in the process I’ve heard a lot of different styles, and I was always amazed how many possibilities music had.

How did your passion for creating music begin?

I remember taking my dad’s guitar, while my friend played drums, even though neither of us knew how to play them. After that I knew I wanted to make something, but it seemed rather far away. In 4^th grade of primary school they made us play flute and I think this is how my more “formal” music education began. We’ve had one class that was about using an online site which I remember looked like a child of reaper and FL studio. After this class I started using this website in my own time and from then I started looking into DAW’s and started working on projects using default FL VSTs and samples.

Since then I was creating stuff mostly for myself and for my friends. I published 3 EP’s in 2019 under another pseudonym, which in retrospect are horrible, but they’re nostalgic for me. I tried selling beats in 2021, because of pandemic I had more time to practice and was beginning to get better and I can really see the difference between those and the 2019 projects.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

The project I finished recently is series of 6 EP’s where I’m trying to find a style, it has a lot of electronic genres from IDM to phonk to electro-rock. Those were kind of études, I believe this really helped me improve my writing, production, mixing and mastering. My next project is taking that approach of trying a lot of new things but this time to show a more coherent world, specifically one of internet and everything that’s going on in the world. I think my obsession with works of Deleuze and Guattari is how I got the idea.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

2000’s-electro-goth-industrial tries to make bedroom-hyper-pop.

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

External synths don’t make you sounds better than VST synths, it’s just that by the time you are willing to make financial commitment to a External synth you’ve probably have spent enough time to become good. The best instrument is your voice, it adds soul and makes anything sounds more unique.

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

I use mainly FL studio, I try using SuperCollider but mainly it becomes an instrument that I add to FL projects. I most often use Bass guitar Roland System-8, and as for software instruments I use Serum, Kontakt presets and Vital. As for effects I love Oxford Inflator and Oxford reverb, other than that I use stealth limiter, SSL9000 J, all software versions of course. For vocals I use Shure SM58 mainly but I like to experiment with Shotgun mic Sennheiser MKE600.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

Ciśnienie, their latest Album [angry noises] is really something else. Misery Mile, betcover!! and Georgia Maq are also amazing, and have really special sound that I cant get enough of lately.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

They made me look for more experimental sound, also I try to convey a more complex image, sometimes at cost of popular appeal. Stuff breaking down really inspires me, malfunction often results in noises you don’t hear often and the idea of something being deconstructed is connected with that for me. Once you hear electronic equipment breaking you’ll be surprised at sounds it can make, and then you’ll realize that this specific sounds is always present in sound of “normal” functioning.

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

I hope they find comfort, I know I find comfort in weird music, it feels like an experience personally designed for someone. At the end of the day music is about connection and conveying that which can’t be said.

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

It taught me to try new things out, and that even if one things does not work out, it does not mean that experience was for nothing. Moving on is not escaping, we keep adding to our stories, and everything piles up to an experience that is uniquely ours.

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

Definitely a club in Warsaw “Stodoła” I’ve seen a lot of great bands perform there and I have a lot of good memories related to that place as a concert goer. It would be amazing to experience that place from the other side.

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

Oneohtrix Point Never, he’s an absolutely amazing producer and his style is so enticing. Each of his albums is a world of its own, complete with a story and it feels like its still there even after you’re done listening.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music?

I’d love for people to listen to my stuff on Bandcamp, but I am also on Spotify, Apple music, YouTube music, and Tidal.

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

I’m thinking of doing a bigger project, something grand like a 2 hours of album following one story, or an adaptation of a book into an album. It would be great to have a project which takes a longer time to develop, but I think this is what I’ll be doing at some point.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

Hopefully that some part of theirs resonates with my music, which is a proxy of me. Music can really help feel understood, and I hope I manage to find people who will feel this way about my music.

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