Formula Indie Sessions – Interview with Belefold

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

I suppose hearing my brother’s piano lessons while I played with toys? But before that, I had some hearing issues because of fluid in my ears. When I finally got tubes put in, as we drove home, I asked my mom “what’s that noise?” It was the car, which I had never heard before. I think that was a germ of what grew into a fascination with sound.

How did your passion for creating music begin?

I played classical piano and trumpet growing up, and I enjoyed it, but was never serious enough to want to practice. It was really finding the E6 collective (through neutral milk hotel) that both broadened my taste and allowed me to believe in myself. I felt, and still feel, that passion, truth, and creativity are more important to meaning-making than technical skill. I always felt that, but E6 connected with me in a personal way that was very inspiring.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

I began writing hundreds of songs. I had to learn guitar to sing them (around age 15,16). Then I had to learn how to record them to share them. The fact that I was learning as I went is extremely evident, ha.

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

I really try to let each project sound distinct, but overall I’d call it eclectic bedroom indie pop/rock. I think it’s probably quite sleepy a lot of the time, but I do like incorporating noise and environments.

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

Learning a DAW, being able to produce and mix my own music, is the only reason I’ve been able to make any music. And I owe a lot of that to help from other DIY musicians I met back in the day on the E6 Townhall (an internet forum, if you can believe it). Truly special to meet a group via the internet that I still consider lifelong friends.

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

With a DAW, an audio interface for a computer, and a microphone or two, I’m good to go. That said, there have been times, while I lived abroad, where all I had is a field recorder, and I’ve done a surprising amount of recording with just something like an H2n. I embrace limitations as ways to push the sound in various directions. In any case, you have your idea, and you have making it real however you can.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

I came across Mk.gee and was impressed, there’s a young musician named Lilito that I found on Youtube that has stunned me to the point of tears multiple times, and Adam Bosarge has been making many recent ambient albums that I’ve really enjoyed. But I’m mostly listening to ambient music and late 60s jazz right now.

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

A thousand ways to answer that, but what comes to mind first is the sense of travel and how I seek connectedness in so many far flung places. I’ve lived in Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Japan, Baltimore, Florida, and traveled through many more places, and you’ll hear those environments in the music. And you’ll feel the experiences and emotions I was living through in there too.

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

I often fear a lot of my music is a bit too broody, but art is often a survival tool for myself, whether making it or seeking it. Whether it’s writing, drawing, or playing music, the activity of art and the feeling that you might be connected to others through your experiences of despair or lonliness, is extremely empowering and beautiful. If someone felt a sense of comraderie, or appreciation, or inspiration from my music, I would be ecstatic. Also, if it felt like I was creating a sonic world of turbulent lanscapes and wierd little creatures, that would be cool too.

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

Right now, my piano playing is teaching me to hold more space for silence, for listening, for staying relaxed and remembing to play music, and those lessons are also DEEPLY needed in my interpersonal relationships, in just being with people and listening to them without judgement.

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

I would love to be the house piano player at some kind of wierd cafe/lounge with lots of indoor plants where I could play a kind of ambient music with a backing track of environmental noise.

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

I’ll stick to the living, because I’m delusionally optimistic about my prospects. I would LOVE to work with Takashi Kokubo somehow. He’s a Japanese musician who makes absolutley beautiful soundscapes. Each album is its own, but is also undeniably him. They may fool you at first with their shimmer and a sense of sentimentality. But the way the water moves, the way the geography is an instrument and a voice. Utterly gorgeous.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)

Belefold.bandcamp.com to download any of my music for free! You can search Belefold on Spotify, IG, Youtube and elsewhere. Also landenraszick.com for all things me.

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

I am going to release my 8th album in the next few months!! It’s one I’ve been working on across nearly 8 years now, so it’s a special one. Also, I am working on putting together an ambient piano set that I can play live, as well as getting my youtube channel really going, where I’ll be posting what I call ‘ambient travels.’ My dream is just being able to do more and more of this!

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

I hope that listeners will discover that they feel inspired to create something themselves! About myself, when I get most overwhelmed by pain, I get overwhelmed again by beauty. I’m grateful for the dream.

If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂

Ambient Travel in Tbilisi, Mtskheta, and Shiomgvime: