Amir delves on his new album, creative tastes & more
Great to have you on Xttrawave. Please, introduce yourself.
Hello! My name is Amir, I’m 18 years old from Baalbek, Lebanon, based in Beirut. I come from a culture that is more than thousands of years old, renowned for the arts performed by raw talented artists, evident in the history of our media and entertainment, most notably in the festivals we make, worth mentioning Baalbek International Festival, which has invited legends to perform in the city that I come from since the 1950s. It is heartbreaking to witness my country who adopted this culture collapse in these recent events, but it will rise once again, this time with the state of art and youth.
What got you into music and made you realize that it was your chosen path?
I love to create and come up with new things. The first time I produced media and video edits, I was attempting to experience the feeling of creating something. With consistency I developed my skills, and not until recently that I found myself desiring to express certain thoughts through my creations.
Tell us about your new album? And what’s the story behind it?
A change has been called for in different ways, all aiming at reviving the golden age in my country, but none calling it the proper way. My album is a call for this change by recognizing youth and their art through which they express their thoughts and intentions of change. Rise of a state of youth from their depths and their desire to express and change. It starts from me as a youth who let art access him inwardly until it became his long-term therapy and expressed his thoughts and desires that were kept inside and incapable of escaping.
What makes your music unique? How would you describe it?
My music came out of me, it is about me, it is about what I feel about art, how art accessed me and revealed all my thoughts that were engulfed by my inability to put things into words. This state of mine is the state of lots of youth like me. The diversity and the capacity of youth and their ability to create wonders is expressed in the blend of genres of my album, and most notably in my song “Youth” which is the most genre-blended of all, reflecting my perspective of youth and how I see them as vibrant.
I don’t like limiting myself to something. If the first 3 tracks of the album where completely ambient and downtempo, that doesn’t mean I planned my whole album to sound like that. The lo-fi, dream-pop, shoegaze, alternative and folk genres along with ambient and downtempo are present in the album because I love doing an ambient piece and I love producing an alternative and I love listening to shoegaze and I chill and relax to lo-fi.
The album’s sequence is there for a reason; with my love to movies soundtracks, I planned the sequence as if it were to be pitched for a movie. The movie talks about the contribution of art to the state of youth who reflect upon their depths in their artworks and believe they have the full potentials to pursuit the change they called for through their art. That is why it is called Rise, from Depths, of a Preliminary State of Youth. This state produces a heavy impact after a change applied within each youth who believe that they are one in worlds of worlds. It goes from ambience and downtempo to shoegaze, lo-fi and pop with ambient textures, to alternative and lastly folk blended with shoegaze.
This was the planned sequence, but chronologically, it was different. Unconventional Strings was my first production and Depths was the last. When I was in the mood of listening to shoegaze, I produced Preliminary. When I was in the mood of listening to heavy drums guitar and bass and alternative, I produced A Change Within.
I think what makes my music unique is the absence of boundaries, the fact that I felt self-sufficient and satisfied when producing them, that they are about me, honesty, and not doing music to satisfy the mainstream. I hate the mainstream that promotes you only when you reach their standards but disregard the details. I appreciate the details; they are more important the final product.
What are your biggest musical influences?
Instrumentals and movie soundtracks were the biggest influences on my album. When I listen to a song with vocals, I search for the instrumental version of it, it attracts me more. When I watch a movie that I like, I listen to its soundtracks on repeat. Doing an instrumental album arouses the most part of the message and reveals the hidden. That’s how I feel about music.
Which is the best moment in your musical career that you’re most proud of?
Doing music and releasing an album is the most thing that I’m proud of to have achieved myself. Releasing such project with such statement requires courage; calling for change requires courage and thoughtfulness. I’m calling for a change to a community of more recognized youth that does not undermine their potentials by limiting their capacities with what the mainstream demands.
How do you balance your music with other obligations – family, friends or work?
My first year in college was online, it felt overwhelming as I did not experience life on campus. For many times I just wanted to stop; it is not easy to accomplish an overload of work for college in such stressing conditions that are currently facing us in my country. My music was my source of motivation, relief and coping mechanism. Doing music and feeling that I accomplished something makes me want to give more in my obligations.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
I would likely be addressing people in general, more specific those who might have a penchant to art. If people would let art access them inwardly, they undergo a long-term therapy. Until they realize so, then they will contribute to art. It needs more dedication, but once it’s given its sufficient time, it heals on the long term.
What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects?
After releasing my album, I want to invest my energy in spreading my message to make sure it is well received. I am building my audience and establishing my identity in the music industry. I want to focus on sampling my music for live performances and keep consistent in doing new material. It is a progress.
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