“Modern Dystopia” by Approaching Nirvana appears as a mirror reflecting the troubling times in today’s society. With its edgy and dark electronic textures, music producer Andrew Sinclair tackles a new sonic direction that captures this context. Dive deeper into this intriguing interview to uncover more insights and answers.
1 — What inspired you to take a more edgy direction with “Modern Dystopia” compared to your past releases?
I’d say I’m known mainly for melodic, emotional, and mostly dreamy or uplifting stuff. That’s a lot of what I’ve released over the last few years, but I’ve written all different types of songs over my career – including the more edgy, darker, or uptempo stuff. It felt like it was a good time for something like that.
2 — In what ways does the title “Modern Dystopia” accurately represent the overall sound and vibe of this track?
There’s been a lot of frustration and uncertainty in the world lately and I’ve experienced some of my own challenges too. I’ve also felt like there is an increased lack of empathy online and in person these days – it seems like there’s no room for nuance, everything’s gotta be us vs them. I think the sound design, intensity, pacing, and even the vocals represent that.
3 — What creative challenges did you face in pushing your sound in this new direction?
I’m really happy with how the vocals came together in this track. It has many layers and effects that give it a futuristic and somewhat ominous vibe. It really came together to elevate the track to another level.
4 — After releasing this single, what kind of comments or messages from fans stand out the most?
They really like the different style from my past releases, the message, and the darker, more intense vibes.
5 — The vocals on “Modern Dystopia” have a very distinct robotic texture. Can you tell us about creating that effect?
Starting with a spoken word sample, I chopped it up manually and pitched it to a melody I liked. After that, I added a lot of extra layers with distortion, compression, saturation, and reverb/delay to match the song’s vibe. The final bit was adding some crazy vocal effects to various layers to get the robotic texture.
6 — When producing new tunes, how do you balance creative risk-taking with commercial considerations?
I’m lucky to have a long-term organic fanbase that has supported me over the last decade, so I can take a fair amount of creative risk with their backing. While I write a lot of different music, I’ve recently been paying more attention to the commercial ramifications of a release to make sure it will make sense to my audience and new listeners alike.
7 — Will the rest of the ‘Better Days’ EP follow a similarly edgy direction or showcase a variety of styles?
‘Better Days’ will showcase a variety of styles. “Modern Dystopia” represents a place of frustration, whereas the other songs feel like pushing through that frustration and finding those better days.
8 — With your experience in sound design and production, would you consider working on other artistic projects like films or video games?
Yes – I’d love to do some film/TV or video game projects. I’ve worked on a few smaller projects like that over the years, but film and video game music are a big inspiration of mine and it would be cool to be involved in projects like that.
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Hi, I’m Erick Ycaza — a music blogger with a BA in Advertising & Graphic Design. I created this blog to keep you updated with daily music news. Surprisingly, I’ve been writing about music since 2007. If you’re an artist and would like to be featured, feel free to reach out: info@electrowow.net
