How did your interest in music begin?

My interest started early the way most of us experience it – usually through the music of our parents/guardians. My dad was a full-time single father when I was a little over a year old, so I was pretty much attached to his hip for most of those primary years. In that time, he introduced me to Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, etc; music with a message really mattered to him. Since my folks are Ethiopian and Muslim, I also grew up around Eastern sounds which often includes the flute. I started playing the flute when I was 6 and learned pretty early that it felt natural to me, as though it were an extension of my thoughts and feelings.

What is your process like?

Most of my work is done in the evenings in solitude. Depending on what I’ve been working on in the day time, I may need a few hours to decompress and process the day – usually I’ll go to the lake alone for a few hours, watch a movie, or sit on my stoop and people watch a bit. When I feel ready, I’ll light an incense, switch to moodier lighting, and work through headphones into the early morning hours.

Were there particular instruments, recording techniques, or sonic experiments that became central to your work’s identity?

I work mostly with synths, a midi-keyboard, drum machine, and Ableton to produce music – the only new addition is a Korg minilogue for this particular album. For each album, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time working on percussion, stretching the percussion, adding effects, layering, etc, but for the upcoming album I cut out most of the effects and focused more on layering.

Much of the record [Tone Poems for Mysterious Times] feels suspended between jazz, spoken word and ambient/experimental sound. How do you approach genre, and do you consciously resist categorization?

I’ve never consciously thought about the style of music I am making. I would say any and everything I do feels guided by intuition. The minute I start thinking about categories, I’m thinking about other people outside the music and that does not feel very natural or fun to me. It’s more fun to release the music and learn more about how people experience it afterwards.

What made you revisit “Stellar Nilotic” in a reprise?

I just really liked the line “mesmerized by the diamonds in our eyes,” from Stellar Nilotic and wanted to highlight it in a mantra-like form. I also really like a swing feel in percussion so I thought it could be fun to slide it into the album as a break from all the heavy processing.

How long have you lived in Chicago and what brought you here? How has the city affected your music?

I’ve been living in Chicago for 5.5 years! I moved here from New York to exercise my practice as an arts administrator during the pandemic and fell in love with the people quickly. Living in Chicago has greatly affirmed my place in the world as a musician – there is no shortage of unique, innovative, creative artists in the city and I am in awe of the way people embrace what is new, unusual, hip, etc. I have always had some awareness that the music I make may not fit neatly into a particular genre, but I feel less aware of this when I am in the city.

Who would you ideally like to collaborate with?

I would love to collaborate with lyricists/rappers more! I love hip hop and really admire the cinematic, smart, and fresh way rappers deliver their message. Words are my primary love language. I’m at max capacity with work and projects at the moment, but I hope to be able to explore this in the future.

What do you want a listener to walk away with after hearing your music?

I try not to think or project what I want onto other listeners, but since I like to work with more abstract sounds and vocals, I’d hope that there’s enough room for listeners to feel something, or explore their own thoughts.

Can you share one of the best reactions you have gotten as a result of your music?

Every now and then someone will share an image they drew or a poem they wrote to my music, or even greet me after a performance in tears – that is so incredibly inspiring and moving to me. I am still amazed that something you can’t see or touch can elicit such a strong emotional response.

What is one of the bigger challenges you and/or other artists are struggling with these days and how do you see it developing?

There’s always the financial burden of producing/packaging music, but as I gear up for a new release, I am finding it difficult to embrace social media as a tool for marketing. It is undoubtedly a pathway for incredibly meaningful connections, performance opportunities, etc., yet I feel a strong resistance to repeatedly posting images/videos of myself as THEE method – it does not feel like the right way to revere what I’ve spent countless hours making. I do believe everything is cyclical and I am hopeful there is a movement in a new, less front-facing direction. I’m not sure what that would look like or if that is even possible at this moment, but in the meantime I wish to continue sharing and marketing in a way that feels authentic to me while thinking creatively about the future.

What’s your absolute favorite place in the city/the world to be?

Anywhere you find water, trees, and hills/mountains is where I want to be! I feel the most connected to the universe and aware of myself in these settings.

What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on?

I am putting the final touches on my third studio album, but most recently I’ve been excited about a few commissions to score short films for people I really respect and admire.

Interviewed by Amira Diaw and edited by Seth Nguyen. Artist portrait by Alex Hazel.