Top tracks from this artist:
| | SOULARFLAIR
Label: Blue Pie Productions
Artists Genre: Pop
SOULARFLAIR BIO
SOULARFLAIR is the vehicle through which I communicate
creatively via language, which transcends the limited
nature of words. Not limited by genre, I have composed
songs in the vein of progressive rock, metal,
classical, experimental, soundtrack, and electronica.
I see no reason to place limitations on my creations
and so will freely continue to explore genres or make
my own as I see fit.
Ideally, in listening to my music, I wish to help
people transcend the every day. I believe I can affect
some individuals deeply with it, and that this could
potentially affect the world in a positive way. At the
very least I want to show that there is an alternative
to the norm. I have a strong
anti-conservative/non-conformist nature, and believe
radical change is necessary to make the world a better
place. I embody this conviction in my compositions. I
have a saying – “Mediocrity is cancer”. The vast,
sprawling middle ground of mediocrity is not where the
best art comes from. It comes from pain, frustration,
mania, confusion, delirium, ecstasy and chaos. The
most interesting human behaviour comes when humans are
pushed to their extremes. I personally believe that
the best art does not come from well-adjusted,
balanced and happy individuals but from people who are
depressed, fucked up on drugs or going through great
adversity. As perverse as it sounds, I am concerned
about becoming too happy as an individual, lest my art
suffer.
I do not write songs about petty subject matter. For
some reason I am constantly drawn to the “dark side”.
Minor progressions, in particular, resonate within me
– they just feel right, as if they were my children,
whereas the major feels alien. Many popular artists
explore this side of things anyway. I have a strong
attraction to odd timings such as 6/8 and 7/8.
Standard 4/4 is overused and bores me. I often have
multiple layers to my music, and it has a lot of depth
- this also applies to the subject matter when lyrics
are present, or meaning implied via song titles.
“intense”, “passionate”, “deep”, “cathartic”,
“profound”, and
sometimes “brutal” and “chaotic”. Soularflair music
reflects the complexity of life. I often write songs
when I am inspired by something, such as a book I’ve
read. I wrote a song called “The Death Of Forever”
after reading a book of the same name, to attempt to
capture the drama and intensity that I found in that
book. Also, I have ideas that I just feel a compulsion
to explore. Whether this is a concept, or a desire to,
for instance, utilise a new timing or melodic
structure, just for the sake of my own amusement. I
freely admit to being somewhat of a snob musically,
and this mostly stems from my aversion to the
commercialisation of music. This music takes what I
call the easy option – it uses a formula to get people
to think they can relate to the song. It doesn’t take
risks, it favours saccharine sweetness over real
substance, and it is essentially forgotten when the
next “big thing” comes along. I avoid and challenge
this with my own compositions.
I wish to explore uncharted territory in my work. This
comes from a familiarity with previous song writing
methods, which I wish to eventually transcend. I
intend to compose for different instruments as this
leads to different musical outcomes. A distorted
guitar will lead to a vastly different musical
inspiration than a solo piano. Stagnation would likely
follow if one stayed with the same formula constantly.
The nature of life is evolution – those that don’t
evolve, die. This paradigm is reflected in my music:
if one keeps doing the same thing they doom themselves
to irrelevance. The danger of this is the risk of
losing one’s previous audience because you lead a
journey that they may not wish to take. They have a
choice, however, of listening or not, whereas I feel
compelled to a large degree to make the journey. I
greatly admire those bands and artists that take risks
and veer from the safe path.
I think one of the biggest problems with music today
is its commercialisation. Strong commercial pressures
are placed on many artists, particularly under big
label deals, but art is not something that should be
limited by financial constraints. The majority of
mega-selling acts appeal to the lowest common
denominator…and I think that is a recipe for creative
disaster. My personal belief is that I would far, far
prefer a smaller number of die-hard fans, than masses
of people to whom I am just the latest flavour of the
month, and to whom they feel no genuine connection. To
them, my albums would mean little. I want people to
relate to my music the same way I relate to albums
like “The Wall” by Pink Floyd…I played that album
every single day when I came home from school for
years. That album meant so much to me, and I
completely related to the feelings it conjured. Also,
to paraphrase what YES said about their music, I want
to make music that can be listened to 20 years from
now, and still be relevant.
I do not create music to become rich. While it would
be brilliant to actually make a decent living out of
it, this is of secondary concern. I will continue to
create music for myself even if no one else wished to
hear it. I create music first and foremost for myself.
One cannot please everyone, so it’s best to please
yourself as far as your own art is concerned. Everyone
is a critic, and if you listen to and take on board
everyone’s criticisms you become creatively paralysed.
While I have always loved music, I can pinpoint 2 key
times in my life with regards to its evolution within
me. The first was meeting my stepfather. His very
eclectic taste in music exposed me to artists and
styles I had previously never known - artists such as
Pink Floyd, YES, Genesis, Jean-Luc Ponty and Frank
Zappa. The second was when I started attending
university and doing a Bachelor of Science degree. It
was then that my creativity started to truly flourish.
I think that being forced to narrow my mind to accept
certain scientific dogmas encouraged my artistic
right-brain side to blossom. I’ve actually been
referred to as a “mad scientist” before, both
creatively and otherwise and this description is very
apt.
My scientific background has provided a unique
challenge – to balance the rational logical side of
myself with the free-form artistic side. During the
first year of university was not what I’d call a happy
time. Perhaps as a self-defence mechanism, I began to
write a lot of poetry and began to attempt composing
my own music. I soon realised I was no longer content
to play other people’s music when I could write my
own.
I find the artistic process itself a mixed blessing,
and not always a fully pleasant experience. It is both
cathartic and therapeutic, and basically something I
have to do to stay sane. If I don’t do it, I feel a
part of myself dying. I have an obsessive nature and
can often get tied up in minutia of the composing
process. I am definitely a perfectionist with my
musical creations, which can be extremely draining. I
can spend hours trying to fix what I consider to be a
problem, which in reality no one else can here – it’s
maddening. More times than not I have to force myself
to leave a song – to say a song for me is truly ever
finished is probably incorrect. It follows that I am a
control freak with my music – I demand complete
creative control. I believe in my own ability and have
so far had great trouble letting anyone else get
involved with it, because I desire to astound people
with my songs. The reaction of “That’s nice” is the
last thing I want. I want to hear “Fuck! That’s
intense!”
In creating music, I often feel as if I am channelling
– I usually have no idea what the final version of a
song is going to sound like. It just kind of comes out
of me, as if I am a conduit for a greater creative
force. My songs have a mind of their own and often
seem to write themselves. Being primarily self-taught,
save for a few guitar lessons around age 10, and not
being able to read music, I instead have an
instinctual understanding of it. If it sounds good to
me, that’s all that matters.
SOULARFLAIR www.soularflair.net
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