Ekorce

MusicElectronicDowntempo
Written By Sanjay G

by Mister Mime

23rd June 2021

 
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Ekorce’s latest EP ‘Imago’ is a true testament to his love for nature in all its simplicity, complexity and sheer awesomeness. The listener is taken through themes of transformation, metamorphosis and rebirth via vehicles of surreal symbolism and splendid sonics, also alluding to the last year and a half as perhaps a period of chrysalis for humanity.

The artist, who recently completed his PhD in Neurobiology, likes to use raw, crunchy, organic elements, unusual rhymic patterns and textures to enunciate his amazement at the patent beauty of creation, particularly the chaotic yet delicate wing movements of butterflies. The EP is a window through which one can perceive and marvel at such often overlooked occurrences.

 

MM: What does your artist name ’Ekorce’ mean?

Ekorce: “Ekorce” is derived from the french word “écorce” which mean “bark” emphasising the crunchy organic and raw aspects of my music. I’ve always been inspired by nature and by all its textures and complexity. I thought it was the best name I could find to describe my music. Oh, and also, I really love trees, I guess that’s a good reason too ;)

MM: Why is the EP called "Imago”?

Ekorce: Imago is the name for the final stage of life of some insects such as butterflies. It’s the last phase during the metamorphosis process. The first reason why this EP is called Imago is that it’s about rebirth and metamorphosis. It is clearly about the challenging time we are living in. I mainly produced this EP during the first lockdown and the first pandemic wave generally speaking. Back then, I saw this lockdown situation as a chrysalis phase for humanity before the rebirth in something completely different and maybe more beautiful (or maybe not...probably not btw).

The second reason I called this EP Imago is that I was highly inspired by butterflies’ chaotic yet delicate wings movements. Especially in the track Imago itself in which the unusual rhythm signature and the foleys/textures remind those wings movements.

 
 

MM: Are there any stories or interesting incidents behind the making of the EP that you would like to share? Can you also tell us why the respective tracks are named “Petrichor”, "Dust Cloud" and "Feel Your Skin" and what is the relation to the music?

Ekorce: The track Feel Your Skin is about isolation, solitude and the fact that a lot of people who are living alone have probably not felt another human skin during the entire lockdown period. Just the simple skin to skin contact: a hug, a handshake, a kiss, making love or whatever, just feel the skin of another human being. We are social animals and we need contact and tactile communication.

The track Dust Cloud is about the cloudy minds that we all had during this weird time. The track Petrichor is about this unique smell at dawn after the morning dew. Not only I love this smell, but I also saw this theme as the feeling of a new beginning, a new day, a new journey.

MM: Can you tell us a bit about your musical background and how your journey began?

Ekorce: I’ve always been interested in music. I commenced piano at the age of 6 and drums at the age of 11. During my teenage years, I was raised by rock music especially psychedelic rock (Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead and all in between). Then I discovered the huge spectrum of electronic music and I started to make my own tracks. In 2015, whilst at university studying neurosciences, I launched the project Ekorce. Back then, I was definitely more interested in uptempo/psytrance/psybreak vibes. I produced few tracks much more dancefloor but I gradually started to slow down the BPM and then I realized the magic happens in the downtempo range.

I developed this project year after year alongside my neurobiology journey. In the beginning, I was making music for fun besides my science work but music gradually took a central place in my life and in the end, I had the feeling that I was doing a PhD for fun besides music. In 2021, I finished my PhD (and my biology journey overall) and I feel like the Ekorce dream is coming true. I have plenty of ideas, plenty of hope in my head and I realized that I want to dedicate my entire life to music now.

 
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MM: I find your sound to be a unique mix of psychill, downtempo and glitch-hop, among other things. Can you talk about how you conceived your signature sound?

Ekorce: Ekorce is about telling stories with rattling sounds, hypnotic melodies, broken rhythms and deep sub-basses. Also, I like to use a lot of textures and foley recordings which add a lot of dimensions. Sometimes I record them myself, sometimes they come from sample banks. About rhythm, when I say broken rhythms, I mean unusual rhythms signatures or uneven beats, I guess that’s one of my main distinctive elements.

Everything is ruled by rhythm and cycle in nature: heartbeat, circadian rhythm, photosynthesis cycle, day-night cycle, quantum mechanics, etc... It’s like a physic law, like gravity, light speed or relativity. That’s the same in music. Rhythm is the foundation of the track, the most archaic property of music. It dictates the main features of the track. Like if each track was a whole single universe with its own natural rhythm or cycle which leads all the other elements. You know, that’s the first thing you focus on when listening to music.

When your brain synchronizes with the beats then the track can bring you wherever it wants to bring you. That’s why I like to play with interesting rhythms and different kind of beats in my music. If the beats are uneven, or if you change the rhythm signatures along the way, I feel like you can unlock new things in the listener’s mind.

 
 

MM: Would you care to share any techniques, workflows, instruments, plugins, etc. that you believe are essential to your musical process and shaping your sound?

Ekorce: I guess my essential musical process is not to have any specific process. Whenever I start a new track, I feel like it’s a whole new journey in which every time I need to learn new things and try completely new ideas. That’s why I can’t share any particular techniques. Of course, I have my routine, my favourite plugins, my sound design workflow, but I try to tell a completely new story every time I write a tune.

I guess the writing phase is led by an eccentric lunatic goblin in my mind who just want to have fun, to jam with sounds and waves in a new kind of way, to try new rhythms signatures, and to mess with FX. Opposingly, the developmental and mixing phase is led by a calm nerdy boy who tries to calm down the goblin and restrain his eccentricity. That’s how I see music production: trying new singular things and then shape them surgically to make a track of them.

 
 

MM: Who are your main musical influences?

Ekorce: My main inspirations are Tipper and Hedflux which are two amazing artists who constantly reinvent psychedelic electronic music. But many artists in this scene impress me a lot as well and have a huge influence on my music such as Symbolico, Somatoast, Bwoy de Bhajan…Although, I would say I’m more and more inspired by Jazz, Trip Hop and 60s-70s rock at the moment rather than only my psychedelic downtempo scene.

MM: Could you give a special mention to the artist who has done your artwork? And perhaps tell us a bit about how it visually symbolises the sound of this EP?

Ekorce: The cover artwork has been designed by a german visual artist named Karl Andreas Groß (https://pixelpoems.de). He makes a lot of 3D surreal yet hyperrealist visuals as well as 3D sculptures. His work is very symbolic and minimalist. That’s exactly what I love in art: telling a lot of things with few elements.

This Imago artwork is full of symbols that reflect the music. All is about transformation and metamorphosis. First, the butterfly symbolizes something going from being a crude earth-dwelling creature (the caterpillar) into a beautiful delicate flying work of art. The female pelvis is the housing for the womb where transformation from egg to human being takes place. The similarity between those two elements (the butterfly and the pelvis) is a strong symbol as well and reminds us that we are only ephemeral beings just like butterflies.

 
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MM: Who/what are some artists, people, places or things that inspire you outside of the musical world?

Ekorce: I’m very inspired by nature and our intriguing reality. My biology and neurosciences studies inspired me a lot during these last few years and I spend a lot of time thinking about the complexity of the universe at all levels. I’m kind of an anxious guy generally speaking and my insomnia problems make me ask myself multiple questions about everything: the purpose of life, the origin of the universe, the nature of time, the nature of consciousness, the nature of reality... I think I put all these never-ending thoughts in my music. It’s like I need to express myself about all these fascinating yet scary questions. I don’t know, maybe I feel like it’s a way to freeze them in time without focusing too much on them.

MM: What do you like to do apart from making music?

Ekorce: Honestly since I finished my PhD a few months ago, I don’t do much thing other than music anymore. Of course, I spend time with my friends, girlfriend and family but I don’t have a lot of other activities right now (although it's been more than 10 years that I'm thinking about finally starting sport - I’m sure this year is going to be the one haha). Also, I used to write a few years ago. I started a novel about 6 years ago. When I was younger, I was passionate about cinema and I used to write screenplays just for myself. Today I set aside all this to fully focus on music but maybe I will go back to it one day or another.

 
 
Sanjay G https://mistermime.world
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