What kind of equipment and programs do you use now to make music? What about for live shows?

I use Ableton in both instances, when I play live and when I make beats. But when I perform live, I think of myself more as a conductor. I'm bringing in pieces and sections of music and melding them together to create a different experience, so it's not that you're hearing the album like you'd hear it on Spotify; you're hearing it in the live context, and how it can be manipulated and arranged differently. When I'm making beats at home, I'm still using Ableton, but the Arrangement View. The two views in Ableton — you can either use it in Clip View, which is what people mostly use to DJ or to perform in the way that I do, and then if you use the other side that's kind of like the arrangement form, when you use it to sequence the songs. When I make beats I'll use Ableton but I'll be using my other gear too, like my keyboards, my synthesizer, my audio interface speakers, sitting down in my chair. I'll be approaching music in a very formal way. When I'm performing live, all the pieces of all my songs all separated, and I bring them in in different ways, so you'll hear maybe two parts of two different songs and they'll go together, presented more like one, really long song. My live shows, I've always wanted them to be like one long story that kind of weaves in and out of the songs, which for me, makes it more immersive. You're kind of on this road together, and seeing where it will take you. I've always wanted my songs to be like that, too. They’re meant to be like a little story. I guess it's kind of meta, where I'm taking these little stories and making a bigger story with them during the live sets.

What did you learn in making this album?

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The most reflective aspect [of this album] is more about me looking back as who I was as an artist when I made my early work, and understanding that zest and that brightness that I had at that time. I think the longer you exist as an artist, sometimes the more directions you can get pulled in. I was starting to feel like I was at that point, too, like maybe you wanna start making tracks for other people? Maybe you want to, — it sounds corny but — do something that's a good business idea? But what about my friends? [Does] my audience want me to make old shit? It was all these ways in which I felt like I was less of my own artist and more getting spread out and becoming someone else for someone else, existing in this realm where I was starting to lose sight of who I am as an artist.

I think after going through that surgery, I woke up and looked back at myself and realized that I've been this musician up until this point, and on this great wonderful journey. I just needed to remind myself that I needed to save myself. I need to feel confident in myself as an artist because that's how I started off when no one knew me. In that way, the songs I made are just songs I wanted to make.

Sound-wise, the album is more in tune with who I am as an individual, but I did look back at the type of artist I was and the sounds I used to use. I came to the realization that I can't make music like that. Not because I'm incapable, but because I'm not in the same place or same headspace that I was in 2011. In that way, I'm almost in awe of myself, like, ow, I made that shit. I've gained this kind of knowledge of music — I think to some degree the more you know the less you know — but I'm just equipped with so many tools now that I can't go back and make music like that anymore. I definitely appreciate [making music] more than I did before this surgery. Because I think in the past, I used to be this artist that would be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that old stuff I made was cool but it's old. But now I appreciate why people hold onto my old music, and are also moving forward with me. In that regard, my live shows have changed a lot. I used to try to avoid playing too much of my old music, but I found ways of modernizing my old music and still be proud to play it, and still contextualize it with my current work.

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What is next for you after the album comes out?

I've always been the kind of artist that's always challenging myself and I want to see how far I can extend my creativity. The album is done so it gives me room to start creating again and working on whatever the next iteration of my music persona will be. I thought about doing a piano album, just classical, doing something that's kind of different than what I'm doing now that might challenge me in an area of music that I don't know, or I've never participated in before. Or to see what it's like to produce for another artist and flex that muscle, too — the songwriting — or seeing what it's like to make a track that's really for someone else. Maybe work on my label and pushing and supporting new artists, or starting a band. I have all these ideas in my head, like maybe I want to start a techno side project. Even if it never works out, I still like the idea of trying. There's nothing specific down the pipeline though, my main focus right now is this album and touring it.

I saw Kelly Rowland commented on your Instagram a few months ago. Is that project that you guys were working on still a thing?

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It never came out — she's a busy lady, you know! She's a mom and stuff too, she's so nice. I'd say nothing is impossible, and if there was time given, I would love to go produce and make tracks with her.