During the pandemic, Aussie artist Akurei has been busier than ever.
Experimenting with new sounds, ideas and techniques, he’s not only been able to deliver some fresh new music, but has also tapped into a new creative approach.
Akurei said, “Part of that process was buying a few synths, which I honestly hadn’t had much experience with for my own song writing.”
“That’s probably been the best thing I’ve done in recent years for my creativity,” he continued. “It was exciting again to learn how to make a sound from my head, and to even have a new audio source material to be sampling.”
Akurei’s next phase of releases have arrived, with the delivery of his single, “‘idk why the light’s on’, a laidback energetic track.
On the track Akurei said, ‘idk why the light’s on’ is the result of some carefree playing, chopping, stretching and sampling from earlier this year. It’s nice to me – that it started out of a place of exploration and fun, rather than the ambition and rigor that I usually approach song-writing from.”
Last year Akurei also founded a record label called sumoclic, alongside his friend Maxwell Byrne (aka Golden Vessel).
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We’re looking forward to enjoying everything that Akurei creates in the future and we were lucky enough to chat to the artist as part of our Get To Know series.
How did your artist name come about?
I really wish I had a good story for this but it’s really just my own spelling of an Icelandic town lol, I was super into Bon Iver (still am) when I started this project years ago and that seemed to be a cool thing to do.
Apparently Akurei translates to bad spirit in Japanese too, so that’s not really helping my case… I’m a nice guy!!
How would you describe your music to your grandma?
I make the noises on my computer and then sing on top of them.
Tell us about a few of your tracks; their titles and what they’re about?
My latest release ‘idk why the light’s on’ will be out as people are reading this! It’s a bit of a new direction for me, certainly faster and more upbeat.
Creatively it was a bit of a new exploration of sounds and lyrically it kind of explores how strange it is to be a human sometimes, those times we say things we don’t necessarily mean, or even do things we don’t really want to do, or don’t do the things we do really want to do.
What do you love about your hometown?
I call the Gold Coast my hometown, and in the last two years since moving back I’ve fallen in love with the ocean again. Not even necessarily being in it every day, but living by it and being close is really special to me.
Career highlight so far?
sumoclic, the company I started with my best friend Maxwell Byrne (Golden Vessel). We’ve been releasing music through it since 2020, and this year we’ve started throwing a club night in Brisbane which has been so fun. Got a few cool ideas for next year!
Fave non-music hobby?
Exercise! Or at the moment I’m trying to learn some of the adobe suite and that’s been real fun.
What’s on your dream rider?
Some room temperature water and a drink ticket.
Dream music collaboration?
Probably Chaz Bear or Frank Ocean forever.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Happy and healthy!
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
‘Piano Man’.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Hard to say if anyone told me explicitly, but I’ve definitely learned from a few people to stop being such a perfectionist. It’ll never be good enough and you’ll never finish anything if you’re like that.
What’s one obsession you have that no one would guess after listening to your music?
At the moment it’s definitely exercising, I neglected my health in 2020 so maybe I’m overcompensating?
Stream ‘idk why the light’s on’ by Akurei:
