In this interview, we speak with Ethan of Amina to talk about music, influences, the new project and more.
Full Q&A, links, and streams can be found below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from a small town in Wisconsin called Dodgeville. Lots of cows and things. I spent the last two years recording an album in Seattle, and I’ve just moved to Oakland to finish up work on it.
It’s a strange thing to think about one’s own music. The only way I can describe it is that it’s my music. A big part of it is this balance between light and dark. On the outside it’s very cheery and upbeat. But there’s a lot of sadness and anger buried in it, and a lot of people don’t pick up on that. It’s subtle.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
At first it was just something I did as a kid, you know, adults complimenting you after your piano recital and whatnot. But then as i got older i realized there was this potential to create anything I wanted to. I was technically good from a young age, so by the time I started experiencing things that I felt I had to express, I had the means to do it. It took me a long time to figure out how. I’m still figuring out how. It’s a never-ending process. My mind has always been this kind of weird abstract puzzle, and making music is the way all the pieces come together.
But yeah it’s hard to stay motivated. You constantly have to overcome all these forces that don’t want you to be doing what you’re doing. At the end of the day it really comes down to whether or not you believe in yourself and what you are doing.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
Books, probably. When you read you create this entire universe in your head, and every time you pick up your book you instantly transport back into it. It’s crazy. The process of making music is very visual for me. Every song has its own colors and its own landscape, so sometimes a song will start from a place that I imagined in a book. My goal with the music I make is to transport people to a far away place, the same kind of effect as when you pick up a book.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
Well my first release (The Mint Earth) was totally different. I wasn’t a good enough singer yet and I was discovering electronic music and clubs at that time, so I starting making things with beats and samples. But that was never my primary thing. I finally became a decent enough singer to be able to sing over the music I was writing, so Cannibalize was my first go at that.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
There’s so much shit bogging down the system. The real struggle is breaking through, pulling yourself up out of the swamp and getting people to care about what you’re doing. Most people that I play my music for seem to like it, but most of them still don’t give a shit about what I’m doing. It’s like you have to trick people into caring. I guess that’s the whole image and marketing thing. I used to really hate that, but now I think you can do it in a genuine way that stays true to the art.
But yeah on the contrary, with technology I can literally do everything at home by myself, which I feel like allows me to dive a lot deeper down into the music. I don’t have to show up to a studio with just a few hours to lay down a track. I can go crazy and endlessly obsess over things.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
I think that music has been greatly devalued for a number of reasons, and I don’t think that streaming services are helping with that. It’s very easy to take something for granted when you have unlimited access to it all the time. Now I’m getting into records, but when I was a kid I had cd’s. And those cd’s meant so much to me because they were the only music I had. They were special.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
You can find everything at http://www.amina-music.com/
Anything else before we sign off?
Yes, I’m currently finishing up work on a new album. It’s called Anacord. It’ll be done next year sometime. I’m putting everything I’ve got into it. It has a weight to it. I feel like I’m making something important.
