Interview: NOIYSE PROJECT

Sri Lankan artist NOIYSE PROJECT has long been touted as one of his country’s fastest rising progressive acts. Upon making his debut in September of 2018, the Colombo resident has gone on to showcase his music via Nick Warren’s The Soundgarden, 3rd Avenue, Droid9 and Proton’s Particles. Having recently launched his own Till The Sunrise imprint, NOIYSE PROJECT now turns his focus to building the label through his own, highly sought after productions. Now embarking on the release of the Hernan Cattaneo supported 'In A Cloudland', we catch up with NOIYSE PROJECT for an exclusive interview. Enjoy!

Hi Radith, thanks for joining us. What is your current mood and what was the last piece of music you listened to?

Hello, Thank you  too for reaching out  and yes at the moment I’m in  kind of a busy mood  since it’s the Year end and doing my photography work as well (I’m a photographer in profession) and trying to find a time for some new music.

To be honest I was listening to master Hernan Cattaneo’s Resident Episode 552 now because he has played my In a Cloudland there.

What are your plans for the coming week?

Well even though its Christmas and festive season, Sri Lanka doesn’t have a much excitement because we are still going through a kind of hard situation with the Covid 19 pandemic. And I hope to spend time with my family and friends in the upcoming week But can see a slight reboot of the music industry and night life here and waiting for a gig in January first week with GMJ and Olga in Sri Lanka.

Can you name five tracks that were important in your musical development and why they are so significant for you?

In my genre I would say the maestro Guy j’s Nirvana and Airborne influenced me a lot since the day I started listening and getting into underground, progressive house music .Guy’s music always inspired me and pushed me to the groove. And I was always experimenting how to grab a new sound in my tracks with elements as guy j do.

Out of the progressive house and underground music

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody gives me a huge motivational feeling when I’m listening and watching it every time with the live crowd feedback

London grammar - hey now and London Grammar - Strong always calming me and opening new doors in my head for a new production.

How did growing up in Sri Lanka influence your music taste and direction? Or did it at all?

Sri lanka is a country where you can find a wide range of music tastes in Asia. The people who lives in here listen and enjoy almost every genre including music in different languages. But when we comparing the electronic dance music industry with other music genres in sri lanka, it has a narrow space for it than the pop and classical music. Definitely the growing up in sri lanka influenced me for music but not for my Electronic dance music, Underground music direction. I used to experiment and search about this culture overseas and the Sri Lankan Underground parties, events and Djs who brought the culture to here helped that a lot.

There are a few countries which seem to be meccas for progressive house, Argentina being the main one and Sri Lanka would likely be not far behind. What can you attribute that to? Why are there so many young musicians in your country that have latched on to this sound?

If we talked about that why so many young and upcoming musicians have latched to this sound, I would say it’s just the trend and I saw that so many Djs and upcoming producers who played different genres such as tech house, techno just changed their sound and started to play progressive house in past few years. I am not preferring to follow the trend other than you don’t have a proper understanding about what you love. And yes if we talked about the industry we have for the progressive house is a very good one since so many good productions came through the last few years and I’m thanking to all the producers/djs who brought the country up to that level.

You are one of the most prominent Sri Lankan artists along with Subandrio, Dimuth K (although now based in Canada) and Nishan Lee. Who would you say are some of the most promising up and coming artists from your country? 

Well I would say its kyotto is there and he has built his own sound and a nice groove to his music and i always admire his music. And even after the Kyotto’s generation there are few very good upcoming producers in here and I’m really happy about the future in electronic dance music and underground music industry in Sri lanka.

What is the nightlife like in Sri Lanka and what are some of your venues to play as a DJ and why?

Night life in Sri Lanka is really good but not for the underground music. To have a good event for underground music fans is a very tough thing here since the rules and few misunderstandings about this music genres in sri lanka. Somehow the promoters  could manage to do some amazing events throughout the past few years and hope to create a good environment for this industry in future.

If I named my favorite venues to perform, in beach side I like “the Mambos Hikkaduwa” , as a club I like the Chiller room in Colombo and as a rooftop I love to play In Botanik rooftop Bar in Colombo.

You recently launched your own label ‘Till The Sunrise’, tell us a bit about that and your vision / plans for the label?

I started my own label not just because I want to earn money o anything. I thought that I needed my own place where I can release my own music whenever I need and I can express my own creations to my fans. Having my own label is the easiest way to distribute my own sounds whenever I want. Each and every track Title of my Original mixes has a background story of my life. Because of that all the tracks are like my own memories in my life story.

My vision is to make my label one of the Top record label which contains groovy tunes all the time and my plan is to make this name a good brand and a festival one day.

Is there a specific meaning behind the label name for you?

Yes, I tried to mean about how proper, amazing music which comes out from my label by myself and other artists in future will bring the light to the listeners just as the Sun brings the light to the world in the morning after darkness.

So far you’ve released two EPs from yourself on Till The Sunrise, do you plan to sign other artists in the future? And if so, what advice would you have for people hoping to get signed to the label?

Yes of course in the future will get demos from the other artists too. For now my plan is to release my own EPs which I was making since last year and after a year of 10 months few guest artists will do remixes by my invites.

When the label started to get demos from Other artists, the only advice to get sign is make some proper grooves with dramatic, melodic break downs!

Your latest Till The Sunrise EP ‘In A Cloudland / Passing Seconds’ was released this week. Tell us about the release and walk us through the production process on ‘In A Cloudland’.

This is my 2^nd ep of my label and I made these two tracks about 4 months ago. The melody of the in a cloudland is something I got while im traveling home after a trip from Kandy, sri lanka and I instantly recorded it by humming to my phone recorder . After I came home I developed it with a bassline and added my groove to there.  In a cloudland contains a kick I made by Kick 2 Vst and few percussion sounds from PML deep volume 3 and I used Diva and pigments to design the other sounds in the track.

In the ”passing seconds“ I used a light but a punchy kick and a groovy bassline which created by serum and percussion sounds from the same sample pack and also some drum sounds I made from Diva. That track has a breakdown with few piano chords and I used my own voice and recorded an ambient and did some effects on it to use underneath all the sounds to fill the track.

Where does your inspiration come from and was there anything that inspired ‘In A Cloudland’?

Yes as I said there are stories in every track tittle I create and this Ep is about passing time with someone special in a edge of a mountain where filled with so many clouds but feeling like passing seconds not hours and time runs faster than normal.

 What does your set-up look like? Do you favor physical gear over digital? And what studio tools featured heavily in the writing of this EP?

I’m more like a bedroom producer and my setup is not that complicated. I use an audio interface with a DT 990 pro headphones and a Rolland MIDI keyboard. The DAW I use is FL and I favor Digital more than Physical at the moment and I’m in a process of building a studio room at the moment.

Hernan Cattaneo has been playing ‘In A Cloudland’ leading up to the release, it must give you great inspiration, talk to us about the importance of big DJs supporting your music.

Absolutely a support from a big Dj can make a very good recognition for you in the industry since they have so many listeners and followers and fans in their shows. And I must say that one of the biggest reason for being recognized internationally within a very short time period in the industry is because of the support I got from by master Hernan cattaneo and Master Nick warren in their live sets and podcasts. And I would like to thank Master Tony from Above & beyond for the continuous support for my tracks in his sets.

My biggest inspiration is seeing the legends: Hernan, Nick and Tony playing my tracks and that support push me to make another track to get that support again and again. They motivate me to make music.

How much road testing or friend feedback is done before you’re ready to say a track is finished? And who is someone you share your new music with first for feedback?

I always test my tracks before I send anyone else in my best friend’s car since he has a good balanced sound setup in there and I’m listening it in my iPhone earphones too. In previous years I used to show my works to some good artists and get the feedbacks about my tracks but the thing I understood is they have different views on tracks according to their ears.  Most of the time i'm showing a new track to a good music listener or a fan who has a good music taste because they looking at them in a view of a fan and one day we have to play them or release them to the fans all over the world to buy and enjoy. And I’m happy because so far I have not got any bad comments about my music and I have got few feedbacks from Tony and Hernan once that could change so many mistakes in making music.

If you could set up an event with a line-up of five artists of your choice, who would you book and what set times would you ascribe to the artists?

I would get Tony for a beautiful opening set and he is really good at it

And second set would be Nick Warran who is a master in building the vibe

3^rd its Hernan Cattaneo the maestro of progressive to continue the vibe

4^th Artist is Guy J  to play an amazing set with so many Guy j IDs

And finally the closing set by one of my favorites, Ben Bhomer in the sunrise

What would be a musical extravagance for your studio you would pay for, if you were very wealthy?

I can’t say an exact thing that I would buy but definitely I will buy a set of synthesizers to keep around my chair as I can play and record the sounds.

Generally speaking, do you find it more difficult to come up with original tracks than remixing a track from another artist?

I don’t find difficulties to make an original and also a remix since I always using my own sound even if it’s a remix or an original. In my view an original track is easier than a remix since it’s my own idea and my own sounds, and also in an original track I have no rules or a frame.

What has the last year and a half been like for you? Have you focused more time on making music? And has the pandemic affected your creative spirit in any way?

Last year was kind of bad for the artists in the whole world because of the pandemic and lockdowns. But I had more time to be at home and work on some good tracks of mine and I made about 30 New IDs within that time period. Being in a lockdown and home is hard and so stressful but I managed to use that time to get something useful done for my future.

What is the situation with the pandemic in Sri Lanka at the moment? Are there parties or events happening yet?

Our country is open now and can see some good events and parties are happening here. I hope this will be continued with safety and I wish the whole world could be healed and overcome from this virus and to be back together with some peace and music.

What’s a book you’ve read or film you watched that has left an impact on you, and why?

I used to read a lot when i'm schooling but I don’t remember a book could make a huge impact to my current lifestyle. But few good books and stories could give me good lessons to my life.

And to the electronic dance music life I would say “We Are Your Friends” and Avici’s biography movie made a huge impact on me.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest risk you’ve taken and what made you do it?

In our lives, every steps we taking to do something new is a risk and is same in my life too. But in my life as Noiyse Project , in 2018 I had to take a peak time set for the first time in my life with a full of  crowd in an event in Sri Lanka and it was a big challenge for me to make a proper track list and handle that crowd as an artist on that day . I think that was a big risk and a challenge I took but happy to say that I could do it better.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?

Seeing my Mom at home when I’m waking up in the morning makes me happier than anything.

What does 2022 hold for you? Anything you can share with us?

I could make some good music and some different vibes than my usual sounds and have a good news of signing a new record label which was in my bucket list since the day I started producing music and hope to share it with you all soon.

"In A Cloudland' is out now via Till The Sunrise: https://bit.ly/3Gx9riY