Feature: Roman Kyn & Losless [Interview + Premiere]

Hi guys, thanks for joining us. What is your current mood?
Hey guys, thanks for the interview, happy to have a little chat here! We're feeling great, excited about the new release.

How did growing up in france influence your music taste and direction? Or did it at all?
Roman: i did not grow up in france actually, i grew up in chile / mexico / belgium and spain until i was 18. I think it affected my degree of curiosity and openness, as i've been used to discovering new cultures and moving a lot from a super young age. I think it reflects on my music on a certain level, drawing inspirations from many different genres.

Benjamin: i didnt grow up in a big city, so at the time, the only place where you could find alternative music were free parties and rave parties. This is where it all started for me, it probably left a print on my music and my choices.

If you are not djing or socializing at clubs, where do we find you? And doing what?
We are both coming from a strong musical background, so you could find us nerding out in the studio. That's also what clicked about this collaboration, as we both have the same approach (more or less) when writing music.

When you were first getting started in production did you have someone help you or are you completely self-taught?
Self-taught 100% for both of us.

And what would you recommend new producers do to help with the learning curve of production?
Dive completely into it. Lock yourself up, forget "socializing in clubs" (even though it's important some times of course) and get better every day : ) ! There are so many resources online to learn stuff today, it's really the golden age of self empowerment. Try to grab what you like about what you see and hear, without copying. Then take those rules you learned and make them your own, nothing is written in stone and you can do whatever you think is right as long as you think it sounds good. Take feedback and criticism but don't let it dictate your art.

How did you initially meet? And how did the friendship eventually lead to collaborating on music together?
Funny story but we actually met 5 years ago at a concert in france. We then lost contact for a while, and met again by chance a year ago. We exchanged a few demos and decided to start something together as we thought our musical universes complemented pretty well.

You have a new ep something i see out this week on siamese, tell us about the release and how do these tracks showcase your current sound?
This ep marks a significant milestone for both of us. The ep features two collaborative tracks, "ubiquity" and "something i see, " that showcase a mix of our identities. "ubiquity" takes us on an emotional journey, and was made pretty fast, while "something i see" is more of an enigmatic dancefloor starter. Both tracks showcase ben's strong sound design skills, emotive / strong build ups and techno grooves, mixed up with roman's composition approach with storytelling leads, samples and vocals. The tracks gave us the opportunity to dive deeper into each other's universe, which is always a great way to learn many new things and get inspired.

 

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A successful partnership is generally based around balance and compromise; how did you manage these things while working on 'ubiquity' and 'something i see?
The process was actually quite smooth, and we operated with a ping pong, exchanging projects and adding our own touch on it. We don't feel like we had to make any compromises while working together.

What does your set-up look like? Do you favor physical gear over digital? And what studio tools featured heavily in the writing of the something i see ep?
R: prophet 6 - moog grandmother - neumann mic
B: sylenth1 - elektron analog rytm - moog sub 37

two of the tracks from this release were played by adriatique in their most recent cercle set, how has the response been to the tracks since that airing? And how difficult is it dealing with everyone asking you to send them the tracks to play?
Amazing response, we were so happy that the tracks were amongst the most sought out ids of the set. It is not that difficult, you just have to say no for some time, but today we are excited that everybody will be able to play the tracks!

Give us some insight into releasing on siamese, like most good labels they are quite particular about what they release, so what was the process like from you initially sending them one or two of the tracks to actually getting four tracks signed? Or was it a case of just sending all four tracks as a project and having them signed with no revisions?
Yes, they are very picky about what they release for sure. The guys (adriatique) were already playing some of our tracks so it was natural for us to send them some tracks. After playing the tracks on gigs, they offered us the opportunity to work on an ep. The whole label team trusted us, no revision was made with the tracks we sent, which was very pleasant for us. As you can imagine, they are pretty busy with the release calendar, so the process took a year to the release day.

 

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Lets talk about production for a moment, where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships etc play? And was there anything in particular that inspired the tracks on your siamese release?
R: i have a very musical approach to composing. I always try to draft an idea by playing some chords on my guitar or on my piano, and i just let my iphone record the ideas and just play for a while, until i think there is a "moment". Then i just drag and drop these "moments" on ableton and start from there. It usually needs to start away from the computer for it to work for me, but i also love starting from a sample.

B: i have no particular technique for finding inspiration. Lately, its mostly sound design that triggers inspiration. It starts with a quest for a good idea, an original sound where chance and accident have an important place. Once an idea is unlocked, things come naturally. As for our collaboration, roman kyn's input triggered a lot of ideas in me, which gave birth to the ep.

Once a track is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until youre ready to put a finished stamp on a production? What does this process look like in practice?
R: it is super important to give some time to a track. But for me, it shouldn't be too much time. I think you always have a small time frame of excitement that starts from the original idea written on your daw to a moment where you do not have any way to criticize your own music because you just heard it and changed it too much. I try to finish everything within that window, i upload the version on soundcloud and listen to the track in different environments and moods, and if i'm still unhappy about it and it just takes too long, i will just make other tracks. It's a process that works well for me and that doesn't transform the composition process into "work".

B: as i have been a producer for some time, i have a lot more perspective on what needs to be kept or discarded. If i feel like i have to touch up a track all the time, its probably because the track doesnt work, but in general, i know pretty quickly when i have to start another project or when a piece has to be finished. Despite everything, i can get tired of a track very quickly, i must know when to stop and accept the idea that the track may contain imperfections.

What is the task you enjoy the most when producing and what would you prefer someone else to do?
We love the whole process of it, from production to mixing and mastering the tracks. I think we agree that we like to do all of this ourselves, as every step of the process colors the sound, gives it an identity. As an artist, the more you do yourself, the more you control the output and therefore the vision you communicate with your sound.

Now lets talk about djing for a moment, its a unique discipline at the border between presenting great music and creating something new with it, between composition and improvisation to an extent. How would you describe your approach to it?
R: i almost never dj as i play live, but when i do, it is for me a way to play a lot of my inspirations, and i like to make sets that are ranging through a lot of different emotions / styles.

B: being a dj was especially a way for me to offer other music than mine. I used to play only live sets before, but being locked in my own music was sometimes frustrating. I would say the challenge as a dj is to know how to build a universe, to make people understand it, not necessarily giving them what they want to hear, i have to surprise them. I think the real understanding of some tracks happens on a dancefloor.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?
Funny thing but we are both passionate about cooking!

What does the remainder of 2023 hold for you? Anything you can share with us?
We have one more track we did together that will be released very soon on Impressum.

Something I See EP by Losless & Roman Kyn is out on 28-04 via Siamese