You could say wowflower is in the zone, but that wouldn’t begin to describe it. Sure, his angular take on lo-fi hip hop encompasses a maelstrom of eclectic influences, but it’s more like it swallows everything on its path and regurgitates it in an amazingly coherent body of work. The Brooklyn producer also cultivates an eclectic YouTube channel, with snippets that range from legit beat making tutorials to iPhone videos taken on the street… There’s even some Arnold Schwarzenegger archival footage. It’s another limb of wowflower’s creativity which just seems to channel inspiration from a higher sphere of consciousness. We had a chat with the producer as he was getting ready to release his new album brodies attestupa, a chapter of an ambitious conceptual project. He offered a fascinating insight into a life lived for creative expression.

You live in Brooklyn at the moment? How’s the artistic community over there? Do you think it has influenced your art?

Absolutely! I live in Bushwick with four people who are all super into making music. Our apartment is like a hub of constant music-making. Someone is always in the kitchen on their computer recording samples into their phone and throwing together a track, or in the basement tracking instruments. It’s all we do when we aren’t at our day jobs. I also come from a woodsy area of southeastern Connecticut, so the choice to move to a much busier area was a huge consideration for the future of my music. Where I used to wander into the woods to get inspiration- I now can walk for 9 miles in any direction and still be in a busy city environment. I don’t think it’s changed my sound, but I do think it's got me producing a lot more often. I don't think I’ve ever been so busy making music and videos, and I can’t stop!

Your bio simply states: "Solve your problems by making art” What’s the role of art in your everyday life?

Like a lot of artists I look up to, from music to visual art, I too consider my daily life a great influence on my art. I think the best creative endeavors seek to answer personal questions an artist may have - and what better reason to make art than to work out our concerns? I’ve always had a tricky time with people, and I think my introverted nature has led to me seeking a very inward approach to my creative strides. I take my problems, think about them, let them make me feel how they do, then I make some art (usually music) about it. 

You released more tracks in 2019 than I can count. Can you take us through the creation of a song? Do you typically follow certain steps? How do you get the inspiration flowing?

I think stage one of any of my songs starts before I even think about opening Ableton. I have to get the seed idea or motive to make anything and as I said above, that seed is usually an unanswered question or desire to make something I haven't heard before. I never try to make music when I don't feel inspired to. Some days I finish 4 or 5 songs from start to finish and some days I spend hours processing drums. I try to follow the sounds and make sure not to overwork anything.

Do you work from samples or from scratch? What’s your process there?

I think that the difference between what’s sampled and what’s original (from scratch) in my music is a fine line that grows smaller and smaller. I used to either chop a record or record some midi vst plug-ins and that was it. Now it’s a little more nuanced - You can make anything sound like anything, and I usually try to make my own “from scratch” sounds sound like they are sampled.

It’s hard to say because i don't really see a difference in chopping a sample from a record and chopping a guitar lick I just played, or the resample off of a vst or stock live 10 instruments. Either way, the goal is to make everything sound uncanny and “sample-sounding”. I truly think sampling is the way of the future. We will sample ourselves more and more and as sampling tools become more equipped and easier to use people are going to realize that it’s less about what you’re sampling and more why you are sampling.

Your YouTube channel is a treasure trove of random videos. How do you approach the creation of your visuals?

I spent a lot of time in acting class when I was younger and I think it really had an effect on how I view myself, especially when it comes to self-expression. My youtube is just a feed of my subconscious. In the same way, I need to get to a place of great inspiration before I open Ableton- I too tend to only edit a video when I feel like I absolutely have to. I think that’s why the videos are so scattered and random. Arranging video/audio in Final Cut and arranging music in Ableton are two very similar things. If you know how to do one, the other is very similar, and I think I make videos similar to how I make my beats - in emotional stride and in regards to their actual layout. It’s all centered on emotion because if I’m not feeling what i'm doing in the deepest recesses of my soul, whether its music or visual art, then it’s just not going to happen.

Which artists inspire you at the moment?

Lately, I’ve been listening to Run It Up! by drumloop basically on repeat. His drums hit really hard but leave a lot of space in the beat for the cool textures to have their place. I also am really fond of an artist I've had the extreme pleasure of playing on bills with that calls himself Won Pound. He has a unique approach to sampling himself and I’ve never heard a boring track from him. He has a good ear for mixing things and his tracks are super nice to get lost in. Not to mention his live set is outrageously tight and a pleasure to watch, especially when he lets his hair down. I also am really inspired by cinema and always get a jolt of a creative boost after seeing a film I really love, be it for the first time or the tenth time. 

Are you working on music at the moment? What can we expect from Wowflower in 2020?

I’m always working on music! As far as projects go I’ve been working on a collection of 4 small-sized albums each to be released as counter-parts to each other, each with artwork created by me. They tell the story of a young artist named Brodie who is at ends with his own motives and desires. It’s about his loss of creative ambition. It’s about his failing relationship with his long time friend Arnold. It's about his decision to be the first human consciousness to A.I. transplant. It’s about everything that follows. The Brodie Saga is a loose-knit tapestry of stories and incidents that make up four mini albums of beats, ambient tracks and a couple of songwriting songs that have been super inspired by John Maus and Arthur Russell. Even still I’m working on new music so yeah you can expect even more new music this year!

brodies attestupa is available now on Bandcamp.

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Cover photo by Danni Sing