A Chat with EhRah (09.11.22)
With 17 years of playing guitar, 11 years of production, 2 years of trumpet and over a decade of creating music, music is clearly in EhRah’s blood. We speak with this creative synthwave king about his new album Stardust Genesis, future plans, what he hopes people take from his music and much more!
OSR: What inspires you to make music and how did you come up with the name EhRah?
EhRah: Music is my main passion. I’ve been a musician for almost 20 years. I love art in all its forms, but music is the only art form that can give me shivers. That’s why I’ve decided to pursue it with all my heart.
My artist’s name has the most random story, to be honest! I was sitting with a buddy listening to my first terribly produced beats almost 12 years ago. My friend then said to me: “This is like a new era for you man.” For some reason, that really resonated with me and I took the word ‘era’ adding 2 silent ‘h’ letters just for a flair of uniqueness. Although my musical project has passed through many different expressive iterations, the name has been with me ever since.
OSR: How would you describe your music?
EhRah: I think that the key elements of my music can be characterised by this sentence: an 80s/retro palette with a modern twist. My objective here was to add a new flair to an otherwise very well-explored genre. I think I’ve achieved that via 2 separate ideas:
1. I love blending in modern elements and creating retro-modern hybrid songs. I think the best example of that from my album is with ‘Spike’s Song’. It has a super retro videogame aesthetic instrumental. However, the vocals are heavily roboticised and autotuned. That’s not exactly the first blend you’d think of when we mention synthwave/synth-pop. However, I humbly believe I’ve found a way to make it work in a pleasing fashion.
2. I love to sneak in music theory concepts that go beyond the classic minor/major scale in music. I’m talking here about modal mixture, the use of secondary dominant chords, etc. I don’t think I’m revolutionising anything here but adding just enough of that spices up the compositional aspect in my opinion. A lot of synthwave suffers, in my opinion, from looping the same chord patterns we’ve heard thousands of times. I’ve tried breaking free from it in order to stand out from the lot.
OSR: What can you tell us about your album Stardust Genesis?
EhRah: Stardust Genesis is the culmination of the last 18 months of hard work. It represents a shift in my style; I have incorporated a lot more vocal tracks this time around. I think the album not only stands firm with its 10 songs, but it represents a complete work that can take you on a journey while pausing your life for 40 minutes. I feel that the works, together, just make sense. They don’t feel like separate entities but more of a cohesive experience. And that’s what I set out to accomplish.
The album itself has many different facets expressed within. From entrancing instrumentals such as ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Stardust Genesis’ to fast, energetic vocal tracks such as ‘A Little Time’ and ‘Spike’s Song’, to synth-funk and more dance tracks like ‘By the Weekend’ and ‘Galaxy’. However, even with all the different vocal performances and different vibes, I’ve managed to remain cohesive in the work.
OSR: What is your creative process?
EhRah: My process has been refined over time, but there’s 2 things I always do no matter what the type of song:
1. I always hash out the main chord pattern with a piano. This chord progression would be what we consider the hook. Sometimes an idea will come to me randomly during the day and I’ll try to hum it on my phone and reproduce it later. Those are usually my host “human” ideas while the other method yields more robotic and rigid tracks. Afterwards, I go from there and expand on the structure.
2. I always follow up with my drum processing. I am finicky when it comes to drums, so I make sure to take the proper time to create a drumkit that fits the idea in my head. Once I have those two elements, I go from there and complete the song structure. Finally, I add what I like to call “ear candy”: elements that fill out the song and make it feel whole. I don’t often collaborate on the instrumental creation process, but I have had many collaborations with vocalists. Oftentimes, I’ll send them an instrumental, they’ll work out a main idea that we review together, and then we adapt the instrumental to fit the bill.
OSR: What do you hope people take from Stardust Genesis?
EhRah: Honestly, I just want people to be able to pause their lives for an hour, play the album from start to finish (at least once), and see the musical canvas I’ve painted. Each listener will have, in my opinion, a unique outlook on the work. They will take from it what they see fit. If they’ve done that and enjoyed it at the same time, that’s all I can ever ask for. I want people to feel while listening what I felt while composing the songs.
OSR: What was the most challenging thing about creating this album?
EhRah: I think that the most difficult part has been to successfully mesh my creative vision with that of the multiple collaborators I’ve brought on board. I worked with 4 singers, 2 guitarists, and a bassist. With that many people involved, it’s normal to have different outlooks and perspectives. I wanted to make sure, however, that the final product remained true to my ideal vision of it.
OSR: If you could change one thing about the album, what would it be and why?
EhRah: If I could change one thing, I think I’d have wanted the album to have 5-6 more tracks. I had to cut a lot of material from the album to make it the best it could be. The cut material all had a lot of potential that, given time, could have been fleshed out into more tracks. I’m not sure how many people properly take the time to actually listen to an album from start to finish, so maybe it was for the best that the album didn’t have 15-16 tracks!
OSR: What does music mean to you?
EhRah: Music has always been my main passion. No other form of art has moved me as much. I feel that, when I produce/compose, I can pause my brain and completely lose myself in the process. It allows to me de-stress and is akin to my own form of meditation. I feel that I’ve gotten so much out of just that process alone. Therefore, anything more is just the cherry on top. Having seen the reaction to my music across the globe has been humbling and has filled me with joy.
OSR: Do you have future plans as EhRah?
EhRah: I’m already working on my third album! I’m trying to push myself and my sound even further to really carve a spot in the synthwave genre and call it my own. I’d like my palette to become more unique/refined. As such, I’m working towards that goal with the next album. Moreover, I’ve been hired to compose the soundtrack to an indie game and that could lead to a host of different opportunities if all goes well. Only time will tell!
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
EhRah: I would like to thank all the people who have taken the time to read the interview and especially those who have listened to my music. Having just one person listen and appreciate my art is extremely humbling. Overall, I just want readers to know that this project is just beginning and will only get better from here on out!
Many thanks to EhRah for speaking with us. For more from EhRah check out his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
