“For my listeners, I am just eternally grateful to them for engaging with my art; if anything, I just hope to inspire them with what I do and I hope they can feel something in their lives as opposed to nothing at all.” Mazoulew captures the essence of his dedication and gratitude towards his audience. An artist who finds deeply felt inspiration in the world around him, Mazoulew’s creative vision is deeply rooted in his experiences and interactions.
His new track “Invisible Man“, which is the first from his upcoming EP, invites listeners on a wonderfully captivating journey. It’s deep and melancholic, akin to a beautifully surreal daydream, seducing with its downtempo rhythms and string harmonies. This piece is a mosaic of warmth, groove, and soulfulness, immersing the listener in a world both comforting and intriguing.
In our interview, we talk about his creative process, the unique challenges of finding one’s place in a fast-paced world, and the personal significance of each track in his latest offering.
Congratulations on your stunning, new single “Invisible Man”. It fuses electronica/ downtempo with beautiful string arrangements. What were some influences while creating this sound?
I largely find myself drawing inspiration from things outside of music itself, the places I go, the people I meet help to shape my experience of the world. Every time I approach a new body of work; its almost like a photo book of memories, each track marking a certain point in time and capturing a moment in my life.
I find contrast and change in circumstance inspiring, the opposite is equally true. I find any time I need to relocate myself, meet a new group of people, learning any new skills/techniques; all of these things help to inspire new ideas for me. I find myself easily falling into traps of creative block which usually correlate to me not experiencing enough new things around me. Coming back to London and getting back into this lifestyle has been some getting used to but it has inspired me to write more and think about some new ideas.
I’ve already had the opportunity to listen to your upcoming EP, and I must say, I’ve truly fallen in love with it. Its melancholic, deep, and playful sound resonates strongly with me. Is there a particular track on the album that holds the most significance for you?
For me each song has a different place within the greater context of the record. I like to approach a compilation of work that will give myself and the listener a wide range of feelings and emotions, covering more ground, in turn creating a greater depth to the story overall.
Life isn’t one dimensional, we all experience moments of greater and lessening pressure, pace, dynamics and many other factors. I try to create a new body of work with the same considerations, almost art imitating life, in a way.
How does the upcoming record reflect your evolution as an artist and person, and what do you hope your fans will understand or appreciate about your growth through it?
When I was writing my previous record ‘Movements’, I was living in a much slower and quieter environment, as a result the music was much more introspective. With returning to the city I found myself wanting to explore some larger elements with more power and ferocity while subsequently developing macro textures. I am at the stage of my life where I am asking myself serious questions; who am I, where am I and what am I doing. ‘Invisible Man’ is a culmination of everything I have experienced to date, its my expression of where I am right now in my life, the good, the bad and everything in between.
For my listeners, I am just eternally grateful to them for engaging with my art; if anything I just hope to inspire them with what I do and I hope they can feel something in their lives opposed to nothing at all.
“Life isn’t one dimensional… I try to create a new body of work with the same considerations, almost art imitating life, in a way.”
“Invisible Man” is a score for city life and nature. How do you envision your music connecting with listeners in these different environments?
I feel like with my work crossing genres in the way that it does, different tracks are suited to different environments, moods and even times of day. I want my audience to experience it however and wherever it connects with them.
I never really set out with any intentions to make a certain style or mood of music in the same way a lot of others may do. I find myself exploring and discovering direction through development and experimentation. It’s not a case that I would write something with the intention of it being played in a certain context, for me its just about putting these ideas out into the world and seeing how it is absorbed by the audience.
You mentioned re-exploring old and new ideas for this EP. How do you balance incorporating your past works with the exploration of new concepts in your music?
It’s rare I would revisit a previous composition as I feel like once I have closed the book on something that is usually it for me, I think there is always the risk of either overproducing or convoluting an idea. ‘Point Nemo’ was a track I wrote for my first EP ‘Pangaea’. There were elements in there which I always wanted to further explore so I thought now would be a good time to do this.
‘Since I Last Saw You’ is the final track on the record, it was actually something I started with a friend of mine during the covid lockdowns, I was programming a bunch of drums one day over zoom which he played some bass guitar over, this eventually became the foundations for the final song. It’s actually quite interesting to listen back to those first version of this and hear how different the ideas became.
I feel like timing is really important, not just in the greater scheme of things but more on a macro level. You can find yourself in a situation whereby you listen to or work on something and its just the wrong time, nothing clicks and everything feels forced. Equally if the timing is right and everything aligns you can hear something and it will inspire you to do what needs to be done. I would say ‘Since I Last Saw You’ was one of those occasions where those early days with the idea, nothing was working and it actually required some serious time away to regain some perspective and come with something inspired.
“…I feel now more than ever it’s easy to become lost in the background noise of the world we live in… having your community is important and building connections with others is equally so.”
Given the fast-paced and ever-expanding nature of our world, how difficult do you find it to carve out and sustain a distinct place for yourself in it?
Personally I feel now more than ever its easy to become lost in the background noise of the world we live in. With the internet and all the tools available now, it has never been both easier and more challenging to get people to notice you as an artist and an individual.
Moving back to London has drawn a lot of this into perspective for me here, alike a lot of other big cities, its quite easy to get ‘lost’. Lost in the noise, the movement, the travel, the stresses and everything else that comes with concentrating so much energy into a single place. I think having your community is important and building connections with others is equally so, you can do a lot of life yourself in isolation but sharing experiences with others with make your life have greater meaning in my opinion, it becomes less about you and more about ‘us’.
The most important thing in life?
I personally dont need a lot in my life, I am not a materialistic person, for me it would be happiness in whatever capacity that may be. It’s very easy to get distracted from the bigger picture, easy to get hung up on the minutia in life. Happiness is one of those things that can be take for granted, not full appreciated or understood until its presence is missing. Find happiness in your life and don’t let go of it.
