[INTERVIEW] Getting To Know Indie-Electronic Producer, shy-c

Singaporean indie-electronic producer, shy-c, answers some questions for the readers of HypnoticAsia upon the release of his latest EP!

The producer recently dropped his EP, Solace In My Sleep along with his single “Castles”. It’s been revealed that, “[h]ome is not always a physical space, sometimes it can also be a person. ‘Castles’ is about finding comfort in the people around you and finding a way to overcome your personal struggles.”

Check out the interview with shy-c below and stream Solace In My Sleep now.

HYPNOTICASIA: Introduce yourself to our HypnoticAsia readers!
shy-c: Hi everyone, I’m shy-c, I’m an indie-electronic artist/producer from Singapore. My music is a strange mish-mash of acoustic and electronic influences, drawing references from lo-fi, rock and synth-pop and electronic.

HYPNOTICASIA: How did you get into music? What or who was your inspiration?
shy-c: I first got into music when I started learning violin as a kid. I think I’ve always had a desire to be creating music, rather than just playing whatever was dictated by other people, but it wasn’t until I was about 18 that I discovered the world of music production after watching videos of Periphery (a prog-metal band) producing their albums.

HYPNOTICASIA: You have a new EP entitled “Solace In My Sleep” that just got released! Tell us all about your EP!
shy-c: The EP, ‘Solace in My Sleep’ is a collection of songs describing modern anxieties and urban escapism. The titular track was written during a period where I tried to escape my troubles but failed to fall asleep. As a result, the track is an attempt to convey this idea of falling in and out of consciousness and a certain reluctance to face the struggles of daily life. The second track, ‘Apathy’, deals with the fine line between self-care and self-destruction. As a response to my refusal to get out of bed, stop playing video games, I forced myself to produce a song that was extra in many ways, as a way out of a period of writer’s block. The final single, ‘Castles’, portrays the contrast between human warmth and cold weather, as I experienced when I visited my partner during the coldest part of winter while she was living there.

HYPNOTICASIA: How did you decide which tracks would be included on this specific EP?
shy-c: Actually, I didn’t intend to release an EP this year. After completing these three tracks, I started to see common threads between these songs. At some point, I realized that these three tracks accurately encapsulate who I am as a person, and what I have on my mind at this point in time. This was when I decided that these songs could be collectively released as an EP.

HYPNOTICASIA: If you were not doing music, what do you believe you would be doing instead?
shy-c: Probably something in the marketing industry, I enjoy how marketing shares a lot of overlaps with music as to how you find angles to present and package your product for the public’s consumption.

Photo Credit: Ammelie Ho