We’re here today with a very interesting Finnish artist and musician who has his own style and technique in expressing his music. Matyas has been experimenting with his style for a few years now that he has mastered it and creating his own terminology for it as he goes.
- All your tracks’ titles are from nature, is this where your inspiration comes from for your compositions?
Mainly, yes. For me, nature is an absolute entity with its ever astonishing elements and phenomena. Everything in nature is in right place and its beauty is unquestionable. The sounds of nature are the music a man cannot make.
- Can you walk us through your creative process? How do you come up with the ideas and motifs for your compositions?
Very good question! Everything happens by intuition. I never plan anything in advance. Due to that, I seldom remember how a song was born. There are exceptions, like “In Solitude”, which came out basically in five minutes. In a very stressful situation, an exceptional atmosphere for me; I usually must be in sharp condition and in mentally serene state to create anything.
The creative process is exploring the guitar’s fret board. Pressing your finger somewhere makes a sound. Pressing multiple fingers makes more sound. Whether it sounds nice, I memorize it. And sometimes forget. But I believe that the best material sticks to your mind. Nonsense soon drifts away.
A very crucial point in creating is that I have abandoned all theory and consciously avoided using guitar chords and notes once learned. For me, these things are just restraining and boring. So, if you ask me to strum B minor, I can’t. It’s irrelevant. That’s why I am not playing anything but my own music. Well, I have done couple of cover songs from Peter Gabriel and Gary Numan, but they’ve been done by ear.
- You also seem to be influenced by and have a background of classical music, do you have any favorite composers or a favorite musical era?
Actually not. Composers and their pieces are quite familiar to me. But classical music usually rings no bells in my soul. Exceptions, however, do exist, like “Tapiola” by Sibelius or “Leningrad” by Shostakovich. But in
general, I really do not listen to it. Musically my biggest inspiration comes from extreme metal (death metal, black metal, grindcore etc.)
I do have a classical background what comes to my style of playing; using fingers. But that’s about everything I decided to keep. That’s why I’m calling my music “pseudo-classical”.
- “Augmented Ukulele” is a very interesting term to use, what are the challenges you face while using this new approach in composition and performing?
Augmented ukulele basically means using ukulele chords added with bass strings of guitar. It’s a combination of these two. Ukulele does not have bass strings, but its chords can be applied to guitar. For an extra spike I’m tuning my guitar two steps down to bring depth and force in the sound. This is a very common practice in metal.
- How was creating “Tree of life” different from your other singles?
I wish I knew! It’s one of those songs which creating process has slipped into oblivion. The only thing I remember is that the intro was written a very simple pattern in my mind. I’m very keen on writing stuff in a very stripped down approach, using just couple of strings out of six. For some reason I tend to find satisfying results that way. The simplicity and beauty are the key factors.
However, I call “Tree of life” a “new song”, which means that “In Solitude” once opened a completely new way of making songs. Maybe it’s development, but songs after that piece seem to have more complex and numerous patterns in them. They’re also much longer than my early songs. This is different.
“Tree of life” also came out very naturally and easy. I remember the process being very satisfying. But despite of that I found it very challenging to release the song. It felt like “This is going nowhere”. So, I had to ask opinions from “outside”. These opinions were encouraging, so I released it. Now, I’m glad I did. The feedback has been VERY positive.
- Who are your main influences from modern artists?
My influences come from many different sources. I like all kind of music and artists. The main influence comes from something that moves my inside. It can be jazz, it can be death metal, it can be bossa nova…you name it. For me, music is a vast field of different things and phenomena. Only its presence is an influence for me.
So, it’s difficult to say who exactly would be an influence. However, there are artists I look up to: David Davidson (Revocation), Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse), Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) for example. A Finnish singer Pate Mustajärvi is one of my idols…There are so many artists I love/like! They all give something. So, I think it’s right to say, the music of the world is the biggest influence.
