Q: “Offline” is an impressive track that blends genres and has contributions from other artists. What was your creative process in making this song?
MANDYCAN: It started with my request to chop and splice Baseball Alien’s ambient sound art that he sent me. I heard the lush flute-like sounds and the synthetic pads and was so moved that I needed to have a play with it. I came up with a beat and added layers of synths over it to give it the general skeleton before sending it to Alvina. She come up with lyrics and vocals within no time. There was complete creative freedom between all of us and there was NO real-time feedback or input between any of us. The collaboration was just a raw response to each other’s work that we only got to listen to after it was done.
Q: Did any real-life events occur in your life that inspired “Offline,” such as your own experience with getting offline?
MANDYCAN: The theme of the song only really came to be after Alvina penned down the lyrics but in a way, it’s something that we resonate so deeply with just from being born in the time that we’re in. ‘Doomscrolling’ replaces conversations and we’re so visually and mentally stimulated that we’ve all felt the general urge to toss our phones in the corner and not look at it for a while. There may not have been a specific feeling but going ‘offline’ encompasses a very broad and very true instinctual response to the world we live in.
Q: Was there a pivotal moment in your life when you decided to follow your path as a musician?
MANDYCAN: It’s been so long now that it’s hard to remember a time when I DIDN’T want to be a musician haha. Ever since I picked up a guitar when I was between 11 and 12 years old, it was the only true way I could express myself. Becoming a producer took it to the next level where I could not only convey my emotions, I could now attempt to paint a whole picture of an experience. I’ll know I’ve made it as an artist if even one person thinks I can do the latter well.
Q: Who would you most like to collaborate with, if it could be anyone in the world?
MANDYCAN: There are SO many people on my mind! I’d love to work with the likes of Jordan Rakei or FKJ and I’d give an arm to be in the same room of producers like Bonobo and Flying lotus. Any one of them (if not all of them, because why not?) would be an absolute dream come true.
Q: In your own words, how would you describe the music that you typically create?
MANDYCAN: My music draws upon an array of different musical tastes and influences and I never want it to be JUST one thing and stuffed into a box. I want MandyCan to move people physically as well as emotionally; a groove to be nostalgic for when you re-listen to it years later.
Q: What is coming up next for you?
MANDYCAN: I moonlight between my Singer-Songwriter Material under my real name of Soyam Dean, but there’s also plenty of MandyCan in the Vault that needs to see the light of day. I’ve got the wheels turning, and I’d love to keep the momentum and share more music with the world!
Interviewed by Taylor Berry
FOLLOW MANDYCAN:
