Interview and Photos by Dylan Marriott, Transcribed by Natasha Pecar
I stumbled upon Ayegy during Boiler Room’s NYC event in July. Anonymous Club had curated their own stage of underground talent, featuring names such as BabyxSosa, Nation, Izzy Spears and Eartheater. I entered the room to Ayegy’s opening track: Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” blasting through the hall – possibly one of the loudest rickrolls in history. Ayegy built on this with the atmospheric “Energy Play”, circling the stage, vocals echoing throughout the venue’s halls. His presence on stage is confident, almost hypnotic; well aware of the power he possesses, Ayegy consciously utilises repetitive lyrics to accompany rhythmic, industrial footwork instrumentals. Drawing inspiration from Detroit house, industrial techno and black metal, Ayegy’s most recent release “Godadelic” is equal parts energetic and heartfelt. We spoke on a sunny day in a Brooklyn park about the inspirations for this project, the hand of God, and the power of music.
<CO>
What are you aiming to channel through Ayegy as a music project?
<AYEGY>
One thing that I really try to use is positive lyrics within my music. I do this intentionally, acknowledging that people are going to be singing and repeating them. I’ve tried to talk about things that are relevant to ideas or desires within my life but discuss this repetitively, so it ends up being like positive affirmations. I have this song called Energy Play, the opener for my second EP. Its lyrics are just repetitions of words over and over – like once the beat drops, the lyrics repeat “I want it, I want it, I want it.”
I try to take a very spiritual approach to my music; a lot of it is just messing around with the mic and using my voice to make cool sounds, but the final product always needs to be something of value, something I feel is a positive contribution to the world. I’m a believer that words are affirmations of something greater; I’m making these songs for myself, but also knowing that people are listening, so I try to make them repetitive and fun. I try to do it in a way that’s subtle, no one can really notice unless you really look into the lyrics.
<CO>
Why music?
<AYEGY>
I find it’s easiest to do that with music rather than another medium just because it’s so accessible, it’s something you can do while you do other things and not really think about it. I’ve been wanting to get into painting and things like that, but I honestly don’t have a natural gift for visual art. Music is definitely the freer-flowing and more ‘natural’ artistic medium, at least for me. I find that music is the easiest way to get out my feelings to the world. It’s like a spell.
The majority of mainstream music is keeping impressionable people in a lower state of being. Think about what 99% of mainstream music is about, things that have no benefit to your life or don’t bring you up. They don’t help you grow. You know, sex, drugs, money, that’s awesome, but we shouldn’t be fixating on those things… All good things are meant to be enjoyed in moderation.
<CO>
How does spirituality fit into your music?
<AYEGY>
I think any form of art is God expressing through you. Every form of creativity. Once you get in that mode where you’re in a flow state, and you’re just creating – whether that’s through painting or making music; the artists reading this will know it’s just like a state you get in that you can’t explain. I think that state of being is God flowing through you. I think that is the Spirit.
<CO>
How important is art to you?
<AYEGY>
Recently, I feel like it’s one of the most important things we have. Music and creation have been here since the dawn of time, and will always be here. I believe it’ll always be an escape from whatever’s going on in the world. For me, personally, is it an escape? At the moment I don’t have much to escape from. Creating for me is more of a mechanism to vent and have fun.
<CO>
Has spirituality always played a part in your music? Or is that something that showed itself later?
<AYEGY>
When I was younger I started making rap beats and messing around making rap songs. That was all just for fun. I hadn’t really felt the need to have a point yet or have something ready I wanted to express. But as time went on, I grew closer to God – maybe not God in a traditional sense, not the man in the sky we all think of, but God as the source; the creator of the universe. And over time as I got older, I grew a deeper connection with that through various tribulations in my life. And as that became more important to me, that side of myself that is my creative outlet simultaneously became one of the most important things to me. So, it was only natural that my experiences and beliefs started to bleed into my music.
<CO>
How does this belief system help you navigate the world?
<AYEGY>
I’m a believer in karma, for sure. So hopefully by doing my part and trying to give out positivity I can help and use what I’m good at to help the world. I don’t necessarily have one set-in-stone belief system – I guess just morals and values. The only real mantra or belief system I go by is karma and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. That is just the universal law, and it is the law of nature. So, I just try my best to uplift people when I can and dish out positivity. Obviously, making fun music is not changing the world in a major way, but at least it is changing it.
I think anyone who makes music is making a difference, however small it may be. You never know who is listening to your music or what it might mean to them. You see all the time people telling artists/musicians that they changed their life and that their music helped them through a tough time. I think if you are making music, whatever and however big your platform is, you are changing the world
<CO>
If you can have a positive effect on one person, I feel like you've done your part. It makes everything worth it.
<AYEGY>
Exactly. I really hope my music can help some people through hard times. And to put it out there, if you are ever going through a tough time, feel free to DM me or email me or something, I’ll talk to you. I believe we all got to help each other however we can.
<CO>
How does Godadelic touch on these ideas? What inspired the project?
<AYEGY>
The main theme of this project is rebirth. Each song centres around coming into a new life and breaking away from your old self; that process of shedding skin. If you investigate the lyrics of the last song on the album, the only lyrics as you get towards the end is a repetition of me screaming
“I surrender, I surrender.”
This touches on coming into your new life and surrendering to whatever you believe in, knowing that the universe has your back. Whatever you are stressing about; that thing you really want to accomplish in life — All you need to do is to take small steps and not stress yourself out. Just surrender. And if it is to happen, it will happen.
The first six tracks of the album are about rebirth and shedding skin and then the last song is specifically about what I just discussed, just having faith and hope because that’s all you can do. Sometimes you can’t change the situation. You can’t affect an outcome. You just gotta surrender.
I think combining that message with aggressive beats and elements of black metal was to evoke emotion and deep thought. There is nothing, no digital sound, that will ever be able to replicate the emotion of acoustic or real string instruments. I’m trying to incorporate more instruments into my music because I do play a few, and I’ve never really incorporated that side of me as a musician before into many of my projects. For instance, in track three Prana is just straight piano. That song specifically is about stopping and breathing. Whatever is happening in your life, whatever you are going through, the thing that is always constant is your breath. You always have your breath to come back to, so just remember to breathe and take deep breaths. Breathe in, hold it, breathe out, hold it. Do that, like five times, you will feel great. I used a lot of use of ‘real’ instruments within this album, which is something I’m going to start incorporating more into my music.
<CO>
How did the intro for Godadelic, “A Prayer from a Messenger” come about? what's the story behind that?
<AYEGY>
So I was going to pick up some food in my hometown Vancouver, Washington, I was getting Thai food, and a lot of times I’ll just sit in my car and eat it because there’s nothing else to do in that town. I was in kind of a depressive state sitting in my car eating food when this buff gym dude walks by, and he comes up to my window, and he’s like like:
“I just got this call from God to pray for you.”
I was taken aback because it really was like an angel being sent for me, I was going through a lot of things at that time, it was a pretty bad few months for me – I was feeling very hopeless and alone. I was at one of the lowest points in my life and I’m just like, bawling my eyes out in a parking lot while this guy was praying for me. He prayed for me for like 10 minutes while I was crying and then we just ended up talking for like 30 minutes. He kept telling me whatever you’re going through, just surrender, God always has your back, just surrender. That’s something I’d forgotten in that moment. He reminded me that everything’s gonna be okay. Eventually, he drove off and I drove home crying, just trying to let it all in and really, really internalise it. Because this was like, this was the third time I’ve been approached by someone like that. It’s like God just knocking on my door, trying to get me to let him in or just surrender. I put the guy in the credits of Spotify for the opening track – he’s the writer of the intro. That experience pretty much inspired the whole project, and that happened about a month before it dropped. I already had some tracks made, but I really was able to make everything come together around that theme of God and spirituality through that experience.
