By Vera Rosales
Collaboration is about understanding each partner’s strengths and weaknesses to make something more beautiful than any one person can do, and nothing exemplifies this quite like music. Nova and Iam Vocal talked to Tempo about their creative process, future plans and their recent collaboration.
MEET THE ARTISTS
NOVA: I am a Music-Producer and Artist.
IAM VOCAL: I go by the name I am VOCAL” and VOCAL stands for Voice Over Creative Artist Lyricist. Ever since I was taught how to say “The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat…” I knew I was destined to be putting words together in the most creative ways possible.
DEFINING GENRE
NOVA: Hmm.Hip Hop with a Pinch of Blues.
IAM VOCAL: Within Hip Hop lies every other genre. I can take an ‘Orchestral Symphony’ and put nasty drums on them and you have ‘Hip Hop Orchestra’, or I could sample soul music and put a fresh beat on it and we got ‘Hip Hop Soul’. I could even get ‘Electronic Dance Music’ and put Trap kicks and snares and you would get ‘Trap EDM’. It’s all Hip Hop one way or another. I’m also a professional Voice Artist and I normally do that really cool ‘Movie Trailer Guy Voice’.
CREATIVE PROCESS
NOVA: People inspire me – even if I don’t even know them. They can be anybody walking on the street. We are all connected and it interests me to know what’s going on in other people’s lives. We all have our bad days and good days, we share moments together unexpectedly and we relate unconsciously to what it’d be like to be in the other’s shoes. So relating to one another inspires me.
If had already come up with lyrics, I would start with my melody first, focus on making it catchy. Then I add the drums and build a rhythm. As I go on I may add harmonies, and experiment with weird sounds, which is fun but can also be a headache if you don’t know what kind of beat you’re making.
IAM VOCAL: Emotions always inspire me to write so I start by finding something that moves me emotionally. I start with the instrumental so I’ll play around with different sounds until I get a tune that makes me feel something. Then I let the feeling dictate what I’m going to talk about. When I got the subject then I do what I do best and tie it all together with elaborate flow.
LAUNCH OF NEW EP
NOVA: It’s a hip-hop album. I’m working with an extremely talented lyricist (points to Iam Vocal). It’s filled with acoustics and live instruments. It’s a raw album and you can say it contradicts what’s popular now.
IAM VOCAL: Every once in a while in your journey through life, you will meet people that are on your wavelength. It doesn’t happen all the time but when it does then magic happens. Vocal’s a chill dude, dope writer and talented guitar player who plays a sound that vibrates in my frequency. He’s the kind of guy I’d hang with even without the music and that’s why it was so easy to put the songs together.
THE BIG PLAN
IAM VOCAL: 10 years from now I want to put my dusty old record on and still feel the way I felt when I made it 10 years earlier.
NOVA: I want to be hopefully appreciated by an audience!
THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE
NOVA: It’s an opportunity waiting to be conquered.
I AM VOCAL: I can’t shake this feeling that something big is about to happen here. We’re but a spark away from igniting the multi-cultural flames of talent in UAE. That spark could be an artist, a pioneering record label, or even a platform that supports local musicians like TEMPO.
WORD UP
NOVA: Never give up, keep yourself inspired and remember that art is about trial and error.
I AM VOCAL: Only make the music that you would like to hear. Do it for yourself first. There are many people who like what you like and when you make music that you love then those people with similar taste will find you…or you’ll find them.
LISTEN TO THEIR EP HERE
