Led by Vilnius, Lithuania based musician Kasparas Genys , Sunlow have released a steady output of cosmic, mind bending compositions over the past few years.
I sat down with Genys to talk about his earliest musical memories, how he started creating his own songs and the making of his new E.P. “ESSENCE”.
CMM – What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artist or band did you all enjoy the most?
KG – The breaking moment was witnessing the drop of tame impala’s “Lonerism” album. Most of the tracks are just magical and take the listener to a specific place. This inspired me to start getting more into music in general and getting back on the guitar. However, my biggest influence is definitely the band DIIV. The guitar melodies, the tone, the mood and dreaminess. They for sure have impacted my guitar style and how my music sounds. Favorite album by them, “Is the Is are”, every other release also deserves a 10/10.
CMM – When did you first start playing music and writing your own songs?
KG – Picked up my first classical guitar around 12yrs old. Then I had a very long break and only returned to strings at the age of 18, while also learning how to use ableton and music production. My first DAW could’ve been FL Studio actually, not sure hahah. But releasing my own instrumentals, beats and collaborating with other artists on soundcloud started right after school and I got sucked into it ever since.
CMM – You recently released a new E.P. titled “ESSENCE”. What was the writing and recording process like? Any particular gear and instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire you?
KG – With the help of the VST “addictive drums” I was able to produce real sounding drum beats and just started jamming along and looping any good riffs or hooks layer upon layer. That’s pretty much how all of the songs were born. I start with a bassline or chord progression, record that, jam on top of it and see where it takes me. I own 2 guitars, a Schecter Spitfire series 2020 model, for thick bulky chorus chords and a Fender Stratocaster player series (classic) for sensitive and emotional melodic riffs. All recorded with the iconic Scarlett Focusrite and mixed and mastered on Ableton.
CMM – If you could do a score for any film director who would it be and what would the film be about?
KG – Damn that’s a good one. Not my #1 all time fav director but I’ll go with Jim Jarmusch. Creating and recording something in the style of the film “dead man” would be very epic. I always wanted to create more ambient soundtracks without any drums and basically 1-2 guitar layers at max, or who knows maybe 10+ layers of guitars, a wall of sound. If it were a custom film, my film would be about melancholic teenage times, with skateboarding, parties and heartbreak hahah.
CMM – What do you have coming up next? Any new recordings/shows???
KG – I must mention that “Sunlow” is a one person project and I don’t have any extra band members or instrumentalist, so planning a live performance is pretty challenging. The recording never stops though. Even when I’m not motivated or in the mood for creativity I still sit down and see what I can come up with, I would encourage every artist to do so, trust me. My recent projects happen to have a rather “pop-ish” sound (It just kind of happened, I couldn’t control it) and I might be going into a very different direction. Keeping it unpredictable.
