The Mix 018: Manami

Before we dig into the EP – which, spoiler, I really enjoyed – in what ways, consciously or subconsciously, have you been reconnecting with your identity? What has that process looked like?

So I started this community event series called East and Most with two of my best friends, Helen and Jasmine. It connects the ESEA (East and Southeast Asian) diaspora through market events, and music events as well. We all had similar experiences of how we personally felt as people of the diaspora when we were growing up. Having grown up in a white, middle-class area, it was something that I didn’t fully appreciate.

We started the community event series when I moved to London – where it’s definitely more diverse. When I got to London, I also started going to other ESEA events, like those by ESEA Music and Eastern Margins. I’d go to panel talks and hear people talk about my experience.

At that time and at that moment, I thought I was the only person feeling like they didn’t want people to ‘see’ their ethnicity almost, because I’d seen how people had treated my parents both explicitly and implicitly. I didn’t want to be treated any differently or looked at differently in my work, or how I presented myself in all parts of my life. Someone on a panel for ESEA Music discussed that same thing of rejecting our Asian-ness growing up in the UK or a Western country. After hearing that, and being able to accept that was how I felt, I can hopefully bring that into a part of my expression and do it in an honest way.

Would you say that this experience forms part of the “introspective recalibration of sound and intent” that inspired the EP?

It’s one of the aspects of it. This idea of being able to present my most authentic self with regard to this music.

‘Dreaming Still’ is whimsical but unsettling, dreamy, sure, but also grounded. What other moods, stories or versions of yourself did you draw from?

My emotions from the time I was creating ‘Dreaming Still’ are very much reflected in the music, let’s just say… Though some of the intentions and meanings behind the EP remain private, I’m stoked that you picked up on the balance. I’ve had feedback that I’ve made some people cry by the end of the EP. There’s something deep and powerful in moving people through the music without explicitly stating the meaning behind it; something intrinsic in the music that people connect with.

You launched your label, VMR (Virtual Myths Recordings), with this release. Why did the timing feel right?

I had gone through a bit of a creative lull just before I started making these tunes. I’d been back-and-forth with other labels and I had these feelings of confusion: did I know what they wanted, did I know what I wanted? I was sick of it at that point.

I’m sure other artists can relate.

If you start feeling confused, you can start to lose confidence. So there was that element of it. But also, I find that some other labels churn out the music a little bit. They put out the music – which you’ve worked super hard on – and they’ll maybe release a single, the rest of the EP, and then it will get forgotten about before and after. I wanted to put more love into the roll-out and the storytelling aspect of it, providing more background to the music and the EP whether explicit or not, to give the tunes the life I feel they deserve. I could have full creative control in that sense, in the roll-out and how it looks and sounds. This was the perfect project to begin that journey with. I’ll be giving that same amount of care and attention to future label releases, hence why the mantra is ‘telling stories authentically’.

What came the easiest with the EP’s creation, and what presented the biggest challenge?

I suppose the easiest [parts] were the first two tracks I wrote: track one [‘Tinted’] and the second single, the hectic jungle-y one [‘Sekai’]. Those were made over four days.

Is that typical of your usual process?

That was an exception. I mean, when it does flow, it does flow – and as every artist does, we all long for that flow to be there. But that was also the time when I was feeling those emotions the strongest. In part, that was what helped me grow my understanding [of this idea that] great music is born out of whatever thing the artist is going through. That hit me in a pretty big way after writing those two tunes. It was very cathartic and very needed for me at the time. Then the most difficult, I think, was just the process of starting the label. Figuring out the logistics has been challenging but extremely rewarding.

Read this next: The Mix 005: SAMO

You’ve previously said: “When it comes to production, the place I feel most inspired is on the dancefloor itself. On nights out, I always take recordings on my phone. Instead of trying to recreate those sounds, I will try to emulate the feeling they invoked within me” and you went on to discuss that as an environment for creativity. Would you say that still rings true?

100 percent. I try to get creativity from various places. But ultimately, it is still dance music in the end – [at least] for the stuff that I’m predominantly making now. The fifth track on the EP very much took that route. I went to fabric to see dBridge and Verraco play [last year] and I took shit loads of videos that night and was able to make that tune the following day.

Are there any other dancefloors that particularly stand out as inspirational to you?

The first times I went to De School [in Amsterdam]. I’d make trips over from Bristol and get back on the plane after the events had finished. The feelings I felt on those dancefloors have stuck with me.

In general, I try to keep my phone camera on or switch it on as soon as I feel a certain thing. With what I’m writing now, I’m trying to focus on what makes my body move on a dancefloor and instil that into these new tracks. It’s functional dance music but not in a way where I’m trying to write a banger, but it’s the way that’s most intuitive to me on a dancefloor. It’s been an interesting way to make, and setting those kinds of intentions in the studio has helped me let go of things that would cripple me a lot. Thoughts like: ‘My tunes don’t sound as good as so-and-so’. We all do it, and we all fall into those pits. But going into the studio space with this in mind makes me feel like I’m in control and I’ve got this.

That must feel so empowering.

It really does. I was just like, ‘Wow, you can just flip it on its head’. That’s another thing I’ve also been encouraging in the people I’ve been mentoring in production stuff as well. I suppose I can chat a little more about the scheme I’m setting up…

Yes, please.

That’s going to be a more production-oriented mentoring scheme for women and ESEA people. I’ve got Ableton and Pirate helping to get it set up, but I’m going to work with four or five people over six months, have guest mentors in, and then help [the mentees] with the tunes, which they’ll release on the label by the end of it. As we said at the beginning, it’s really important to me to be creating and serving a community as I continue to do this. That’s where this whole dance music thing started, and that’s where the future is heading. It’s important to nurture that.

Let’s end on your mix, what can you tell me about it?

I haven’t put out a mix in a really long time, and this is the first mix under the rebranded sound. I’ve been playing bass-driven music for longer than I’ve been making it, but this is the first mix exclusively [dedicated] to it. It felt amazing; it was so fun to put together.

I wanted to execute a feeling of a loss of control, as if descending into an abyss-like place and being spat out the other side, using club music that explores the sub-realms. Musically, this mix truly represents where I’m at right now, particularly with my DJing.

Where is it best enjoyed?

A house party – but not at an afters! It’s for while the party is still pumping.

‘Dreaming Still’ is out now, get it here

Jasmine Kent-Smith is a freelance writer, follow her on Twitter