Scaefa - Natural Selection - Nickon's Music Pot

For my first blog post I have decided to dive straight into the absolute mind voyage that is Natural Selection by Scaefa, an Ep released on the events brand now turned label La Bonne Musique.

Comprised of four tracks that blur the boundaries between genres.

I found it quite an experimental listen, each song offering its own progressive journey building into these ecstatic almost trance like euphoric melodic crescendo’s. The songs are dotted with metallic twangy percussive textures and evolving melodies glued together by some very fat, visceral reese basses that would heat up any dancefloor. Coupled with fast, hard-hitting and punchy breakbeats that seem to be a staple of Scaefa’s sound off the back of his previous EP Helium (Which is also an absolutely banging 10/10 EP). “Natural Selection” truly is an absolute monster of an EP.

I really feel like he has found a niche sound for himself that I haven’t really heard anybody else doing, which is a major reason I decided to catch up with Will Lane, aka Scaefa, and pick his brains about how the creation of this stunning gem came to be.

Scaefa -Natural Selection (EP) [La Bonne Musique]

Interview

First off, thanks for joining my blog, Scaefa. Would you mind talking a bit about your creative process in general, i.e. how do you go about producing your tunes, any special equipment or hardware/software?

I generally start by either getting a few drum samples together or loading up a synth and coming up with a basic pattern. From there I’ll just keep layering up until I think I’ve got something that can be stretched into a full arrangement.

I’ve got loads of samples I’ve collected over the years but I tend to draw for a mix of classic breakbeat packs and drum machine libraries like Samples From Mars. All basic stuff you can find anywhere online.

For synths the Arturia collection is my current go to, as well as a few others like Quanta for granular sounds and Sinnah for feedback based sounds. I’ve got a Dictaphone that I will sometimes record synths or breaks onto to get some tape layers but other than that it’s all in the box. For processing I use a lot of the Black Rooster Audio, Waves & Soundtoys stuff.

I mentioned previously that your sound seems to be very niche and an eclectic blend of inspirations, particularly in this record, I’m interested to know, how long did it take until you thought you had “found your sonic identity” so to speak, what is the background that led to the creation of “Scaefa” as an artist, was there ever a eureka moment or is this still an ongoing ever evolving thing for you?

It’s very much still an on-going thing for me. I think it always will be; I’m always working on adding new things, trying new ideas and following my evolving tastes in music.

When I started Scaefa I didn’t really have a plan or vision for what I wanted it to be, I was just making a bunch of tunes and putting out the ones I liked. I think that’s what I’m still doing to be honest!

My sonic identity really just revolves around trying to throw as many of the things that influence me into one big melting pot of sound.

Can you talk a little about your inspirations for making Natural selection? how did you come about discovering your ideas and what artists specifically did you draw from?

I think with Natural Selection I’d been listening to a lot of bass music, techno, trance and electro at the time I made it and felt I’d not really explored those influences yet in my music. I took a few key musical elements like dubby chords, ambient pads and classic breaks to kind of tie everything together and just made a few songs until I felt I had enough ideas to get a record together.

In terms of artists I think I was really digging Cameo Blush, Kessler, Hugo Massien, Overmono and Breaka just to name a few. I think the way those artists transcend genres is fascinating so I wanted to try and emulate that somewhat.

Do you have a favourite song from the EP, or one that you are particularly proud of?

One that stands out to me is probably Flush. It feels like one of my more creative/different tracks and I think it’s a nice mix of melodic and atmospheric but with some grooves and bass for the clubs.

I haven’t played it out yet but would be interested to see the reaction on the dance floor!

What are the feelings and impact you are trying to convey to your listeners with this EP?

I’m a big fan of euphoria and I love the interaction between spacey/futuristic sounds and classic club vibes. I want to make music people can dance to whilst feeling connected emotionally to what’s going on in the track, whilst maybe giving people something they haven’t quite heard before.

These kinds of ideas were the ones I was going for when making this EP for sure.

Would you mind talking about any future or side projects you have in the pipeline?

I’m working on my next batch of tunes, but not sure where they will land yet! I’ve got a few guest mixes coming out too over the next month or so that I’m really excited about so stay tuned for those.

Who are currently your top 3 artists?

Difficult to narrow it down, but I’ll go with Louf, Ross From Friends and Sempra. Everything they make is gold and I’m totally emotionally invested in the music when I listen.

any last words of wisdom, what is your ethic when it comes to your artist career and what drives you to keep creating bangers?

My core principle is just to make stuff and don’t worry about genre/experimentation; you can worry about whether it’s good enough to release later. Just go with the flow and never be afraid to try new ideas and styles! Put in the hours too, the best way to get better is just to practice and make as much music as you can from start to finish.

My drive to create new stuff simply comes from the huge amount of amazing music that I hear every day. I rarely find myself short of new ideas when there is such a wealth of talented artists making crazy sounds all the time. I constantly want to improve to try and reach that level of quality.

Well, that just about wraps things up for me, that was fascinating thank you so much for your time!

Socials – Scaefa & La Bonne Musique

If you wish to support Scaefa and this EP, check out “Natural Selection” on any streaming platform and follow him and “La Bonne Musique” on any socials: