A conversation with Maty Owl
We are honoured to introduce our newest family member from South America, Maty Owl. Matheus is a multidisciplinary artist who explores both sounds and visuals with creativity and precision. You can find his music on labels like Timeless Moment, Steyoyoke & Get Physical.
Maty unexpectedly sent us two new songs from which we were instantly blown away by... His What If EP is probably one of our most energetic number to date!
It is a pleasure to have the chance to have a little chat with him today!
SAISONS017 What If EP by Maty Owl
Hey Maty, we are really excited to share your music on Saisons and we are looking forward to having this conversation with you. How are you doing?
Hi, Saisons family. I'm good and super excited as well, it couldn’t be better to have an EP coming up with you, guys. Two beautiful stories I’ve produced carefully and it will be awesome to share a little bit about the concept behind them, about my creative process and things about my life.
Can you tell us where you come from and how is the weather at the moment?
I'm from a city called Jaraguá do Sul, which is located in the State of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. The weather now is rainy and around 23 Celsius. But normally it’s super warm here, like 35 to 40 celsius.
Have you always lived in Brazil? How is the music scene in South America?
Yes. I’ve been living in Brazil my whole life.
The music scene in South America is very nice, we have big clubs and underground parties happening all the time. These parties helped me a lot to get introduced to the scene as a DJ.
We still remember the first time I heard What if and REM, we were blown away by the beauty and quality of those tracks! What is your story for this EP? Where did you find your inspiration?
Thank you, guys :)
Most of my concept songs come to me when I'm doing routine things. When I have some of these ideas, I hold it to portray through my music. Not necessarily I start the song right after the concept comes up. Sometimes I hold it for a few months or even years, like my ‘Along The Maze’ song. It is a process that I like to fit the idea to the right mood.
Also, since I was teenager I have a kind of connection with intriguing science/religion questions, like: lucid dreams, after life, the meditation power, the thinking power and how it affects our body. And REM is a part of it. I always had in mind to make a song to portray the science phenomenon ‘Rapid Eye Movement’, and when I first played the piano arps I thought the concept could be faceted around that atmosphere. It’s dreamy, groovy, hypnotic.
The ‘What If’ song came to me when I first heard the lofi vocals we have on it. The message made me “brainstorm” around the concept of the future and a kind of “diving” into it, to face the fears or even to try something new. Immediately I saw a deep atmosphere happening and I just followed the way the music showed me.
Speaking of REM (Rapid Eye Mouvement) - What do you dream of?
The story behind REM is not properly a dream, but rather the scientific concept of REM. This moment is when we reach the most pure dreams, so I tried to bring something dreamy to the song and if you watch the video it’s immersive, there is audio interaction with the visual elements and it may remind us when we are meditating during the alpha state. The waves are similar in my perception.
A curiosity of mine is that I like to imagine the colours of the music, it may sound strange (haha) but I like to keep this kind of synesthesia to go deeper into concepts. By the way, to me, REM is brown to yellowish (haha) and ‘What If’ is green to blue. Don’t forget to check the videos I’ve made for both tracks.
Maty Owl’s videos :
REM (Original Mix)
What If (Original Mix)
What is a normal day routine for Maty?
I like to wake up early, I have 6 dogs adopted from the street and the first thing that happens in my day right after I wake up is that some of my little friends come to say hi. It’s super good to have this energy from them every day. I like to drink my coffee. Not necessarily I go to the studio every day, sometimes I just like to produce when I’m truly inspired, that’s when some good ideas come to me and at the end of the day, I like to ride my bike. It helps me release some energy and it’s a good time to brainstorm concepts for the new songs and visuals.
Who or what are your influences at the moment?
I don't have a particular musical influence, many of my ideas come when I’m playing some harmonies on the piano/guitar or even trying different techniques of synthesis, like granular. Most of the time it's when good loop ideas come. Also, I like to get in nature. It's always a good influence. Renew the energies and we have many sounds and perfect forms there, it’s a great place to get inspired.
Favorite mom food?
This question is super difficult. My mom is a chef (haha).
Every mom has a particular way to put affection into everything she does, but I would say my favorite food is pasta and lasagna. Especially lasagna. It reminds me of my childhood.
You have helped Saisons with your talent in digital art and we are very grateful for that! Tell us a bit more about this passion for visual projects. How do you combine this medium with music?
Yes. It was my pleasure to be a part of that beautiful project, guys.
This passion came to me in 2017, at the end of my bachelor in Law School, when I decided to follow my heart and go ahead in my first passion: Music. It was a difficult decision, once I already was able to be a lawyer and go ahead in my career. Fortunately my family supported me and I decided to get inside a new journey over the visuals world. I spent so much time learning it exclusively to portray my music ideas into visuals, and I'm super happy today, doing what I love with no regret for having made this decision.
Can you show us one of your visual works?
Of course!
My song ‘Along The Maze’ has super cool visuals produced by me and my good friend Lucas Wormsbecher, who is a super talented illustrator. Also I cannot forget to mention my good friends Hiccaro and Gervasio for being part of this project with the camera shots.
Also, my latest release ‘Alchemy’ which is a tribute to science, where I’ve made a CGI music video, also having 2 amazing shots from Marcel Soares.
Along The Maze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2j5yudBOAM
Along The Maze Mini Doc (english subtitled) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KBt628LR5s
Alchemy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELOXZoC-AGA
What projects are you focusing on at the moment? How is the next year looking up for you?
I'm involved with many ideas, but especially focused on my next Saisons EP that will have 2 stories and videos I'm producing. The first video, I’m working with Eduardo Borges, the director, and the story is about an experience I had on my family farm. Half imaginary, half real. I like to bring more details to the stories even if it didn’t happen. It’s like cooking: if you have good ingredients you will achieve a nice result, but if you put in the right spices it will get better :)
The second one is an animated video I'm working with Lucas Wormsbecher. A kind of a different perspective of the main story.
We are super happy with the result we are achieving and we can’t wait to share it with everybody!
Also, I'm developing my visual identity. It's difficult to work on both sides: music/video, since we only have 24 hours per day (haha). But I'm feeling this way to share my concepts, visual + music can reach the next level of synesthesis.
At Saisons, we believe arts and community can play an important role in this climate crisis. What do you think we can do as human beings to improve our relationship with mother earth?
I’ve been meditating on questions about that. It’s difficult to change some daily habits, but the change is gradual and I can see the new generation coming with a closer connection with nature, different thinking about principles and refined perceptions of treating each other. That’s something I have in mind and I'm sure everybody will learn with them. I'm aware of the importance of it and I made some changes in my life. I stopped eating red meat and I’m feeling better. I think I can go ahead and eliminate more unhealthy food and habits from my day. Also in my family, my sister is vegetarian and my mom stopped eating red meat as well. So this ‘change’ was introduced to us and we are spreading it.
In my opinion it is a matter of getting out of the box, being aware of our actions. How climate change, which is a problem directly related to deforestation, can affect our lives and how actions such as stopping eating meat can be beneficial to the planet.
Where will Maty Owl be in 10 years? Where will Matheus be?
As Maty Owl, I want my music to reach as most people as possible. It’s super cool to have people interacting with the stories, concepts and especially the idea to share a message behind a music/video.
As Matheus, this may sound cliche, but I want to be better with myself. The world's change starts with ourselves. These last few years I've been trying to change old habits. I've been understanding the power of thinking and how it can affect our body and environment. I have in mind it’s a gradual change, but it's a small part that can collaborate with a big change in the future.
Anything you’d like to share with our readers to conclude this conversation?
Guys! Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share a little bit about my music and life.
Also I would like to say thank you to the whole team that was involved in my release. My EP was super well treated, beautiful artwork, mastering, promotion etc. I'm so glad to have this EP out by Saisons. Also, I would like to congratulate Saisons for the initiative bringing these important questions about the Earth to the music scene.
You’re amazing, guys!
Listen & download ‘What If EP’ here: saisons.lnk.to/MatyOwl-WhatifEP
Follow Maty Owl
Current projects: https://linktr.ee/MatyOwl
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/matyowl
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1CoaTV8EqidFgYH8CDsfAu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matyowl/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MatyOwl/