For the first Spotlight Thursday, I would like to introduce Ibrahim. I reached out to him through Twitter after checking out a few of his songs on Spotify and SoundCloud. I found out about Ibrahim through another music critic. For this section, I asked Ibrahim a set of six questions and these are the responses I received from him.
Tell me a little about yourself. What is the name of your band and how would you describe the genre of music that you create?
Ibrahim: I'm Ibrahim - that's my artist name and my real name! I make chill soundtrack-inspired hip-hop instrumentals. I fall under the lo-fi or chillhop umbrella but I take a lot of influence from film, game, and anime music. I play piano mostly and dabble in guitar sometimes.
Where are you based out of?
I: I'm from Ontario, Canada - about an hour from Toronto.
Tell me about your latest album/EP. What was the inspiration behind this album? What are your plans for future projects?
I: My latest album is called Recharge, and it's the sequel to an EP I made last year called Recalibrate. Both of these projects follow a story, and the music is supposed to represent what the soundtrack to the story might sound like. Each track covers a section of the plot, so for example the track "Interplanetary Detour" represents the characters going into space and having to stop at a nearby planet. The plot mainly follows exe, a cyborg without memories, and companions such as a small robot and human boy. Future projects will probably continue the story in various ways. It's not super planned out but I do have some neat ideas! Musically it's supposed to be an amalgamation of influences like hip-hop, anime/game/film music, pre-war jazz, classical music, future bass, vocaloid, and ambient music (to varying degrees).
How has music played a role in your life?
I: I've been doing music since I was young so it's always been something I do in some form, whether it's playing piano or writing music. I went to school for music and now I just do this. I've always been interested in the intersection of music in stories, particularly in film music and such so for a long time it was my dream to score films. I've done some film and game scoring on the side, and my own music is fairly story based too!
What is your main driving force when making music?
I: Music is pretty much The-Thing-That-I-Do so although it's cliche, it's hard to imagine me not doing it. I guess one way to put it would be that I've always been the type who likes to create things, and music is my favorite thing so it's only natural that I would create music. When I make music I'm creating the types of songs I personally would want to exist if I were a listener, and I really try to think of the stuff that I can uniquely do so that it's something that hasn't existed before.
What else would you like to let the readers know?
I: If you haven't heard of me, some non-album songs I'd recommend checking out to get a general sense of my style are Wholehearted Wanderers, Bullet Train Fantasy, Quiet Dreams of Crowns and Metamorphosis, Space City, and Land of Petals!
Please check out this most recent album, Recharge! You can click the link here or find him on other platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music. If you are lounging around, or on an enjoying car ride, this would be a fantastic album to listen to. There are also some tracks that I would feel would be perfect on a video game soundtrack. Be sure to check Ibrahim out and find him on social media!
Ibrahim's Social Media Pages
SoundCloud
Great review!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Ibrahim but I love that he's Canadian!
ReplyDeleteChillhop, the thoughts that have made his music intrigued me. Great interview great post thanks.
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