Carlo Whale is a known experimental producer from Cagilari, Italy. His music presents emotive, distinctive and unique sounds. His releases are out on labels such as Einmusika, Steyoyoke, Inner Symphony, Poesie Musik and Manual Music, establishing himself as one of the most exciting breakthrough artists of 2020. He joins us today in a conversation about his newest release, Broken EP and his musical inspirations.

WWD: How are you, what has 2021 been like for you?

Has been a weird year, kind of an on/off one. I’ve been surprisingly productive making music, most of which will see the light in 2022. I might not have had so many releases, compared to other years, but I’m satisfied with the ones I had, few but good! I’m happy that I’ve been able to play a few gigs too, after a long period of forced lack of action.

WWD: How was the pandemic for you and what effect did it have on your music taste and style?

During the first phases of the pandemic I had so much free time I’ve never had before so I took the chance to think back about the quality of the music I was making and I went fully focused on trying to improve that, putting quality over quantity. Sound-wise, I guess these super uncertain and scary times had and will keep on having repercussions on everybody’s mindset, including mine, and possibly that had some kind of reflection in the music I’ve been making in the last couple of years. I don’t really like narrowing down my taste and style to just a few categories, I think I have quite a wide range of styles that I like to experiment with.

WWD: What’s the new artists and music you are listening to currently, any favourites?

These days I can’t get over Bonobo and Enfant Sauvage, I just have them on repeat. I enjoy listening to music that can both relax me and be an inspiration for the music I make. I tend to vary a lot in what I listen to as well, but sometimes it happens that I get hooked on an artist in particular.

WWD: How do you judge success, is it by sales, high profile support, or do you only care about you liking the music?

Numbers should ideally be a reflection of the quality of the music you make, but we all know well how those are not a direct consequence of just making good stuff, as a ridiculous amount of variables play their role when it comes to sales and streams. Sure, being supported by high profile artists can be a positive marker of your music being appreciated but I won’t reduce the terms of success to that only. I feel very rewarded when I play a track of mine in a club and see a good crowd reaction, or when someone texts me saying that my music brought them an emotion of any kind. I believe that’s one of the main reasons why we make music, all the numbers are just a quite meaningless slugfest.

WWD: How important is artwork, format, merch, that sort of thing, or is it just about the music?

I enjoy multi-disciplinary art forms, so I am pleased when I see a good piece of music paired up with an intriguing visual component, could it be video, static images such as artworks or anything else… That’s something I find really interesting about NFT’s (not quite the exclusivity idea behind it) and I’m curious to see how it will develop.
Merchandise is quite a different game, as most of the time it’s just another way to raise some money, but it can definitely have an artistic component too, just as some kind of fashion.

WWD: Let’s speak about your Broken EP – what inspired or influenced it, where and when and who was it written for?

My creative process doesn’t usually come from a well-defined moment of inspiration, most of the time I just sit down in my home studio and let it go unfettered. That happened with “Broken” and the other two tracks, “Inner Self” and “Stream of Consciousness”. They were all written and produced in different times, so I kept some of them sitting there for a while waiting for something to pair them up with. I think the last one I finished was “Inner Self”, a few months after the other two, then listening back to some stuff in my finished tracks folder, I found out that those three could be something together. I’m glad to be part of such an ambitious project as New Tab Music, we are friends and they have a very good taste. Echonomist is a great fit in this as well, his remix is upper class.

WWD: How would you describe your own sound, has the direction changed in recent months?

As we were saying before, I’ve been trying hard to improve the quality of my productions lately so yeah, I’d say my sounds have been evolving quite a bit in the last few months. The final output really depends on a variety of factors, and I like that because the combination is always different.

WWD: Tell us one track that will always stick with you and why.

Oh this one is easy, I’ll go for “Says” by Nils Frahm. I think it defines me somehow, I love how the track evolves in its arrangements and the emotion it brings. Nils is a great artist and I don’t ever miss a chance to see him performing live.

WWD: What future plans and projects have you got coming up for 2022?

I really wish Covid-19 could be just a distant memory in a few months, not only thinking about the entertainment industry, but for everyone to live more comfortably. Musically speaking, I have some stuff lined up that will be disclosed in due time and I’d really wish to play more gigs, as these days I really feel the need to connect with people through music and experience that exchange of positive vibes and energy at its best.

Carlo Whale’s ‘Broken’ EP is out via Beatport HERE