OXIME is establishing herself as a recognised name in the music industry. She is well known for her excellent productions, her developing creative skills, and her general love of music, all of which are reflected in her songs.
She returns with her latest album 'Force Fields'. The ethereal meets the energy and the eclectic in Force Fields, which explores themes of love, longing, fear, and the drive to transcend. Each track is a chapter in a story of growth and overcoming, tied together by a tight, driving, liquid drum and bass sound that doesn’t lose its expansive, atmospheric essence. We sat down with OXIME to discuss her music and much more. Here's what she had to say:
Hey OXIME, welcome to FLEX! How are you?
Doing really well thanks and delighted to be on FLEX; such a wealth of inspiration here. Congratulations on your new album ‘Force Fields’ - what inspired this particular project? ‘Force Fields’, reflects the unseen energies that drive us —longing, love, fear, and the drive to transcend. Each track is a chapter in a story of growth and overcoming and I wanted to see if I could capture these emotions through soundscapes and instruments that evoke the emotion, yet combined with the driving beats, are always moving you forward, not dwelling in the past or the emotions that propel you, but using them as fuel for the journey ahead. This album consolidates themes I’ve explored over the years, with a deeper, resonant bass bringing a new dimension to the narrative. I love atmospheric drum and bass and vast cinematic soundscapes, but they can also make you feel like you are somehow unmoored and lost in space, so adding the solid basses and beats was a way to stay grounded. I realise it is kind of mashing up two subgenres of D&B that seldom meet, the more clubby sounds that are sparse and sometimes aggressive with the more ambient end, but I couldn’t resist trying to combine the two as I like both. And do you have to be in a certain mood to write? Writing and producing is a multi-step process for me. I used to be the master of unfinished tracks, and I realised that I need to make a distinction between being in ‘Open mode’, which is about experimenting, playing around with my synths, and being inspired by sometimes happy accidents and surprising combinations of sounds that spark new ideas. When I then move into finalising a track, mastering it, and so forth, it is a much more analytical and evaluative process where I try to simplify what is going on, make sure there is a good flow and structure to the track, that it has a good tension and so forth. That requires judgment, and typically a different mindset to be critical about your own work, and trying to make it sound as good as possible. Sometimes also just being brutal and killing your babies so to speak, things you thought were going somewhere and they are not. So I find that weekends are great for the Open Mode exploration; there is more time, and I can have fun and play. This is when I fish for good ideas. And then, during the week, after work, I’m working on specific bits, like making the bass punchier or getting the drums right. That more specific work is easier to do in shorter spurts. How was the recording and writing process? It took me nearly a year, almost like distilling a rare whiskey, if you could say that. Initial ideas were rewritten a few times to get the tension and balance right, and other tracks were more intuitive and fast. I also wanted to capture a story arc throughout the album so if you listen to it from beginning to end, the individual tracks build up, provide a transition and help you experience a full musical journey. I got quite far at one point and then struggled to find the tracks that could provide the pivots and keep the whole album working as an entity. Once I had those, the album came together fully. It felt like a release of sorts, like an autobiography almost. Certainly my most ambitious album so far so really proud I stuck with the vision and didn’t give up when things were tricky. For viewers who don’t know OXIME, how would you describe your sound? Imagine a sound that fuses the raw energy of drum and bass with soulful echoes of melodic riffs and ethereal vocals — a unique electro-acoustic vibe that's both edgy and deeply resonant.” And what are some of those activities that you engage yourself in when you aren't writing or recording in the studio? Being out in nature is a big thing for me, Forest Bathing as the Japanese call it, and as a Finn I think it’s in my blood. And I love cycling, so often out on my road bike with some good drum and bass on the headphones and just enjoying the sensation of flying down the road.