Over the course of any artist’s career, they find themselves exploring new sounds and genres as they grow and progress. For some, it works and for others, they don’t always stick the landing. On his new album Ambroxyde, Felly completely reinvents himself. The LA based artist, known for his self produced, hiphop sound, brought in a full band to create his new project. Referred to as the album he’s always wanted to make, Felly dives in head first to an folky, alt rock sound. Felly’s new sonic direction works perfectly for him. From the moment you hit play, you’ll embark on a remarkable sonic journey nostalgic of the places the songs were recorded in. Mic Drop spoke to Felly about the journey he went on while exploring a brand new sound.
I read that this is an album you said you always wanted to make. Why now? Why at this point in your career?
“I always wanted to do a studio album with a proper band and test myself. I wanted to see if I could get out of the boxes of making music on a laptop, self producing everything, keeping it all in my own possession and I wanted to open it up. There are so many people around me that I love and cherish musically, and I wanted to open my arms to that and involve them. It’s something I probably saw myself doing as I grew a little bit older, but right now felt like a good time. I had just met a producer and the energy was there with the band and everybody.
So, I decided to take these records in with a band and make them how we would listen to music back in the day, kind of performance based and just go in with the songs and hit record and see what comes out of it. I learned so much from the process and it was sick. I don’t know why exactly the time was now, but it happened like that.”
What was it like bringing people into a studio and sort of leaving behind what you’re used to when making a new project?
“Definitely a lot more preparation. I had to get the songs under my belt and know that what I was bringing to the table writing wise was worth bringing in people and spending studio time. When doing all that there’s more of a production around it. You have to fly out your people . There’s a lot more involved than just the kind of the freeness of just recording on a laptop and seeing what happens. We did a lot of that as well, but when you’re going for something along the lines of let’s get the raw energy, it was amazing because you had to let go a lot because you’re not in control. Also, you’re creating with a bunch of people and you have to trust that these people that you chose are serving the music. It was a letting go process.”
You recorded the record in a few different remote locations. Was that kind of always part of the plan or did it just happen that way?
“When I met with Luca, my producer, we talked about making a record from start to finish and how we wanted to go about that. The both of us were tired of the traditional studio experience. It wasn’t exciting for us to be like, okay, well, I’ll start coming to your house, you start coming to my house, and we’ll make this record. That was a familiar process for both of us. It seemed not as interesting as something else. So, I got signed and got a little bit of a recording budget, and decided now would be a good time to spend some money to do something different than what I’m used to doing.
We both talked about Iceland and just how amazing and beautiful that place is. We found a studio out there and decided let’s get out of our comfort zone and let’s shake things up a little bit and see what could come from it. That was our first excursion. From there, there’s nothing better than traveling and making music. So we decided to continue this energy and go to places that seem exciting to us, where the people and the culture affect us differently. It’s not going to sound like we’re in LA.”
Are there any songs on the record in particular where you hear it and it sounds exactly like the location where you recorded it in?
“Wildfire,” “Song for the Crows,” “Black Shoes” all were conceived in Iceland. I talk about colors and music a lot, and I think the colors of those songs are adjacent to the Icelandic mood. The sunsets you see, the purple skies, the icy blue terrain, influenced some of the chords. Maybe they’re a little obscure and dark, but it feels almost like the moon almost, and that’s how Iceland feels.”
Ambroxyde, how did you land on that title?
“That was another one in Iceland. Ambroxide comes from a candle, but it’s more so about it being a particle in a scent. We were in Iceland. We went to this perfumery started by one of the guys from Cedar Ross. A woman there read us a poem. We closed her eyes, and she read us this poem, and she sprayed one of the scents that they had been working on. It was inspired by her grandfather going to the docks in Iceland. It had leather jacket, a tobacco pipe, rusty screws, the sea salt from the boatyard, and all these things. Hearing this poem and smelling these things, I was so moved by how I was affected by the scent.
It could bring a tear to your eyes, and it takes you back into memories or nostalgia, moods and feelings sort of how music in different spaces can. I was moved by the smell in general. You only have five senses, and smell is slept on. It does a lot to your soul. So, I went with Ambroxyde. It’s a cool name, and it’s also a candle we were burning. We always had good aromas around and it made us feel good.”
You wanted to make a record influenced by the music you grew up listening to as a kid. Were there artists or projects you circled back to that might have slipped in the back of your mind when making the album?
“I grew up with an older brother and older sister. I would always plug in my ipod to their itunes and hear a variety of music from Bob Dylan to Vice, a lot of 2000s. Anywhere in the 2000s era of music, there was a lot of stuff with women that was really inspiring me like Bjork, Stuff that was more moody and Radiohead as well. A lot of these sonic palettes don’t align with what I’ve done previously, but it was just something that was kind of coming into my life and that I was really attracted to. So I asked myself “can I make music that kind of breaks me out of the box of hip hop?” It’s a little bit more in tune with the stuff that I’ve been listening to lately.”
On tour, are you balancing the new record with older songs or are you focusing more on the new record?
“Some of these people have been with me for ten years. I think just to honor them, we have to play a lot of the older joints, but I’m definitely fighting for playing a lot of the newer songs. I’m letting people know that time goes forward and things do change and move on so let’s make sure it’s not just a college reunion show. I think people are really open and you can access them once you honored both sides and realize that’s where we started and this is where we’re at now. It’s like you’re not jumping into a conversation without honoring where in the conversation you are.”
How has preparing for tour with a full band been compared to your previous tours in the past?
“I’ve done a couple with a full band at this point. Right now, it’s probably the most full band oriented that we’ve been. It’s awesome. There’s a lot more people to take care of, a lot more things that could go wrong that can impact the show. It’s sort of like how the album was made. I think of music as a community collaborative type of thing. I think if I did these shows alone, I don’t know if it would be true to what I believe in because I think our show is just so much better when I’m including these. folks around me that I love and care about. It also keeps you company and makes things better all around.”
Do you have any favorites from the new album that you’ve been playing live?
“Song for the Crows” is one of my favorites. “Spinning Around” is amazing live. I think it sounds better than the actual recordings because we do it differently every night. That was a song that we were playing before we had recorded it on tour, and that’s where we came up with the arrangement for it. It’s so fleshed out live. I do want to put out a live version of it at some point because it sounds really good live.”
With this new sonic direction, do you think you’re going to, for your next album, pursue the same kind of sound?
“I view each album as an era and like roads that you go down. Each road that you go down, you pick up something from them. I don’t think I’ve done any album the exact same way as I’ve done the previous one. I’ll take a lot of the things I learned from this album as far as maybe bringing in a band on certain things. I also miss and love a lot of the albums where I was more hands-on with the self production, so I’ll probably do a blend of that next.”
Will you branch out again? Is there a sound that you’re itching to try?
“Definitely. I just touched the surface with an alt sound like including guitars. I don’t want to lose the backbone of the stuff that I love, which is sort of hip hop based, drum machines and analog drums. It’s important to blend both and if I could do that in a way that is like Ambroxide, I don’t want to say acoustic, but raw instrumentation. I’d like to bring back a lot of the modern technologies. Instead of being fully organic I want to create a new sound of organic that is future and past.”
Do you find yourself, since you traveled a lot to write and record the album, when you’re touring, do you find yourself inspired to write?
“Sometimes ideas come to me and float around like at night. The reality of touring is that you’re busy most of the time and your days are pretty jam packed. We have a studio on the bus, but it’s been hard to really give it your all energy because you’re exhausted from shows and meeting so many people and stuff like that. I think it’s also good to take a step away from it for a second and see where you stand with everything.”
Your LA show is coming up soon at the Echo. Are you excited for that one?
“Definitely. I’ll be able to see all my people. There’s gonna be a lot of love in that room, a lot of friendly faces. I also love the Echo. I don’t think I’ve ever played there before, but I’ve played almost every medium sized venue in, in LA, but not the Echo.”
Mic Drop would like to thank Felly for taking the time to talk to us about his new album. Felly has a handful of tour dates left on his North American run. Make sure to grab your tickets before it’s too late!
