Interview with Aroly Tariq

"Stay A While" draws inspiration from Roy Orbison's timeless sound. Can you share what inspired you to create a modern take on that style?

For the longest time, every time I hear “All I need to do is Dream” I fall in love a little deeper. There’s something so straight up about his style, like it’s so tidy, but he also has this eariness in his songs and he somehow manages to make major scales sound minor. Songs from this era and style always carry a heaviness to their romance, like a wistfulness and sometimes a creepiness that I love.I don’t think I even scratched the surface of touching that mood, but I wanted to try as a homage. There’s something so sweet about a 60’s love tune.  

The animation in the "Stay A While" video is both vibrant and nostalgic. What was your creative process for conceptualizing and bringing this visual concept to life?

I’m into 3D scans of random things and I also have an affinity for sparkly things (like a bird). I wanted to use a wire frame animation technique on 3D renders of my partner and myself, and just have us hanging out, exploding and morphing through the track. I used Luma3D to capture the 3D map for us and then applied a few different generative systems to the surface area through Touchdesigner. I wanted it to be pretty but in a sci-fi ’70s futuristic way.

You mention that love is "eternal" and ever-changing. How do these ideas resonate through the lyrics and visuals of "Stay A While"?

Everything in life is in a constant state of flux and that’s just the nature of existence. On an experiential and physical level, time is chronological and steadfast in forward motion, but in our memories and external to our perceived constructs of time, everything is very relative and non-linear (à la Einstein’s Theory of Relativity). Certain moments in life can play on repeat forever in our memories, like a favourite song, and be such a large element of who we are. And it’s not determined by time. And as relationships change over time, and sometimes come to an end, it doesn’t diminish its existence. It still happened. I’m confidently uncertain about everything concerning space and time dynamics and the general state of everything (because it’s all very weird), but it makes sense to me that time is cyclical and somewhere on multitudes of timelines, there are versions of each of us experiencing things for the first time and last time and those experiences are forever woven in the fabric of time and space.

 Your work has received acclaim from platforms like Pigeons and Planes and The Fader. How has this recognition influenced your musical journey?

I’ve learned to not let it define me or let it validate me. I used to be so invested in that stuff and it hindered me as an artist and also crippled my self-worth if something wasn’t received how I hoped or when the hype died down from a release I’d feel so weird and desperate for validation. I was dependent on the reassurance (which was never enough) and I would get so down when I didn’t get it. I’ve levelled out my perception of that stuff and erased my expectations. I am still very appreciative of media support, but I’ve learnt to take it with a grain of salt cos it’s the music biz is a fickle game and it’s no good to focus on things I can’t control. I’m now very much focused on remaining true to my intuition and letting that authenticity guide my creative process or else I’ll become an insecure, contrived version of myself and that sounds miserable. 

You’ve collaborated with renowned acts like Funkstörung and Joelistics. How have these experiences shaped your music and creative approach?

I’m stubbornly independent/introverted with my creativity these days, but it’s good for me to get out of my own head and share the process with someone else. Collaborating can be so fun and other ideas people bring to the table nurture new creative growth and strange concepts in me that  I wouldn’t have thought of without them. I want to collaborate with more artists eventually but I’m also picky with who I work with. I need to feel really comfortable to be creative and if the vibes off, I can’t do it. They gotta match my freak.

What message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from "Stay A While" and the Bluetooth Breakdown EP as a whole?

I hope that it provides a breath of positive distraction and reminds people of the good things we have. The experiences I had while making this EP were the most difficult I’ve ever faced, but I wanted to make a sweet record of that time, focusing on the lighter things so I didn’t sink into the heavy. 

From an aerial view, we’re existing within the grossest, sweaty grip of cruel economic structures governed by complete dickheads who are casually committing devastating war crimes to preserve imperial hegemony while the planet is getting cooked. 

Watching the murder and displacement of the Palestinian people driven by the arthritic backbone of colonialism fueled with Islamaphobia and racism is so fucked up. The systemic complicity and investment in this cruelty has broken any trust I had in the world’s moral structure. And explaining to my daughter that people in power don’t always have their heart in the right place was hard. 

It’s a shit show and it’s important not to ignore those realities, but it’s important to acknowledge the antithetical realities as well and the ways that fall in your favour. Give yourself a break and recognise your own strength through personal hardships. Amidst the chaos is a beautiful world and appreciating the simple things we often take for granted is what keeps us from drowning.