Q: Welcome back, Monti Korbelle! It’s fantastic to have you with us again. Since our last conversation, a lot has happened in your musical journey. To kick things off, could you share some highlights or pivotal moments that have shaped your artistic path since our last interview?
A: When I produced my third album, “Our Conclusion Is in Arizona,” I was enjoying the warm weather of south Texas living in San Antonio. Once I completed the album, I relocated to Pittsburgh where I produced the next two albums, “Healing, Nothing More” and this current album “The Absolute State of the Absolute State.” A change of environment, in my experience, has an effect on the creative output. What we create when we write or produce art is influenced by our experiences and surroundings. Pittsburgh is drastically different from south Texas. There’s a considerable compactness in the city of Pittsburgh, the way the buildings are smashed up against each other along winding roads too narrow to reasonably drive on. It’s a feeling of claustrophobia at times, like being caged in. This created a sort of pent up energy that I believe is richly expressed in the album. Feeling confined in real space allowed for me to really unleash through the music.
Q: Can you describe the musical style of Monti Korbelle in three words?
A: Mysterious, dark, unpredictable
Q: How do you stay connected with your fans, and what role do they play in shaping your musical journey?
A: I am always available to anyone who reaches out to me. If someone asks me a question in my Instagram comments, I’m not likely to ignore that person.
Q: You have just released your new album, ‘The Absolute State of the Absolute State’. Is there a story behind it?
A: My albums are like placemarkers for whatever stage I am in life. My first album was my way of saying, “Hi, I’m Monti, and these are my thoughts.” After establishing that introduction, my second album, “Mount Moon,” was my way of energetically unleashing, showing everything of myself from the inside and out. My assumption is this was the path I would continue on, except I experienced an unplanned break-up, which resulted in my devastating break-up album, “Our Conclusion Is in Arizona.” Following the break-up album was what I consider to be my best work, an electronic ambient album that was what I considered the most logical follow-up for a break-up album: an album of healing called “Healing, Nothing More.” At this stage, after getting all of that out of the way, I could finally return to the path I set myself on before the break-up initiated by my second album, “Mount Moon.” In a way, this 2024 album, “The Absolute State of the Absolute State,” could be considered as a “Mount Moon 2” sequel-album, except “The Absolute State of the Absolute State” is levels above what I was producing during the “Mount Moon” era. I’ve grown a lot, and I am able to express myself better and energetically unleash with these more refined capabilities more than ever before.
Q: What is your favorite track from the album and why?
A: This is a tough question for me because the album has a huge range of variety. It’s like trying to compare Seattle to Chicago; there are too many differences to make comparisons. I was fortunate enough to get a lot of feedback from people on this album, and I was surprised which songs people liked versus songs they didn’t. For example, my house-inspired track called “Serenity” was called a favorite by a few people, and I consider this to be just a throwaway song for lack of a better description. I didn’t expect people to like my song “Capture Fire,” because the lyrics are mostly a personal diary for myself, but I actually got a lot of positive feedback on that track too. A lot of people were strongly passionate about my song “Fervent Citizen,” but I wouldn’t call that one my favorite since the vocals consist only of rap, and I made it my goal to rap less in my music. If I am forced to choose a favorite, I would choose “Run So Far.” This track not only showcases my skills as a producer, but lyrically I am interested in how it tells the story of accidentally shifting far from where one once began.
Q: Can you walk us through the creative process of producing the album, “The Absolute State of the Absolute State”?
A: As an album person, my creative process happens in stages. The first stage I like to call the “Cambrian explosion” stage, which consists of an explosion of random, crazy, and weird ideas, none of which could be considered full or finished songs, similar to the Cambrian period of planet Earth 500 million years ago where the diversity of species was remarkably and suddenly high, with the fossil record showing tons of random, crazy, and weird species. When this stage concludes, I gather what came from it and work on each song until completion, never working on a single song for an extended period of time, but rather switching off from song to song sporadically.
Q: Reflecting on your body of work, each song holding its unique significance, could you share a particular track that stands out to you personally? What makes that specific tune special, and why does it hold a place of pride in your musical journey?
A: On this new album, “The Absolute State of the Absolute State,” the song that means the most to me is “Capture Fire.” Aside from the sonic qualities having aspects of a protagonist’s soundtrack theme song, lyrically it moves me the most. The song has three verses. Verse one is giving advice to the listener on how to improve one self, how to have strength. Verse two is about the feeling that comes when hard work pays off, when things begin to feel like they are falling into place. Verse three then is a retrospective look at my personal past, how I came from point A to point B.
Q: Exploring the diverse creative processes within the music industry is always fascinating. Could you provide insight into Monti Korbelle’s unique approach to crafting music? From the initial spark of an idea to the finished song, how do you navigate the creative journey and bring its musical concepts to life?
A: The process for each song is different. Usually each song begins as a blurry or foggy resemblance of what the song will become: a fetal stage, if you will. The ideas for my songs come to me in different ways. The outro song, “Into the Moon,” was first heard in a dream. Immediately upon waking up, I hummed the tune into my voice memos app, but doing so was hardly necessary given how vividly the song was heard in the dream. This isn’t always the case; sometimes I rapidly lose memory of what a song in a dream sounds like, but “Into the Moon” was different. It wasn’t even a real song and I spent the whole day having it stuck in my head. I am grateful for the music production skills I’ve built, because I was fortunate enough to be able to accurately reconstruct the song from dream to the real world.
Q: As we wrap up our conversation, looking ahead, what aspirations or dreams do you have for Monti Korbelle, and what message would you like to share with your fans as they continue to accompany you on this musical journey?
A: To my fans, I promise to stay motivated and to continue providing pleasing works. Prince has 40 albums. I’m jealous of that. Maybe one day there will be 40 Monti Korbelle albums.
LISTEN TO THE ARTIST:
Follow Monti Korbelle:
Spotify – SoundCloud – YouTube – Instagram