Masked producer, Slow Magic, has emerged in the last couple years as one of the brightest talents in the flourishing, evolving genre of experimental electronic music. Remaining anonymous and keeping lyrics minimal, the young artist focuses on the sonics, masterfully proving the expressive power of an instrumental. Slow Magic’s forthcoming album, How to Run Away, which drops September 9th, has all the qualities of a breakout project with a powerful, cohesive narrative that teleports the listener to a free-spirited world through a prism of genuine emotions.
Although he generally prefers to let the music do the talking, we were lucky enough to have an inspirational chat with Slow Magic about his masked character, the emotion behind his music and his live shows (see upcoming tour dates here) among other topics. Enjoy the interview below and check out “Waited 4 U,” one of our favorites from the new album, above. How to Run Away is available on iTunes and Bandcamp now!
TMN: Because of social media it has almost become a necessity for artists to put themselves out there and things can definitely start becoming not about the music, which makes your anonymity pretty interesting. It definitely makes sense to focus things on just the art, but what is your position on that phenomenon more broadly?
SM: I definitely agree with that. I think there’s a lot of people who either feel forced into becoming super personal or they just want to get their face out there kind of. It can kind of turn me off to the music a little bit. Obviously, getting to know someone through their music is also really important and cool, but a lot of time that focus can take away from the art itself.
TMN: Of course there’s the element of anonymity, but the masked character definitely becomes a narrative in its own right. How do you think that fits into the music?
SM: It started without a mask with the first few songs that I made and once I had the opportunity to play shows I had my friend develop a mask. From there, it has really grown into a character, I guess.
The character does kind of take it from anonymous to an identity, but it’s separate from me or really anything. And I like the fact that it’s itself, and it’s also me. I hope that adds to the project in that it is kind of a character and something that people can relate to even though it’s just an imaginary friend.
