Serebii’s beguiling new record, Inside, creates a lush and varied sonic landscape that welcomes us into his world through an engaging mix of styles and sounds. Folk elements blend seamlessly into liminal electronics, the New Zealand composer and producer arranging each vivid detail into a delightful aural narrative. This music has a pristine surface, but is saturated with waves of emotion beneath that gives it an inviting, luminous glow.
Inside is out now and available HERE.
Inside
My title track “Inside” is based on an arpeggiator pattern that sets up the song. I wanted to be wonky and fruity from the very start, the layering and production begins to get more rhythmic and familiar when sounds are taken away and reintroduced. The dialogue vocals are from a meditation series that I mix and produce for a friend in which I pulled a few of her spoken lines, reversed and baked them into the drops of the track. I really wanted strings In this track but had no money to pull a string quartet together so my dear friend Arjuna Oakes took the liberty of writing and recording them himself. There is a strong blend of electronic and acoustic elements to the song, the drums are all live recorded on a kit, and there are subtle acoustic guitars and voices throughout but the rest of the instrumentation was all dialed in on my midi keyboard while I was on the fly in Europe.
Soft Control
The one-chord trick! I was loving programmed dance grooves that would sit at around 100 bpm at the time. This was the first time I recorded my clarinet too. I ran my hand over a fiber skin drum and dramatically side-chained it to the kick drum to achieve that sifting sand feeling, I am pretty chuffed with how it turned out.
Komorebi
“Komorebi” is another dance-driven instrumental that was formed throughout various live settings with my band at the time, I had a skeleton for the idea and brought it to some fantastic live performers in the hope of bringing it to life. The synths were all recorded on my flatmate’s Technics synth! I was heavily inspired by Sam Shepard’s (Floating Points) work at the time while I was in London.
Magenta
I wanted this song to breathe like two samurai warriors in battle. This song was written and produced quickly over the course of one evening at my home studio in Aotearoa (New Zealand) The name “Magenta” came about because when I’d closed my eyes the phosphenes were halfway between red and blue. The long ambient textures and LFOs were all played on my MicroKorg synth which only has 2 working keys.
±
This song needed to feel like a warm cocoon that would shelter you from the damage love can cause. “±” is also the cymbal for uncertainty. In terms of production and instrumentation, this song was constructed in a similar manner to the first two dance tracks with the main differences being in energy, tempo, and sentiment.
Lost Your Breath
I had been listening to a lot of folk and acoustic music at the time, I’d also just seen Aldous Harding perform live at the Auckland Town Hall In Aotearoa (New Zealand) I was blown away by the impact the simplicity had on the crowd. I realised how much I missed writing songs in a more traditional sense. This song is a gift to my youngest brother in the hope that It would help him confront a family member who died in his presence, I wrote the song from his experience. I wanted it to feel gentle and warm while having a blunt narrative. It is the centerpiece of the album!
Really You
This was the first time I’d properly explored my voice in a recording. I was singing lead lines, stacking harmonies, and playing with counterpoint. I used pedal notes and single-note drones on clarinet and synths to make the chord progression feel as unified as possible. The bass feels a little bouncy in the chorus and the drums are a slow creeping four on the floor. If the guitar skank was on the up beat rather than the down we’d probably be listening to a reggae or dub track haha!
Enoki
I wanted to make something flirty and vague, easy for listeners to digest. I found that my sexual energy and desires would mutate the way I’d receive information in some social settings. This led me to making something that could cater to these occasions in a way that best suited how I imagined them playing out. We all have dirty thoughts.
Mulu
This track began as a guitar idea I wrote while I was spending a lot of time in solitude through 2020. It was never fully structured therefore I consider it incomplete. It was recorded live in my friend Milo’s mum’s outhouse in Breaker Bay, Wellington. The space was essentially the size of a shoe box. I later dubbed Tobias Leman’s saxophone playing and my partner Kaja’s singing in the B section.
Mr. Watty
The final track of the album starts with a phone call I recorded of my grandpa Allan Watkins. A true character, this man got me into music at a young age. On my last three releases, we put voice notes from family members in the last track of the project, I suppose it’s become tradition now. This song is dedicated to him. It was also the last track I recorded earlier this year.
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