culture box

Meet GÆO! The ever interesting Danish scene for electronic music is thriving because of passion and dedication from all its various actors: DJs, promoters, crews, bookers, audience etc. With this Spotlight series we tell you who to watch.

Home town: Kecskemét, Hungary

You’re originally from Hungary, how’s the electronic music scene there?

Hungary is different in the way that they have a much bigger culture for the melodic and organic sound in electronic music, which is also what I represent. They are booking a lot of artists by Anjunadeep, All Day I Dream, Lost&Found but also from Christian Löffler’s KI Records, which I would like to see more of in Denmark.

How do you see the Copenhagen underground scene and its community? And how do you see your own role in it?

What I love about the Copenhagen scene is that there’s always something interesting happening. I think that’s also the result of a very close-knit community with collectives that support each other and work together. What I also really appreciate is the attitude code that more and more clubs incorporate. I think safe space policies are a very important part of nightlife, since we all deserve and should be able to let go and enjoy ourselves without worrying about our safety or someone disrespecting us, regardless of our gender, clothing or personal expression. As for myself, I’d like to bring some more of the emotionally charged – melodic electronic music to the dancefloors. I’ve been working with CPH DEEP and I’m hoping to find more artists/DJs out there – representing a similar style – to collaborate with.

Do you remember how and why you fell in love with electronic music?

It was probably around 2015 when I first heard of the Icelandic-Faroese duo, Kiasmos. For some time before that I was composing and listening to a lot of ambient and modern classical music, so when I heard the same style but with danceable, driving beats it kind of gave a whole new dimension to the experience. From then on it was a gradual process of exploring different genres, club-life and I slowly started experimenting with making electronic music and lastly DJ-ing myself.

You’re a student at The Royal Danish Academy of Music – tell us about that, what do you learn, and how does it contribute to your work in electronic music?

I’m currently studying on the sound engineering/music production program. We work a lot with classical music production, but we are welcome to work in the studios with any genre we like. We give each other feedback, share tips and tricks about mixing, recording etc. which is always very helpful. It is also a great space for collaboration – most of my music I recorded with musicians from the academy. We also have a lot of music theory, arrangement and rhythmical practice which I believe contributes a lot to my musical awareness in the composition process.

Describe your style of music when you DJ:

Depending on the setting I can go from mellow organic house through groovy electronica to cathartic melodic techno. To me the most important thing about music is emotion. I will always pick tracks that I can connect to on an emotional level, be it melancholic or dreamy, sorrowful or euphoric. I tend to mix genres within my sets and aim to take the audience on a journey where we can let go and experience all these emotions together.

In your opinion what are the essential qualities that make a good musician/DJ?

As with everything else, to become a good musician or DJ, you need passion and discipline. But other than that, in my opinion exceptional music and art will usually emerge from an artist who is just a little overly sensitive towards the world, and can find the way and willingness to express this inner conflict. To be a good musician or a DJ, I think you need some sort of a purpose or a message, a story to tell.

Inspiration or influences as a musician/DJ?

From a composition point of view, I’ve been inspired by the piano and string arrangements of Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm and the ambient duo “A Winged Victory For The Sullen”. In electronic music I really admire the productions of Jon Hopkins, Rival Consoles and Aparde, and recently I’ve been captivated by the sound and DJ-ing technique of Alex Banks.

You recently had your debut at Culture Box together with CPH DEEP – how did you experience the night?

Well first of all I’m really grateful to CPH DEEP for giving me this opportunity, I feel really lucky that I got to play in Black Box, not to mention – during peak hours. It was a bit unreal to be honest, but it felt so right! I was a bit nervous before the set, but the audience was so amazing and appreciative that I could instantly let go and just enjoy the moment. The staff was also super helpful and all in all I had an amazing night, can’t wait to be back one day!

You’re releasing new music tomorrow (3rd December) – tell us about that?

My new track ‘Unravel’ is coming out on Embliss Records tomorrow. It was originally composed for binaural listening and named it ‘Spatial’ mix/version – meaning that the music feels like you are standing in an imagined space and the sounds are coming from all around you. The release includes a remix by Hungarian producer Maklary, a conventional stereo mix and a radio edit. You can already listen to the stereo version on SoundCloud.

Any other coming projects we can expect from you?

I recently teamed up with NOHR Piano Quartet, from the music academy. We recorded two live session videos of my music, with them playing the piano and strings and me playing the electronics and guitar. We are also preparing to play some live shows together from next year in Denmark and possibly abroad. At the same time I’m working on my debut album, preparing solo live sets and experimenting with hybrid DJ sets. So there’s definitely a lot happening right now that I’m excited to share with the world soon. 😊