The Latvian born musician and artist reflects on piano Grand Prix awards, the geography of his sound and textbook teenage rebellion. In London, Mori Mori (real name: Gleb Pridbailo) created his first fashion editorial and video portrait together with Yannis Konstantinos, Qianling Du, and Finnian Lodey.
You mentioned that you are traveling a lot now, which places are you visiting?
I have quite an intense history of relocating. Over the last three years, I’ve moved from Berlin to London and now to Paris. Living in a constant state of transition, without really settling in one place, showed me that I’m now longing for a place to put down real roots. Let’s see, if Paris can be that place.
How do environments and cultures you absorb find their way into your sound?
I’m very influenced by what surrounds me, and that naturally shapes my work. BB Void was produced and recorded in Berlin, and in a way, I wanted to use music to escape the city. The goal was to create something big, something that anyone could connect with. My upcoming release, Dream X, is quite the opposite. It was recorded in London, and it came out as a more isolated project. London has a way of making you feel alienated and insignificant, and that feeling is reflected throughout the project, it’s quite sad.
When you think about Berlin, what comes to your mind? What feeling do you connect with the city?
Berlin now is a refuge and a home to me, but also a bit of a lazy and hedonistic city. I came to realize that the city encouraged procrastination. It was not a productive place for me to create.
During my research I learned that you have an impressive background in classical music. Would you be open to sharing something about that chapter of your life?
Yes, I was something of a piano prodigy in Latvia when I was five. I grew up in a specialized music school, spending most of my time there practicing. I had some achievements, winning Grand Prix prizes at international competitions and so on. Everyone was convinced I was destined for a major classical career, especially my family.
What happened instead?
Honestly, four to six hours a day of practicing piano doesn’t leave much space for a typical childhood. That’s the kind of sacrifice you make if you’re aiming to succeed in the demanding, cold-hearted world of classical music. I moved away from parents to study piano at college, and finally gained some autonomy and the chance to not be tied to the piano and to step outside for once. I almost immediately fell in with a new group of friends, smoking weed, listening to rap music. Textbook teenage rebellion story haha.
During this teenage rebellion, who did you listen to?
Lots of rap, mostly cloud and old-school. From Goth Money to Souls of Mischief. I can’t really explain how those two genres coexisted on the same playlist, but somehow we managed to draw a line between them. Around that time, I was already producing music myself, so eventually left piano to study music theory, which I thought would give some theoretical substance to my new interest.
Given all your history with the piano, what’s your relationship towards the instrument now?
The piano is the foundation of my strongest work and the instrument through which I develop almost every melodic idea. For a while, I’ve been planning a project devoted entirely to the piano, something way more ascetic in texture and more substantial in terms of harmonic development, than what I’m doing now. Yet beyond composing, I rarely practice these days, maybe due to some inner rejection.
Playing in piano competitions as a child must have required a lot of discipline and attention to counterpoint. Did this focus on structure and form prepare you for, or inspire you to break away from, the unconventional song structures you now explore?
I think structure and form are something you simply can’t avoid. Since much of my music is built from samples taken from multiple separate projects, structure probably defines what a track ends up sounding like even more than the material itself.
In Dream X grainy textures intertwine with gentle sonic harmonies and vocals embedded deep within atmospheric layers. Each replay uncovers new details and emotional shades. Within your compositional practices, how does the vocals come into place?
In my practice, vocals are always tied to rhythm and texture, which is why they can sometimes function more like an instrument than a narrative tool. At the same time, I pay close attention to lyrics, and really wish people could understand what I’m saying. On BB Void, I worked to make the vocal lines as clear as possible, so you could even karaoke them. Dream X takes a similar approach, but the lyrics are more open-ended and imaginative. I like keeping them that way, I think poetic and abstract lyricism fundamentally matches with the nature of music.
What would be the ideal setting or device for listening to Dream X for the first time?
While I was producing the project, I was staying near Primrose Hill in London. I climbed up the hill obsessively almost every day, often walking backwards so I could watch the city slowly reveal itself as I ascended. Just do the same in the evenings, then sit at the top for a while. I suppose that’s the ideal setting.
Together with Yannis Konstantinos, you created your first fashion editorial styled by Qianling Du and complemented by a video portrait from Finnian Lodey. We’re really excited to share both. What was the experience of working on this project like?
We had a lot of fun, the shoot was super spontaneous. The most exciting element was the location that Yannis and Finnian found. It was a studio facility building in Deptford. The surroundings were incredibly ascetic and theatrical, especially white plywood wall area.
Is fashion something you see yourself exploring further in the future?
Yes, definitely. Dressing up was the first way I really expressed myself as a teenager. Clothing for me is an essential way of communicating abstract ideas. I’m working on merchandise now and really enjoy the process.
We’re excited to seeing that! Before we finish, what did you listen to today?
Fanal. It’s Kai Althoff’s music project, quite under the radar, hardly anyone knows about it. It’s a very touching IDM with a very off-tone, clumsy vocal delivery, I really love that.
