ITW : MILENA GLOWACKA [SEMANTICA]

We met Milena Glowacka when she came to Belgium for the Obsidian party, the new Initiate and Norite’s co-production. Comfortably seated in Brice’s studio, the co-founder of initiate, we exchanged words with the young polish artist, who now lives around Reykjavik.

When did you start your music projects? Did you already play music before your current project?

I started to make music when I was 13 years old with a very basic software. Then I started to make DJ sets. When I was 21, I felt that I needed to produce more hence I started to make music with Ableton. I’ve been producing music in a professional way for 7 years now. I started for fun and it’s still for fun.

Did you have support from your family or friends when you started playing and producing electronic music in Poland?

It was quite difficult to have a support from my family because they are more into a traditional way of living. They had their vision of what a job is and mine was not very common. After some time, they understood that it made me happy. Now they are supporting me and are proud of me. As for my friends, they have been supporting me from the very beginning.

Now, you live in Reykjavik, Iceland. How has this city influenced you and your music?

The landscapes are really beautiful and can inspire you but I’m more inspired by my inner world and the people who are close to me. The quiet and calm of Iceland gives me more time to produce and focus on music, but my creativity comes from something different than nature.

Your musical universe goes from ambient to techno, with dark and sometimes cold and experimental influences. There is a hypnotic aspect in your music. What brought you into this musical universe?

It’s hard to say because I prefer to focus more on the lucid songs and light pads. When I was younger, I listened a lot to rap and hip-hop music as well as to trance and techno. Now, I’m inspired by trance music again. I’m listening to different artists and music genres, so I draw my influences from a mix of different artists and music styles.

You’re a DJ, a producer and a live performer. Do you enjoy the three equally or do you have a preference?

I’m not a DJ anymore and as I said I prefer to do live performances now. I’m not sure whether I will go back to DJing since it is a different kind of sharing energy with the crowd. When I’m producing, it’s like switching off my mind and going deep into the sounds. It’s a kind of meditation and I really like this process.

Yesterday night, you did a two hours live performance in ‘Zodiak’ in Brussels, and it was your first time in Belgium! How was it?

It was amazing! I was expecting nice things and they came. The crowd reacted very actively to the sounds and I shared a nice energy with them. The club was nice too regarding the lights and the space. So yes, I had a really nice time yesterday night.

Could you describe us a typical gig day? How do you prepare your live act, which steps do you usually go through?

Usually, I work when I have free time to record some stuff. I play with field recording. I record sounds around me, like nature sounds or sounds from home. I also use sounds from the synthesiser but I’m not using them when I’m playing. So I’m recording a lot of sounds, then I put them on Ableton and then I do my live act!

I saw that you played for the Female:Pressure party in Tresor night club in Berlin. It’s an international network of female, transgender and non-binary artists in the fields of electronic music and digital arts. Are you active in other networks or collectives that promote and gather women from the electronic music scene?

No, it was just one party. I’m not connected with any of these organisations. I’m just a lone wolf.

Still today, the line-ups of electronic events are predominantly male. Solutions exist to fight gender inequalities in music; event producers, labels, programmers and magazines try to impose quotas. What’s your opinion about it?

I think that I’m not about the genders; I’m more about the music. It doesn’t matter if music is played by a male or a female artist. I think that we should care about good music, good quality and not so much about genders.

What are your plans for this summer? Do you have other projects in which you are involved?

I will play at the Sonar festival and I’m also preparing music for a German director’s movie that will be out after summer!