We’re back today with another amazing artist for our Sit in On Friday this week. MIKEY. is a multidisciplinary artist and performer from rural Australia, currently based in Berlin. Their voice is filled with power and meticulous precision, exploring the infinite interpretations of love, sexuality, and energies in their songs. Their emotional balladic trance-pop communicates to the listener beyond the constructs of identity through self-empowerment.
Their EP “Tranceformer” came out last year. The lyric “I’m a tranceformer, more than meets the eye”, accurately depicts not only their identity but also their multi-faceted music, that ranges from emotional to energetic and deeply liberating.
1. First of all, of course, we want to know from you what True Identity means to you?
True Identity to me is transcending the illusion that there is a need to identify.
2. What is your first memory or experience of music?
I try not to get caught in memory, I’m more interested in creating new memories and experiences and moments for people. I say to myself, Focus more on the moment you’re in than memories of what’s already been. Then every new moment can be like a first experience.
3. Why did you start making music?
I feel like i never started making music, rather music has always & forever been making me.
4. What inspires you most about the city you’re living in? And what did the city add to
your individual sound?
The mystery of the unknown maybe. Living in Berlin I think has given me time to refine & reshape the wholeness of my being. Refining what was already there and making me aware of what else is there to play with. Here I feel that my creative options are infinite.
5. How do you think your journey has shaped you so far?
I think the answer is in my songs.
6. When do you feel most creative and most inspired to make music?
Everything is music. Life is music. To make songs though is to learn the discipline to nurture & birth ideas into this world. Part of that discipline is giving everything, giving your life, so that there is no when and where that distinguishes making the music from not making the music.
7. We have all been isolated since the middle of March. How has the quarantine
treated you ?
For me, being an artist is putting yourself in isolation 80% of the time anyway. Making normal life sacrifices to just stay in and write a song or focus on an idea. Being of service to the energy running through you and what it’s trying to say becomes the most important thing as an artist, no matter what struggle you’re facing. To keep the channel open is the most important thing.
The time also helped me really retrain my voice and performance technique.
8. And how does the current situation in the world influence your creative process? What are your
musical or creative goals for the next few years?
I’m bringing it back home to myself & my friends & Berlin.
For so long I strived to have a career everywhere else outside of what is close. And to “make it” & be further ahead than I am. I wasn’t enjoying making music anymore because I was chasing an illusion and something outside of myself rather than focusing on what I have & the people around me.
I’ve been working with The Ballery in Schöneberg since the lockdown started & we are now creating small intimate & powerful unplugged shows of 30 people only every week for people to exit themselves into my music but also to remember who they are. Every show so far has sold out. I think the intimate space allows each person to really have a strong personal connection & individual journey with me as I work to hold the space and energy of the room. It can be a very healing and therapeutic experience if you allow it to be.
As far as my future goals I’m learning to take care of the moment and to know that the future takes care of itself.
9. Was there a musical experience, a concert or a performance that touched your soul?
I believe you can tell how far a soul has travelled through the sound of one’s voice. So every week through my shows at The Ballery I get to touch & intertwine with other people’s souls through sharing my voice. Being able to share that experience touches my soul.
10. If you could speak to yourself in the past, what would you say to you?
My past self already knows that my future self is already speaking to them and shaping them in their present. Just as my future self is shaping and speaking to me in this present moment.
