Name: Lucas Santtana
Occupation: Singer, composer, producer
Nationality: Brazilian
Current release: Lucas Santtana's O Paraíso is out via No Format.

If you enjoyed this interview with Lucas Santtana and would like to keep up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, and Facebook.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

It’s pretty random, it can come from anything, anywhere, anytime. There is no pattern.

It has come from movies, books, conversations, personal relationships, dreams, newspaper news, politics, etc … from the simple observation and reflection to what is around me.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Usually for my albums there is always a theme that drives me to start the process. Something that at that moment is urgent for me. After this follows a slow process of work where there is not much planning, I just dive into it and open all my perception for that particular subject.

And it’s imprecise how things begin to appear spontaneously. It’s like when you’re pregnant and suddenly various things from this world begin to appear on the street for you. things that were probably there but you hadn’t opened up your magnetic field for that.

Nowadays I think I create albums as an excuse to study something.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Yes, I like slow processes, where I mainly have time to make mistakes, to have many doubts. And let them resolve over time.

I like to work a lot on something and then forget about it for a while. When I return, at the first impression it becomes clear what was working and what was not. It’s like thinking of a food that arrives ready and perfect to your plate in a restaurant. Before that someone planted a seed, cared for, harvested, treated, then mixed with other elements, tried spices, tasted.

Anyway, it is a long process until it is ready. And what I love most is this in the whole process.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I have no fixed methods, things that can be part of the process of one creation will not necessarily be present in another.

For example during the recording of the album O céu é velho há muito tempo,  I used rapé, a medicine of the Brazilian native peoples, in all sessions.



Not for the new album. If at that moment, whatever it is, was successful in channeling the energy, the focus, creativity is fine.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I don’t really remember hahaha maybe a glass of water?

The process of creation is also a process of possession, of trance. You don’t process each step like a machine, you go into a trance and do. Then you take foot from reality again and then, yes, you can think about what you did and again go into a trance.

Creation is not data processing. We have artificial intelligence for that. Creation is human, erratic, uncertain, doubt, fickle.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?
 
In stages, in layers, hand by hand with time and patience, waiting for the next daydream, where you will be fortunate to have good winds blow on you.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I like to always be open to what happens. Let the music speak for itself. She always says if something is too much, if it misses something else, if she wants to wear a pink hat or to shave her hair.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

No doubt. Why do all the different religions around the world use music in their rituals? A concert for me is a moment where everyone who choses to be there for the next hour and a half is part of a ceremony. It’s a portal that opens and needs everyone to be connected.

For me it’s very sad when there are people talking during a show. If they wanted to talk because they went there, they could have gone to a bar, or out on the street.

Music for me is a mission, I really feel like a messenger, like an actor who uses his own body as a passage for someone else’s message to be passed on.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

It’s very hard to know. I think that you actually decide to let it go by itself. Because there is no end. Everything in music is infinite.

You can spend your whole life doing and redoing the same album, every hour taking it and letting it lead you to a universe of different possibilities.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

As I said before, I usually work a lot and then stay a long time apart. When you come back and listen the first time after a while, the music tells you everything clearly. And then you can go back and work again.

After many of these stages, there comes a time when you listen and have the feeling that it has arrived in a place of peace. Of harmony with itself. That doesn’t mean you’ve come to perfection. It means that story has come to a conclusion.

Many years later you will listen and feel that it could be different, but this is a false illusion. In fact your mind and spirit are already in a new phase of life, so if it were done today, it would be different. But you didn’t do it today, you did it back then.

So when you put a child in the world, it is important to practice detachment. Know that one day he will have a life of his own away, far from you.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

For me everything is composition. It starts with the instrument and the voice but only ends with mastering. Each part of this process will be fundamental to print and propagate the message.

I do not mix and master my albums but I am present every day alongside those who do. Every detail can make a big difference in sound, so these are moments of great concentration and important decisions.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I don’t feel empty. Actually after working 1 year on an album, when it ends I don’t want to hear that for a long time hahaha. So I look forward to the shows to be able to return that repertoire in another way, on stage with friends and with the audience.

Creativity is always present, like life. Life is a constant flow of everything, it goes through everything at all times. When you will have the insight that another process has begun, even you do not know. But when it happens you will surely know.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Indigenous people believe that there is energy in everything. Not only in living beings, but also in a chair, on a table. Everything brings the energy of who made it, where he went, its history, etc.

When you take the rapé, it becomes very clear, you feel the presence of everything, whether person, plant or a table. In this sense, for me, someone who makes a beautiful table, or a good chair, or a good bread, is as much an artist as someone who makes a song or a movie.