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Name: Łukasz Polowczyk aka Noise in the Key of Life aka aint about me
Occupation: Writer, sound / spoken word artist, educator
Nationality: Polish
Recent release: Noise in the Key of Life's eponymous debut album is out October 27th 2022. It is exclusively available via the project's bandcamp store.  



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?


The way I see it is that our mind/body is a very sensitive recording device, and it’s recording everything, constantly. All of this information is being stored in our bodies, whether we are aware of it or not.

When I’m working on something, in the best case scenario, I let the unconscious drive – I let this gumbo of stored information come through. When this happens, it really feels like the work is manifesting itself and I’m just transcribing it – trying to get out of the way, really.

I do my research, of course. I collect photos, words and phrases, I take screenshots of movie scenes that speak to me etc. etc. I transcribe my dreams. All of this is an integral part of maintaining and perfecting the craft, but I still feel like the real work is happening independently of me, and below the threshold of waking consciousness.

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?

I set aside a certain amount of time every day, and just chip away at it.

I start with the first thing that comes to my mind. If there’s a concept, then I start with whatever comes to my mind that pertains to it. I don’t judge what I’m writing; I don’t want it to be anything, yet! I just let it flow.

Everything I do creatively is based on stream of consciousness writing, even if it isn’t writing.

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'?

The only thing that matters to me these days, is, that I have some alone -time, so that I can “black out." It doesn’t even have to be a lot of time, either. I wrote some really good pieces in just 15 to 30 minutes.

The key, though, is that nothing drags me back down to reality, because what I’m trying to do is get lost in the 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 drink a lot of Sencha. I like the ritual of brewing tea, and I like the mild buzz. I suppose that there’s something about it that slows me down, helps me to find my centre.

If you’re really present, and your mind isn’t in its monkey-mode, everything just flows.

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

As I said before, I just go for it! I might start with a word that fascinates me or conjures up some imagery in my mind’s eye. If that’s the case, then the mission is to unpack what this word is about – find the story that it embodies.

The same thing goes for a phrase. There, an odd pairing might do the trick. Words that don’t seem to fit together force my imagination to work harder to fill this gap.

If I’m writing to music, I see pictures. It’s like writing a movie to a soundtrack. One thing that I didn’t mention earlier, is, that, a strong emotion is the best place to write from.



When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?


Words without music are poetry. The problem with writing without a tune in mind is that you might have a hard time adapting the text to the music. It can be done, but it will probably require more work.

Music sets the mood, the tempo, the rhythm etc. As a lyricist, you have to take all of these things into account.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

It’s hard to answer this without knowing the context. Every artist is different, and every song is like a world onto itself. Different genres call for different approaches. But, in general, what makes a lyric good, is, that it feels like an integral part of the song, and that it does what the song needs. Whatever the objective is, the result should ring true.

I was tempted to say that a lyric shouldn’t give away too much, and that it should leave ample space for the listener and their imagination. But a lot of great hip hop songs leave nothing unsaid.
 
Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

I try to put it down as quickly as possible. I stop writing when I feel that I have enough, or I just run out. Mind you, I usually have the instrumental playing in the background, and I’m sort of mumbling the lyrics to myself as I type. The thing I like about typing out the lyrics is that I can make edits easily, and quickly. It also makes collaging easier.

Once I have it, the next step is recording it. I love to record immediately after putting the words down, because I’m still in that space. Sometimes the words only make sense in conjunction with the emotion, and I definitely want the recordings to transport that emotional truth.

When I listen back to a recording, I hear what works and what doesn’t. I will delete anything the piece can do without. As of late, my edits started to get really ruthless! I leave tons out, and lean heavily into “jump cuts.”

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 want to feel like I’m in a Murakami novel – I don’t want to know where the thing is going. I want to be surprised, and I want to discover something about myself or the world that I didn’t know. Or I didn’t know that I knew.

Some of the best things that I’ve written were inscrutable to me at the time of writing.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

All the time! What I didn’t mention yet but I think is very important is that you should always be writing, that it should be a thing that you do on a daily basis. When I’m in that space, and I’m writing all the time, every piece I pen sparks new ideas for other pieces (new solutions, things to try out etc). When you’re in the zone, writing is like tap water!

The thing about high output is that not everything you write is spot on. But that’s okay because you have a wealth of material to cut from.

So, going back to your question, when you write a lot, and you’re in that zone, you’re not precious about your work. I have no problem with trashing stuff, because I know I can write more, and I trust that the good stuff will come. I also don’t have a problem with re-writes, because I know I will eventually get there.

So, if something is a dead end – I kill it! If I swerve into a better idea, or find a new solution, I just go with that, and see where it takes me.

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?

For me, everything is about spirituality. This could be a Pisces thing, because as far back as I can remember I always had this sense of everything being connected – the universe being one. I always thought of the manifest universe as this shapeshifter on a mission to have an infinite amount of experiences. You can’t destroy energy, it just changes form!

In recent years, because of my daily practice, some very specific ideas plucked from Zen Buddhism started to reveal themselves to me. At the moment, my spirituality can be reduced to this: be present and do what needs to be done. This zone that I keep on mentioning, where a living text is coming through you, that, too, is an elevated state of presence.

The voice inside of me – the critic, the strategist etc. – that’s poison for the well.

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?

Some things are finished simply because they max out – there isn’t anywhere you could take them anymore. Sometimes, it’s just a feeling: you feel like you have enough for a particular piece or project.

The producer can also call it. When I was working on Aint About Me, Jan Wagner called me up one day, after he had listened to everything that we've recorded to date, and told me that we got it!

[Read our Jan Wagner interview]

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?

I’m learning to put things aside, because it’s so much easier to edit with fresh eyes. However, because I like the immediacy of writing something and then recording it right after, I don’t always do this.

What I have started doing recently, though, with some pieces, is that I write just a little bit at a time, and then come back to it the following day. Working like this allows me to stay in that emotional space, but my edits are definitely sharper.

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?

This is very important to me!

Generally, I record my vocals on my own, and I always make a rough mix for the producer before I send them off. This mix is a reference for how the vocals should be treated: how dominant they should be in the mix, how wet, how much compression should be applied, and how much can be eq’d out. If you cut the wrong frequencies from the voice, the emotion doesn’t come through.

But, to be fair, if I’m working with someone like Jan Wagner, we’re on the same page – I trust his ears and his barometer for truth.

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 necessarily get this feeling of emptiness from releasing a record, per se, because I tend to work on several things at the same time, so there is always something to get lost in. But, if I go too hard with label work, I can step out of that creative zone.

If that happens, I just need to put myself back on a tight regimen, I need to start writing more.The process eventually takes me there!

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?

The older I get, the act of transporting “soul” with my work takes precedence over everything else. What I mean by “soul,” is, this mixture of intention, emotion, and the energy or texture that is specific to me (in Buddhism you call this the “suchness" of a thing). In this light, the vehicle is kind of arbitrary. The only thing that really matters is that it transports.

When my grandmother was still alive, whenever she cooked something for me, it came through!