Avicii has reported his retirement and the timing couldn't have been greater. Another musical wonder has chosen to raise his Ableton game. Following the release of Charlie Lim sophomore effort Time/Space to a basic approval a year ago, he has procured another musical vision and character. We talk with him about his recent collection, Live.Laugh.Love, why instruments are outdated, doing yoga, turning JB in and how Dick Lee has motivated his new bearing.
This was unquestionably remarkable. To what extent have you been chipping away at this collection, and why the sudden declaration to drop it? I noticed it was excellent to do a Beyoncé-sort thing. Not the genuine collection, simply the declaration of it. The collection will turn out on National Day in the not so distant future. I've really been perched on it for quite a while, yet I was simply waiting for Avicii to resign with the goal that it would be much less demanding to take the throne.
What enlivened this new record and the shift to EDM?
It's an extraordinary EDM. It is ethnic EDM. It has Singaporean-Chinese turn. I needed to contact my roots, and fundamentally consolidate the two things that are nearest to my heart to make something local and extraordinary.
I needed to make something that unites the community, kind of like what might as well be called 'Home' like EDM. Talking about which, Dick Lee's The Mad Chinaman had enormous impact fit as to fiddle this sound. I really grew up listening to that collection each Saturday morning for a time of about four years, rather than watching power rangers such as the other failures.
Doing yoga taught me to value the normal magnificence of Asian instruments, as I observe all incorporated sounds to be extremely grating nowadays. For the going down of each track, I exchange kick drum with a lion move drum. Actually, quite far, I make use of Chinese percussion as I could on this record.
I don't need an individual to associate with me one on one basis on what I do again. I simply want to be important. In a more libertine sense." The collection title Live.Laugh.Love proposes the kind of joyful identity we didn't get the opportunity to see with Time/Space. This record was really intended to be a triple EP, as a gesture to last year's discharge.
I generally need to set the bar higher for myself, or else there's truly not a great deal of intending to be a craftsman if you don't expand the amount of your work. I solicited my inward circle and many of them instantly remarked that the tracks sounded much similar to one another, making it impossible to each other, so I chose to gather all the songs and make the collection one ceaseless track. It's around six hours of endless circles of themes and bridges, kind of what you get at a Sunday adoration session at CHC. It's not as sing-a-long-capable, but rather pretty much has the same impact.
It's still entirely hard for us to comprehend this colossal shift in way of making music. You know, I've turned out to be very bored of being painted by the media as this one-dimensional cartoon of broodiness and despairing… what they don't know if I've been travelling over the border four evenings a week DJing at deserted warehouses in JB. I didn't know Johor had underground warehouse gatherings. I said they were deserted. As in, the warehouses are unfilled. It's been a good practice for me, however.
Would you agree that this new vocation feels more normal for you?
I'm simply tired of all these individuals continually asking me for what good reason my songs are so melancholic or thoughtful. You know, the most noticeably bad part about that is the point at which they begin prying into my very own life, and afterward they start letting me know about their own lives. Like I'm some kind of advisor since they're influenced by my music, and some way or another to them it means we're related spirits. That is the more awful part; I'm not getting sufficiently paid for this. It like a genuine obligation, you know?
Furthermore, that is truly why I've chosen EDM as the way out. I don't need individuals to relate to what I do any longer. I simply need to be important. In a more hedonistic sense. I think instruments are exceptionally dated. I look at some groups nowadays and they're clearly emulating sponsorship tracks, and I'm like, "where is the legality in this?"" — Charlie Lim
Which producer do you regard as a role model?
I don't listen to other musician's play I'm excessively occupied in the studio… I walk to the tune of my own excessively compacted 808 snare. I'm in the studio throughout the day, and the main breaks I take are for Snap chatting fire emojis to my supporters on account of how dope my session is going.
Which festival would you want to play at?
Gracious God! I would love to play at Laneway. I believe being on that bill characterizes your whole profession as a craftsman.
Will you keep playing the guitar?
Honestly, I think instruments are exceptionally dated. I take a look at some groups nowadays and they're clearly emulating support tracks, and I'm like, "where is the uniqueness in that?" So I came to the conclusion that it's best not to have anything playable with me by any means. It's far too diverting for the crowd when I truly need them to concentrate on me and my laptop.
Considering all these progressions you're making, would you say you are going to take care of your image also? Would you continue to put on glasses? Is this a rhetorical question? Obviously I need to wear glasses... I wouldn't have the capacity to see where the spacebar is. More updates on the Charlie Lim facebook page.