We recently connected with Almamy and have shared our conversation below.

Almamy, thanks for taking the time to be with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The project I’m currently working on, which is a trilogy of concept albums exploring themes of identity, coming-of-age and agency. I tentatively started to work on it about a year or two after the sudden death of my father, as it was the only way for me to somehow come to terms with that loss, and explore some unresolved issues. Then it took another year to fully commit to it.

It’s by far the most personal and artistically ambitious project I’ve ever worked on, and the longest one I’ve worked on as well, as I’m telling a story in ten songs across the four sides of a double LP, with each vinyl side functioning as a chapter. Basically a narrative in twelve chapters across three albums. And to complicate things even more, as I’m always up for a good challenge, I wrote and I’m in the process of directing a triptych film composed of three cinematic long-form music videos, to be presented as an immersive installation, to visually convey the albums’ themes. The videos won’t necessarily tell the stories of the songs but offer an alternative way of thinking about what’s being sung. It’s essentially a transmedia project.

Amazing, we appreciate you sharing that with us. We’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a moment to bring our readers up to speed on you, what you do and how you got to where you are today? 

I’m a multidisciplinary artist whose core practice is music. But it didn’t really start that way. From as long as I can remember, I always knew that I was meant to be an artist, but I didn’t necessarily know which form it would take. I was always writing as a kid, poems, short stories, journals, etc., but my artistic journey really started when I was studying acting, in my teens, which then led me to study ballet and modern dance, and to become a professional dancer in New York. After a few years though, I started to feel creatively stifled, as you are just a brush on someone else’s canvas as a dancer. I needed a canvas of my own. Thankfully, as I was hanging out with avant-garde composers, from my dance practice, and DJs, one thing led to another and I started to make my own music. It was a Eureka moment for me, as I had finally found the right medium for my creative voice.

Being a bit of a daredevil and a control-freak though, it soon became clear to me that I needed to be on my own label, to maintain my ability to take risks and ownership of my creative output, and to flex my imagination as I saw fit. So I started my label, ModyWorks, and haven’t looked back since. It’s been a tremendous exercise in self-empowerment. As you know, as artists and creatives, we’re often quite vulnerable and at the mercy of the industry, trends, etc., so by carving out my own path I was able to build a world where I could fully be in charge of my own destiny, and in a position where I could also champion other musically-adventurous artists I loved and admired, as I started to sign them to the label a year after its launch.

Is there a mission driving your artistic journey?

To express myself, by injecting a piece of my soul into my work, whether it’s a record, an installation or a film. To satisfy my creative urges and my never-ending curiosity. And finally, to achieve immortality. Now, when I say to express myself, I don’t necessarily mean to tell my own story in journalistic way, how boring! But to share how life is seen through my eyes. Art is such a powerful medium, and such an empathy machine, you can literally use it as a means to have a conversation about the human condition across time, whether it’s a painting that was made in a cave 30.000 years ago or the latest song that generations yet to be born will one day discover and sing as if it was new. I like that, very much, the idea of the artist as a time traveler.

Brilliant. And what’s the most rewarding aspect about being a creative in your experience?

The fact that I get to constantly grow. I’m always in a state of flux, never quite at the same place mentally and/or spiritually. Which, of course, totally nourishes my creative practice. You know, I really think that if I hadn’t been an artist, I would’ve probably been an inventor or an explorer of some sorts, as I thirst for virgin territory. What I’m saying is that I’d defeat my purpose if I wasn’t pushing past the boundaries of my art form(s) to broaden my canvas. For instance, as far as I’m concerned, the possibilities of traditional instruments in the Western world have been exhausted, so what I love to do is use non-musical stuff to come up with a radically new sonic vernacular to create music with. And I tend to apply this principle to anything I do creatively.

Another thing that’s very rewarding is being around a community of venturesome artists, creatives and visionaries. It is quite inspiring. And I’m lucky to be living in Los Angeles at this point in time when the city is bursting with so much creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://modyworks.com/almamy/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/almamy__/
• ModyWorks: https://modyworks.com/

Image Credits
Lisa Noreaga, Izar Khan and Almamy