Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to informal. (Sam Richie). We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

informal., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Like any skill, I think you have to have a real passion for something to be able to spend countless hours learning something. The more you enjoy it, the less its going to feel like “work” to really discover the ins and outs of a particular subject. The most valuable thing for me has been the willingness to just try anything, even if you’re doubtful of how its going to work out. You can’t be afraid to fail, and try not to go into everything with an expectation of the end product, just create. I think I could have been more aware of this when I first started making music. I was always going into a project or a session with limitations of how I wanted to song to turn out, or a specific genre. Nowadays, I simply start a project and move in whatever direction inspires me, and I’ve learned so much that way. Even if its something I think i’ll never show the world, just experimenting with new sounds, and creating with no rules has helped me tremendously.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Sam, I write, produce, release, and perform music as “informal.”. My work definitely fits in the “electronic music” world, but where specifically nobody (including me) really knows lol. I think thats one of the things that makes this project so special, the listeners, and honestly me, never really know what theyre gonna get. I think that keeps things exciting and keeps me feeling free to create whatever inspires me at the time. Some days i’m making an indie-electronic love song, and some days I make gritty bass house. My music project is all about spreading joy through upbeat, bouncy music and my colorful, lighthearted, “dont take life too seriously” branding. I think everybody can relate to the idea of being “informal.” and I’m just here to give them some music to put a smile on their face and dance to, and remind them that “its not that serious”. Everything about this project is rooted in ignoring the rules, just doing what feels right, and having a good time doing it. I feel very lucky to be able to share my creations, and hope that people are enjoying the music, and everything around it, just as much as I am creating it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think that the overall sense of perfectionism and the struggle for creatives to feel like their work is “finished” is something that the general consumer of music, art. film, etc is unaware of. As a listener / fan / consumer you see the finished product of something and in some ways it seems like it was effortlessly created or that this version was always what the artist had in mind. When in reality, there were most likely several versions that were scrapped, or edited, or the project may have almost never been released due to perfectionism, fear of failure, creative differences between the artist and the collaborator / label / management. There almost always more than meets the eye in terms of the process that got the idea to its final version. I think this is something every creative person who shares their craft struggles with, to varying degrees. Lately I’ve been trying to let go of this need for perfection and just put out what excites me, even if I feel like it could be better, or I feel like the audience might not fully enjoy it, or see the vision that I had. Its a very freeing feeling to just create something for yourself, put expectations to the side, and share it with the world solely on the basis that you enjoyed making it, and it represents you as an artists.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

“Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon is a book I think everybody should read, and I think it can be applied to every industry. It basically explains the idea of using previous people’s work and material as inspiration, and stop thinking of it as theft or unoriginality. Every person is the sum of their inspirations and this should not be frowned upon. Even Beethoven took inspiration and ideas from others, and put them into his own work. Plus the book is a really easy read and has some fun illustrations, so that always helps.

Contact Info:

• Website: solo.to/informal
• Instagram: @informal.mp3
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@informal.
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rhckctF71vE4BtpFzz7Ie?si=3m7WtVcqRgqvnQT5h72_sw Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/informal/1310850802 Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/musicofinformal/