Etyen introduces “Idol,” a captivatingly repetitive composition filled with warm organic elements and a hypnotic, detuned synth line crafted to be looped ad infinitum.
Describe your sound in 3 words
melancholic, dreamy, raw & emotional (sorry that’s 4)
“Idol” sounds deeply personal, reflecting on war and conflict. How have these experiences shaped your identity as an artist and as a person?
I was born a year (almost to the day) before the end of the Lebanese civil war and grew up in the post war era in Beirut. I’ve experienced two all out wars in my lifetime, and a plethora of devastating events over the last decade. These experiences obviously shaped who I am as a person deeply, being born into chaos and a thrown into a constant seach for agency and identity. But it also meant understanding the fragility of life, what it means to lose what you love prematurely, appreciating every privilege, especially coming from place where having rights is a privilege. As an artist, I think this personal history is present in almost everything I do in one way or another, but I never write music about war per say, it is more of an undertone or backdrop inherent to the compositions, but the themes that inspire me to create are very much universal to every human being: love, loss etc. I think the major way my identity has come out in my work is this necessity to create meaningful work since making music has always been my only source of personal expression through all the chaos and the madness. I’ve also been told that my composition and production style very much parallels the essence of Beirut city, as it is inherently chaotic and with most times alot happening, but in a “organized chaos” kind of way, which is exactly what Beirut is like.
What inspired the title “Idol,” and how does it connect to the themes of loss and resilience?
A lot of my recent work revolve around questioning the point of our existence, or finding and creating meaning and beauty in our lives from out of the recurring darkness, so there is this reference to “God”, or the universal power that really represents our complete loss of control and agency. It’s what we do culturally when there’s war or hardship that’s out of our control, we put our faith in “God”, in this idol that is supposed to save us. We explain away inexplicable things as God’s will. But what is god truly, if not simply the reality that each human experiences no matter how harsh or beautiful it is. This is a theme I explore heavily in the album.
“Idol” is the first taste of your upcoming album. Can you give us a glimpse of what to expect from the rest of the project?
While Idol is very much a taster of what to expect from the coming album, it’s actually an album B-side that won’t appear on the LP. The album is the culmination of years of work musically and personally, and probably my best work to date and Idol is a small glimpse into the feelings behind it. I’m really excited to share the LP early next year and you guys will be the first to hear it. That’s all I can really say right now 🙂
If the music of Etyen was a film, which film would that be?
A mashup of “Interstellar”, “Mulholland Drive” and “Requiem for a Dream” which are some of my favorite films of all time, mainly the first two.
Artist and people that have influenced you?
Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Alan Watts, Alan Moore.
In which state of mind do you imagine people might listen to your music?
Everything that has to do with this upcoming album including this song, was inspired from a state of sadness, loneliness, regret, reflecting on life’s meaning, some loss or other, and making the music helped me express this pain, and truly helped me heal in some capacity, as cliché as that might sound. I’d imagine and hope that anyone struggling with their feelings or place in the world would relate and maybe find some solace through the music, as I did.
What is the most common stereotype about Lebanon and its people?
For those who know nothing of Lebanon, probably that we ride camels in the desert. Truth is, Lebanon has no desert and is purely beaches, mountains and valleys.
For those foreigners who are familiar with Lebanon and have it on their “ethnic” travel bucket-list, there is this cliché that in Lebanon we ski and swim on the same day, haha. While it’s not impossible since Lebanon is a tiny country and we are able to drive from the snowy mountains to the beach in less than 1 hour, absolutely no-one is actually ever doing that or even thinking of doing that. I mean, it’s winter time, no-one is casually going swimming in the sea.
Thank you!
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