Personalizing a website is always the hardest part of the job – inevitable, yet oddly fun. As someone who’s a complete introvert among strangers but (almost) an extrovert within my circle of friends, I’ll attempt to offer a glimpse into my inner drives and motivations. Hopefully, this will shed some light on my love for music and the countless influences that eventually led to the birth of Darkwave.
J.R.R. Tolkien, one of my favorite authors, once wrote: “I have exposed my heart to be shot at.” But let’s be honest – being shot down is a privilege reserved for the strong and famous. I have no such illusions. As an independent artist, I can expose my heart freely, knowing that no one’s really aiming at it. And in many ways, that’s a true advantage.
I’ve always been a music enthusiast. If listening to music for 6-8 hours a day doesn’t qualify someone as one, then I don’t know what does. No matter how much I’ve explored other artistic forms – poetry, writing, drawing – music has always been at the center of my life. It’s not just an interest; it’s the core of who I am.
20 years older, but the love for the guitar is still the same.
I got my first acoustic guitar at the age of 8 or 9, a gift from my parents. At first, I learned by playing Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath songs – it was pure fun. But soon, I became addicted to creating sounds of my own rather than just recreating what others had already written. That need to invent rather than imitate took hold of me early on, shaping everything that followed. As the years passed, I upgraded my gear. I still remember the first time I played a truly decent acoustic guitar – either a six-string Hohner or maybe my friend’s Martin. And then, there was my first high-quality electric guitar: a white Gibson SG Special. I’ve played many guitars since, but the sheer joy of those first experiences has never faded. Every experiment, every riff, every melody brought me closer to the inevitable realization of my dream project – Darkwave.
Being an independent artist is a liberating experience. No management, no booking agencies, no record labels – just me, doing my best to create something true to myself, free from external expectations. Yes, working alone can be tough, but most of the time, I simply sit in front of my computer, translating emotions and thoughts into waveforms. There’s a purity in that process, a kind of unfiltered honesty that feels more direct than words ever could.
As a neuroscientist by profession, I’m keenly aware of the flaws in language – how our individual perceptions shape and distort even the simplest words. Music, however, operates on a different level. It’s more complex yet more instinctive, a raw and deeply emotional form of communication. It has its own traps and challenges, but it also has the power to express things that words never can.
And that, in the end, is why I do what I do.
