‘Hey ft. Soft Crystals’ by Ramnäs
Like an echo from the past, the single ‘Hey’ still rings in our ears, even though it came out in November last year. The gentle sound belies the hard truth that Matthew Morris (alias Soft Crystals) reveals in his lyrics: he sings of depression, loneliness, and the suffering that mental illnesses inflict on friends and families. He also laments the lack of support and care for people with mental problems. ‘Hey’ was the second sample of Ramnäs’s EP, which is due to come out this year.
And this Friday, 19 January 2024, we can look forward to the next musical gem from Marcello Romero aka Ramnäs, called ‘Time ft. Soft Crystals’, which is once again a collaboration with Matthew Morris. The standard is high, and we count the days until Friday, because we still have some ‘Time’!
What is the story of the person behind the artist named Ramnäs and how did music become your passion?
Ramnäs is actually the name of a music project led by myself. It’s the name of a small place in southern Sweden, where I use my father’s little house to make music. I started bringing more and more equipment over the years so that I have a little studio there in the middle of nowhere. From there I work with different artists and singers. It’s a project that is always open for visits and collaborations.
I actually started my musical career on drums when I was 11. My big brother left me his drumkit in the basement, so I started from there. I became more and more addicted, started playing in school band(s), got a good drum teacher and over this connection I came to my first professional band, that became quite successful in GSA. From there I made connections to all kinds of people and music. I’ve played for many artists live and in the studio. I’ve always played other instruments as a hobby, produced beats and other stuff which ended up just staying on my hard drive.
Your release, “Hey”, sounds brilliant. What inspired it and what message do you want to convey?
Thanks, glad you like it! I made the whole instrumental in winter 2019. It already had a very melancholic vibe and then, years later, Matt (from Soft Crystals) came up with the lyrics. He writes about depression, mental illness, and the horrible state of the mental healthcare industry. To me it sounds like we made it together from scratch although in fact we didn’t. And it was like that for all the other collaborations with Soft Crystals. It’s crazy how good it works and I’m really happy about that.
It’s again a collaboration with Soft Crystals. What makes this musical union so special?
Matt’s approach of singing somehow just matches with the instrumentals I make. I’ve worked with a bunch of people on my music but it’s really magical how his voice and his approach fit to my music. Again, I’m very happy for that!
What are the steps or stages that you go through when you make music? In other words, what does your creative process look like?
As I’m coming from drums/beats/instrumentals it always starts with an instrumental idea. A sound, a beat, chords, whatever. I’m not a classic songwriter so I often come up with 8 bar loops or at least odd song structures. Matt made his vocals on the instrumentals that were close to a ”song“.
You are a producer as well. How do you decide that a release is ready for the world?
I still don’t feel very comfortable with ”finishing“ my own stuff. I’m actually surprised by the result when I look back on the chaos on the way. (As I said before between instrumental and a finished song are sometimes years.) That’s why I mixed almost all my tracks by myself. Handing the files to other mixers often ended up in even more sound options that didn’t help the song in the end. So basically, a finished product is actually produced by a DEADLINE. :)
If you had the opportunity to work with any artist, who would you pick and why?
Oh...there are so many. But when it comes to the Ramnäs project I love soft vocalists that have kind of a nice groove as well. So, I’d probably pick Leslie Feist. I’m still a big fan of her music and her voice.
What are your thoughts on social media? Do you see them as useful tools to promote yourself or more as a necessary evil?
I think I can speak for many (maybe “older“) artists that are on the one hand kind of addicted to social media as consumers but on the other hand totally annoyed by the pressure of creating “content“ all the time. Being rated by likes and clicks doesn’t feel good when you are not on the sunny side. When you stick to its rules it can be very useful of course. And sometimes it’s kind of fun actually.
What are some of the projects or plans that you have in mind for 2024?
First there is another single with Soft Crystals coming on Jan 19th, that I’m really looking forward to! It’s called “Time“ and it’s (again) a collab with a gap of 1,5 years between instrumental and Matt’s voice.
Further, I’m still trying to release Ramnäs stuff on a regular basis and get in touch with other artists for collabs. The cool side of creating and releasing music is that it always leads you somewhere. To people, to places, to situations. I want to have many encounters that lead to some unpredictable situations this year.
