Hailing from none other than Los Angeles, California himself is boundary-breaking artist Andrew Ampaya, known professionally as Munsi. Keeping his instrumentalist roots alive and well, Munsi is known for embedding an array of tones together to produce songs with incredible flavor.
Munsi garnered an impressive resumé with over a decade-long experience in playing keyboards. Being able to construct original, one-of-a-kind pieces, Munsi crafts music that speaks to him and his artistic soul. He's evolved his personal sound to dive deep into musical nuances, and with that comes his latest nuanced release, "Silver Lining."
A full-bodied, groovy soundscape penetrates the air immediately upon pressing the play button on "Silver Lining." Munsi sends listeners into a psychedelic wonderland with the elaborate instrumental integration that ensues. Munsi has always been versatile with his ability to generate flavourful tones that haven't been heard before. The "Silver Lining" production possesses the best kind of funky vibe that's oh-so naturally to move along to.
An elusive vocal performance from Munsi eventually ensues, which offers a hypnotic embrace in itself. "Silver Lining" hones into the new-wave, contemporary direction of the current psychedelic/pop scene we have today. With incredible textures, Munsi takes a real deep dive into his harmonious bag of tricks to gift listeners a real snazzy single. To sum the listening experience up, one should prepare to have an otherworldly sensation instilled in them upon listening to Munsi's "Silver Lining" song. A true visionary of his craft, this won't be the last time any of us hear of Munsi.
Welcome to BussMusic, Munsi. How are you feeling now that "Silver Lining" is out in the music world?
Feeling great! It's been a long time coming for this song so I'm feeling somewhat relieved that the day is finally here. I'm very excited and eager for everyone to listen to something that I've been sitting with and working on for so long.
At what point did you gather all of the necessary influence to write and produce "Silver Lining?"
It's been at least 2 years ago that I began laying down the elements that would become 'Silver Lining'. This one started with some drum tracks performed and tracked by a super talented drummer/friend of mine, Andrew Tolman from the band Mondo Cozmo. The drum tracks were actually for a song from another project that I produced. I loved the warmth and tone of them so much that I decided to chop them up and start a whole other idea with them. A lot of the groove and instrumentation were inspired and built on top of those drums. After I stumbled upon the opening bass line, the rest of the song seemed to start flowing out very seamlessly. Thereafter, over the course of those 2 years, the track slowly started to piece together and I eventually decided to share the fully arranged instrumental with Erik Janson, a good friend/former bandmate (guitarist) in my previous band, Wildling. He loved it so much that he called me shortly after and wanted to take a stab at writing a vocal melody & lyrics to it. After hearing what he laid down, I decided that the direction it was heading in needed to be fully realized because it was sounding too good not to. It eventually evolved into a sort of driving disco/dance track, especially after having recorded vocals of myself and then having my good friend/artist, Ryan LeVine (another former bandmate of mine from Wildling) also lay down vocals. The 3 of us sang together at the same time creating a sort of 70s/Bee Gees/Jungle vibe, which I absolutely loved. Then to top it all off, I had David Ralicke (who's played for Beck, M83, Broken Bells, The Shins, Feist, Devendra Banhart, Cat Power, Fitz, and the Tantrums, and countless others) lay down saxophone which really put the song over the top. I still can't believe how it all came together and am so proud of how the song came out.
Were there any challenges you faced along the way in producing "Silver Lining" considering how thoroughly eclectic the song is?
Yea, there were times during the making of the song that I felt stuck and doubted whether or not I would ever finish it. I think that is definitely normal though anytime you start writing a song 'within the box'. But at the same time, a lot of magic can come from that type of creative process. Also, it became apparent to me how important it is to step away sometimes and come back to the idea with a fresh perspective/mindset. I can't tell you how many times I did that with this song.
As an artist who clearly explores the depths of sound and creates truly original-sounding pieces, how would you describe the creative process and overall vision you possess to generate such novel music?
I think I would describe the process as focusing on letting yourself be open to exploring a plethora of ways to find inspiration and ideas. Some ideas will spark out of nowhere when I am out doing something completely unrelated to music, and some will come as I'm jamming alongside a random drum groove that I decided to chop up on a Sunday afternoon. I believe that the key is to try as many different environments, instruments, techniques, states of mind, etc in order to channel what could become some of the best work you'll ever create.
What's next?
Well I'm already working on my next single - or it could be part of a larger body of work, an EP or LP, not sure yet - which again.. I've been chipping away at for quite some time. That seems to be what I do; work on ideas for what feels like forever until the pieces finally start to fall into place. The track is already fully arranged/produced and I'm getting ready to head into the studio to get a good friend of mine to lay down her vocals as well as hopefully have other friends contribute. This project has always been rooted in the desire to collaborate and feature as many talented friends and artists as possible. I hope to continue to dive deeper into that collaborative process with the goal of surprising ourselves.