Hailing from Denmark, Poetically creates hard-hitting Electro hits, similar in a vein to the likes of Justice and SebastiAn, but also putting his own unique and talented twist on his creations. In this interview we see him open up about his beginnings, his new single and more.
Montaime: So Poetically, how did you start making music?
Poetically: Yeah that’s a great question. I’ve always had a dad who was a musician, I’m actually hearing him play guitar right now, he’s an old dude. I learnt a lot from him. I started off by downloading FL Studio, I was 13 years old at the time-
It’s at this point ironically, that Poetically’s dad bursts into his room and asks to be on the interview. Poetically politely declines.
Yeah he’s not from Denmark, (this is where Poetically resides) he’s from the Philippines. That’s why we talk English to each other.
Montaime: Is FL Studio your preferred DAW?
Poetically: I’ve been rolling with FL Studio ever since I started, so I kinda really got used to that DAW. So I haven’t really played with anything else. When I tried out Ableton, however there was a lot of features I preferred to FL Studio. I like the design of the DAW in Ableton, as I tried it out in my Audio Engineering class and I just came to accept that FL Studio is the DAW I will 100% work with. I think it’s really for those that want to make Electronic music, while Ableton and stuff like Logic is better for session recording.
Montaime: So I’ve spoken to you before about influences and one person that has popped up the most is Uppermost. Would you say he is your biggest influence?
Poetically: He definitely is. I started listening to him, after finding his music through a Call of Duty montage.
Montaime: What Call of Duty was it?
Poetically: Black Ops 1 I think. I listened to his music because it was so gripping. It was like Justice, but it had a harsher electronic spin to it. The first track I ever listened to from him was “Futur” from his album Action. That was something really special for me, because at the same time the production was very hard and rough but it was also very melodic. Ever since then, I’ve been emailing him and talking to him. He gave me advice about my tracks and now we’re friends.
Montaime: Do you have any other influences besides Uppermost?
Poetically: Yeah. The obvious ones are Justice and SebastiAn. What I like about Uppermost is all of his structural ideas and what I like about Justice and SebastiAn is the rough aesthetic they give off. It’s really those three that have shaped my music tastes, but Indie bands and 70s/80s Funk and Soul music have also laid the blueprint for me.
Montaime: So you’re from Denmark. Well, Copenhagen to be precise. Would you say there’s a good music scene there?
Poetically: I would not. *he laughs* The mainstream scene in Copenhagen is very ‘samey’, of course this is subjective. I do know some people in person who are well known in the scene and it’s either Trap/Rap, Indie music or general Danish Pop that they make. There’s also an underground scene in Denmark, it’s pretty great but it’s all R&B focused.
Montaime: Where does the name Poetically come from?
Poetically: That came from Uppermost. It all started from SpiRiiT, then Poetic Po, then Poetically. It is about the story of transition, as essentially SpiRiiT was just my Gamertag on Call of Duty 4. Poetic Po was inspired by Charlie Brown, as I wanted to establish a character and a world, in terms of my music. Poetically on the other hand is essentially Poetic Po, but more mature. I went around in my Audio Engineering class and told them about my music and then I heard a completely honest person say to me that “Poetic Po was a cringe name”. So I decided to change it after that.
Uppermost came up with the name. I told him I wanted a name that emphasises on a spiritual companion, but at the same time describes my name as a ‘we are in this together’ sort of thing. I mentioned ‘poetic’ and ‘ally’ at the same time and he suggested putting those words together so I ran with it.
Montaime: How did you get your start on Montaime?
Poetically: Alex (FIBRE) messaged me sometime in 2017 and that was the year after I stopped my Audio Engineering class. After focusing on school for a year, I decided I wanted to create an EP. Me and Alex became friends on Facebook and he messaged me saying “I know this is kinda out of the blue, but would you like to submit a track to our newest compilation album Montaime Vol. 2?” and I answered back saying “Can I answer when I’m sober?” because I was drunk at the time. I’d heard of FIBRE’s music before I was on Montaime, I’m a fan of the detail he puts into his tracks and I came to the conclusion that he’s a very level-headed person and that he’s very good at mixing his own tracks. That’s how “Beyond Measure” came to be.
It’s no secret that I do my own mastering, however as I don’t like anyone touching my masters, I do all of that myself. He then pitched to me that I should release my EP on Montaime, so I did. I’m very faithful to Montaime, the label has shown me that they will be able to stay relevant for a long amount of time.
Montaime: What is your new single “Computer, Don’t You Die on Me” about?
Poetically: On the surface it’s a personal story. I made a small Instagram post about it funnily enough. Essentially I had a computer that I bought second-hand and it started crashing all of the time. I spent a lot of my money trying to fix it over a 3 year period. After 3 years I started buying new parts for my PC and would soon eventually find out what was causing the problem. I replaced everything, the graphics card, the motherboard, the CPU… But it turns out the problem was the SSD I was using. The whole situation was an emotional roller coaster. I could actually admit that I had some tears in my eyes while I was trying to fix it, like I couldn’t understand why it was happening.
Montaime: What was the process behind the music video?
Poetically: I shot the footage some time in May. It’s very DIY because I couldn’t go outside because of the Coronavirus pandemic. I said to myself that this single deserves a music video, so a green screen video was the first thing that came into my mind. I started planning the video and getting ideas from people, but the problem was that I didn’t actually have a green screen, so I had to use a blue background instead. Luckily enough, that still works when you edit it. A few days before I did lots of sit-ups and exercise as I knew this video was going to show my upper body a lot, so I wanted to look as good as possible for the video. I sent the video to Discoholic and he worked his magic. The intro of the video was also made by Doktor Plekter, he’s a great animator. I was very happy with the final product.
Montaime: Is the single a part of something much bigger? An album or EP?
Poetically: It definitely is and I can’t say much more than that I’m afraid.
Computer, Don’t You Die on Me is out now.
This interview was conducted and written by Louis Chant, you can follow him here.
Great artist! The single is such a banger! Good luck!