Exclusive Interview with LA based artist 'Arkane Skye'

Arkane Skye is a Los Angeles based artist who found his sound fusing unlikely musical styles in his bedroom studio. Self produced, stepping further into his sound and growing with every release, Skye always finds a way to keep you on your toes. His 2022 singles ‘Callie’ and ‘Piper’ showed a fresh change in direction, combining sparkling pop production with an interesting brooding weight and beautiful guitar lines reminiscent of many classic records. Skye’s style will always bring you a sense of past, present, and future in a romantic and chilling way that will be sure to stick with you. Check out the exclusive Interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?

ARKANE SKYE: I grew up in Southern California as one of 3 boys, one being my fraternal twin. My twin and I are total opposites, he was always very popular in school and had most things pretty figured out, I felt like I was more of an outcast. I was always drawn to music and I felt more comfortable online in Skype chats on my older brother’s old laptop, where I learned to produce dubstep. Music always felt like I was escaping into a different world that I’ve always wanted to live in.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

ARKANE SKYE: When I was around 7, my mom enrolled me in guitar lessons because I would always nag her to let me play the guitar we had, or the violin that was on the top shelf of my parents’ closet. Guitar was my main instrument until I was 12 years old, when I started teaching myself how to write and produce music.

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘ARKANE SKYE’?

ARKANE SKYE: Wow, it would be hard to name all of my influences, but my strongest musical influences are definitely The Neighbourhood, Brakence, My Bloody Valentine, Roy Blair and Cailin Russo at the moment. I’m also a huge fan of classical composers, such as Maurice Ravel, Frédéric Chopin and Claude Debussy. These artists have a special place in my heart, there’s something about their sounds that put me in a very unique place.

I chose the name Arkane Skye because I felt like it really embodied the way I’ve felt throughout my life. ‘Arkane’ is a misspelling of the word ‘Arcane’, meaning secret or known to few, which I feel describes me pretty well. Since I was little, I often found that people make harsh assumptions about me, and there wouldn’t be many people who would get to know and understand me.

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

ARKANE SKYE: I tend to create the music I’d like to hear. Often my music portrays inner worlds and lessons I’d like to introduce to others. I want people to feel like they are part of this world they can relate to, and bring others into. Ridge Valley really helps with this. Nothing makes me happier than when someone understands and feels the music just as much as I do.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as POP?

**ARKANE SKYE**: It’s taken many years and many hardships to get to the sound I have now. I was on the internet throughout most of highschool, which really helped me find groups of long distance friends who are also artists. My friends and I would call and text pretty much every day, and our lives started to revolve around music. This introduced me to lots of styles of music I’ve never heard of. I’d switch styles so much, because every time I heard something new, I would be super inspired. In order to get my current sound I really focused on making the music that I wanted to hear, but couldn’t find anywhere. To do this, I’d often combine elements that I like from every song until I created something that can’t really be fit into a box.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

ARKANE SKYE: I think music is one of the only things in life that directly gives a sense of meaning and purpose without having to describe itself. Everyone can relate to music or at least understand it in some way or another. Music is really powerful. It can be a tool, a weapon, a drug, I really believe it can be all of those things. I try to write pop music that combines a lot of aspects such as entertainment, narrative, and artistry because I want my music to be heard from as many angles as people would like to listen from.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

ARKANE SKYE: I’ll always be writing and performing music no matter what circumstance I’m in. Fulfillment isn’t necessarily what I’m looking for in music, it’s always been just a necessity for me, I couldn’t imagine life without it.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

ARKANE SKYE: I can never put a formula to my music process, every song starts in different ways and ends up usually very different than I expected it to be, which I think is pretty cool. One way I would start a song would possibly be to find some really old broken or used music gear at thrift stores or online, that I’ll put to use in new ways for inspiration.

Lyrically I feel like there’s two methods I have, I’ll either write what’s on my mind at the time freestyling while I produce the song or I’ll have a story in mind that I want to portray in a very specific way so I’ll write most of the lines as poetry before, or after I make the instrumental.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

ARKANE SKYE: Moving to LA and keeping my music career going has definitely been one of the harder things I’ve had to go through in my life. The music industry takes a toll on you in general, and staying focused and productive while having to do lots of other things to stay afloat can be pretty stressful and tiring at times. It’s hard to pick a hardship, because I feel like every difficult thing I’ve gone through has been completely different and not comparable to each other.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

ARKANE SKYE: I feel like wherever I’m at is the most significant point in my music career/life, as long as I’ve improved in some way or another, so if I had to pick a point it, would be right now.