Today we’d like to introduce you to Nomad Navi.
Nomad Navi, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My interest in music production started when my uncle gave me one of those electric pianos with like 88 sounds and those preprogrammed drum kits. He had hoped I would learn how to play but instead, I played with all the presets and tried to recreate my favorite songs at the time. This eventually snowballed into me acquiring music-making software and teaching myself how to produce. I picked up djaying shortly after and took that skill with me to college and had a pretty good side hustle djaying house parties.
I’ve since put that behind me and have used these past few years building a narrative through sound for myself. I think the last three years I’ve felt the most inspired and am finally choosing my vision over a safer route. I’m making it a goal of mine this year to play more shows now that Covid restrictions are starting to ease up.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It certainly has not been a smooth road, but that comes with pursuing any passion and I’ve had plenty of pep talks with myself affirming that I can make my vision a reality. Some of the hardest challenges I’ve faced have been self-doubt and writer’s block.
Often times I find myself struggling to write a track or push any ideas out. It can cause me to get anxious and then begin to doubt myself as an artist. In the worst times, I’ve felt like giving up and dropping music all together. Luckily though, I have a great support system. In addition, it’s important to remind myself during these times that I’m not a machine. I need to know when to step away and give my mind a break.
My best advice to deal with writer’s block is to challenge yourself. Do something different from your artistic process. Write in a new scale, play with synths, or even better reverse engineer a song you like. Don’t aim to finish anything, simply play around and have fun. I find when I drop expectations, it allows me to come up with some interesting ideas.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Firstly I am a music producer, but I have also dived into other art mediums such as graphic design, 3D design, and animation. I’m sort of a jack of all trades master of none, but music production is what I’ve been doing the longest.
My musical style and vision revolve around retro synths, dark aggressive basses, and mid-tempo dance rhythms, I can’t really describe it any better than that, haha. I like to make music that sounds like what you’d hear at a nightclub in a dystopian future. When listeners hear my music, I want them to feel like they’re a protagonist in their own dystopian world, but also hear it and be able to dance to it as well.
What matters most to you? Why?
Balance is what matters the most to me as well as knowing how to live in the moment. It’s very easy to get caught up with the next big thing or what to look forward to. I’m trying to be more mindful about just being present and not getting lost in the “then what”.
Balance plays its part when I need to step away from projects or tasks that are taking too long or I’m feeling drained. Especially now, it’s very easy to lose track of time and forget about important things like eating, exercising, and hanging out with friends.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/nomadnavi
- Facebook: facebook.com/nomadnavi
- Twitter: twitter.com/nomad_navi
- SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/nomadnavi
Image Credits
Justin Allen Kristen Kluck
