Crafting jazzy eldritch melodies and transcendent tunes that alternately conjure mythical dreams as well as robust earthy lands; Kamen Ross brings the music to your ears. Here’s what he has to say.
Tell me about your craft. When did you first start making music? Do you always write your own compositions?
My family is quite musical; my parents would sing to me while my mom was pregnant with me, and we sang songs every night before sleep (until I grew older and needed to be alone more often). As a kid playing in fields and woods I would always sing little songs to myself about fairies and shadows. I really started writing music on paper shortly after picking up the flute when I was 7, and each new instrument I learned brought on waves of creativity. One of my three grandmothers bought me a piano when I was 13 a year after starting to learn and that really sealed my fate. I went on to pick up a lot of instruments and studied music formally in college at Berklee, and I wrote almost every day from then until now.
What inspires you as an artist?
I love being out in the wilderness. Pretty skies, big trees, colorful flowers, powerful mountains, roaring rivers, restless waves on the ocean. That’s the kind of thing I live for and gets me excited about sound and vision. Friendship has also always majorly influenced me too.
Has living in South Korea affected your creative process? What are the highs and lows of working in a foreign land as an artist?
Traveling always inspires me, especially if I can go somewhere long enough to live there. In Korea, what little I learned about different folk magicks and mythologies (especially the 10,000 gods of Jeju) really interested me in particular. Learning the language fed my mind in a huge way too, and you can never underestimate the power of eating good food you’ve never heard of for the first time.
How does your identity influence your work?
I don’t think it does! Just kidding. I feel like a lot of what I advocate for – radical love, ferocious kindness, feral beauty, wild thought – seeps its way into my work whether intentional or not, even if it doesn’t always translate.
What’s been your most fulfilling gig so far?
The next one, whatever it is.
How can people discover your past work and what projects are you working on currently?
I’m pretty good at compiling the stuff I want people to see on my website, but I have a unique enough name that a google search ought to do the trick as well.
Finally, what would I find on your spotify playlist?
I use youtube music actually! I think its a better deal since I watch a lot of videos, and the royalty ethics are less dubious (Youtube, if you’re reading this, please sponsor me!). As for what I’m listening to, that’s always changing. Right now it’s a lot of wolf howling sounds, 90s alt women, and instrumental medievil music..
Thank you Kamen! You can hear and see more of Kamen Ross at: YOUTUBE and KamenRoss.Com
