After a flurry of highly-praised outings these last few years, Swiss artist and producer Fen Doi has now returned to deliver his eagerly-awaited debut album 'New Horizon'.
Featuring the previously shared efforts 'Worlds', 'Brighter Now' and 'Wallflower', this new nine-track collection makes for a wonderfully rich and mesmerising listen. With its broad and immersive synth-pop textures perfectly elevating his euphoric vocals throughout, 'New Horizon' cements him as one of the more innovative names on the rise right now.
So with the new album available to stream now, we sat down with him to find out more about his origins and what has been inspiring him most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
That's an easy one - the drums! Rhythm really was my entry-way into the world of music.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
When I was a child it was mostly pop punk, rock and hip-hop. In my teenage years it was emo-rock, nu metal and many facets of EDM.
What was the first album you remember owning?
American Idiot by Green Day.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
Let it Happen by Tame Impala. Just so many interesting things going on but still a catchy and accessible tune.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
Standard procedure for me: Sit down at my keyboard with my iPhone recording audio and just play around. When trying to find interesting new melodies I sometimes close my eyes and hit random notes in random rhythmic succession and try to "find" and hear the melody in it. Like this I try to avoid playing the same stuff over and over again.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
There are so many it's hard to choose. At the moment I'm really enjoying Slow Pulp, ML Buch, Fazerdaze or Four Tet. I'm currently listening to more organic-sounding and less heavily electronic-based music.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Probably Four Tet or Caribou. Their journey as artists, their overall vibe and their musical development have always been a huge inspiration to me. Plus they both occupy the fertile ground between organic and electronic music as well as between live-act and DJ-Set. Opening for them would be a huge honor to me. I would have to work on that live-set first though!
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
I always have a passion for music in me that keeps me going. I feel like I could continue making music till the day I die, no matter if it ever takes off or not. To me, that in itself is rewarding and I'm thankful that I have this spark in me.
And what is the most frustrating part?
If you have even the slightest ambition as an artist and musician, you have to deal with the present-day music industry und promotional landscape. And the 2024 music business can be incredibly frustrating. There is so much conflicting and contradicting advice out there on how to grow as an artist and how to establish yourself in the industry. Sometimes it feels like you're really almost forced to make a ton of short-form content for social media, unless you're lucky.
At the same time, despite all this, I still feel like committing to improving the quality of your art and maintaining some sort of artistic vision in the long run is essential and the way to go.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
More like a general piece of advice for life: Start doing, before you know how. Or else you will be forever stuck overthinking. If you want something you've never had before, you have to do something you've never done before.
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Fen Doi's debut album 'New Horizon' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.