A QUICK CHAT WITH ATLAS FRANKLIN ALEXANDER
Big congratulations on your debut EP ‘Enter Echo’. Can you tell us about the song writing process?
Cheers guys! The single ‘Enter Echo’, and the entire EP was recorded in many ways in many different locations; in the back of my car, on park benches, libraries, hotel rooms, ashrams, garages, friends lounge rooms smashing out vox takes, bus stops, monasteries, on trains, on planes. Anywhere and everywhere you can put a laptop down basically. Extremely DIY! I don’t really stick to any kind of writing process. It’s more like if something comes to me, I just write it down or record the bloody thing.
What is the most memorable inspiration you found writing your EP?
I like to draw inspiration from not only music, but also life in general. Travelling, relationships, bus drivers, your pets, the person making my coffee in the morning, homeless people on the street, psychedelic ceremonies, sobriety, drunken madness; anything and everything inspires me to write. Writing and recording music is almost like my form of therapy. The collection of songs I have written is like a terrarium of trinkets plucked from my mind, one by one a narration of different events that have transpired and affected me in one way or another.
Watching the music video, we love the story that you’ve built. Who came up with the concept?
Toa and myself. The video itself follows the journey of a man through a picturesque landscape, ingesting interdimensional hallucinogenic pills. It is a journey of self-discovery that leads the man to his own death that turns out to be quite transformative and he is reborn. The theme of the video is not too dissimilar to what the song ‘Enter Echo’ originally was written about. I wrote the song after a mind-altering experience on DMT, the theme of the song also has these underlying tones of self-discovery, death of the ego and a transitioning rebirth.
How was working with Toa Doguet in Northern India? The scenery looks stunning!
Yeah, it was epic! The video single ‘Enter Echo’ was shot In Northern India, the Pakistan border and also on the border of Tibet. I was staying in Northern India at the time and could not get over how incredibly beautiful it was. When I was right at the top, I thought to myself there it is, literally like you’re on another planet. Such an enchanting landscape, with the most serene views. Toa was also in India at the time and we both thought it was the most magnificent place we have ever visited, we needed to shoot a video there; so we did.
Do you have any local musicians we should keep an eye out?
Amok, Kimono Drag Queens, Ena illume, Ahlia Williams, Nick Bampton, Maanyoung
When can we expect more music from Atlas Franklin Alexander?
December 6th, I’m dropping a live video of ‘Enter Echo’. We recorded it a couple of weeks back at ORONTES studio in New South Wales. Great vibes! Then in early 2022, shows, shows and more live shows. Keep an eye out.
