Interview: Swataa releases “Infatuated Dreaming”
By Christian Beale
Interview by Yising Kao
Swataa is an up-and-coming independent artist/DJ inspired by musicians such as Lana Del Ray, Lady A, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift. She recently released her new single, “Infatuated Dreaming,” an beautiful, ethereal track with a haunting ambient sound. Swataa has played successful shows and will be performing at the Goddess Awakening Festival in Hartman, AR in October!
How did you first get into creating music?
I started producing music through a college elective course! I was a year or so into teaching myself the guitar, and initially started out writing songs through processing emotions of my first breakup and navigating changes into adulthood. Making music has always helped me understand my own feelings, and it's been a vulnerable but rewarding process to share it with others. In that college class we were challenged to produce compositions using spliced up sound samples we recorded from our daily lives. It completely changed the way I thought about music and inspired me to arrange my own tracks on a digital audio workspace (DAW), where I can create layers of sounds and textures.
Who are some of your artist inspirations and how have they impacted your musical style?
I am influenced by both the worlds of singer-songwriters and electronic bass DJs. Growing up, I gravitated towards powerful female country vocalists like Lana Del Ray, Lady A, Carrie Underwood, and yes, Taylor Swift. I really love the depth and emotion drawn out by the simplicity of an acoustic guitar and vocals, but the community of electronic music has also shown me a side of incredible energy that is exhilarating and healing. I am inspired by artists like GRiZ and Boogie T who incorporate live saxophone and guitar (respectively) into their electronic DJ sets, making you dance AND feel emotion. I believe there is space for both, and they speak to the important different facets of our expression!
“Infatuated Dreaming” has a very beautiful, dreamy and soothing vibe. What influenced you to take this creative direction?
Thank you! “Infatuated Dreaming” follows my last song, “Durian Dreams,” so I suppose you could say it reflects this 'dream state' I feel I've been in lately. It's been fun to play around a lot with the idea of dreaming, but in a conscious/awake state, and I like taking the perspective of looking at all of life-- and its sheer existence-- as a dream. The fact that I can look back to 4 years ago before I started making music to now, when I'm living out the dreams I had then (and still feeling like it's just the beginning), is something I'm incredibly grateful for. So to me, this song is about exploring the edge of boundaries and what it means to be dreaming.
By Katie Simonian
What upcoming projects/shows can we look forward to?
I'm so excited for all that the future holds-- the known and unknown! I'm playing my first headline show in Washington, D.C. at 7DrumCity on September 19th with a band and my friends' bands also on the bill! Then, I'm playing/DJing at Goddess Awakening music festival in October! Also, I haven't officially announced it yet, but I can say that this release is part of a larger project that I've been dreaming of for years, so stay tuned in on socials or Patreon if you want the scoop :)