In this interview, ARCTISKY opens up about how his passion for mental health awareness is deeply woven into his sound. He speaks candidly about his personal experiences, shedding light on the importance of positive self-talk and its impact on mental and physical well-being. His commitment to mental health isn’t just a topic he touches on—it’s the foundation of his music. Through his lyrics and soundscapes, ARCTISKY offers listeners a space for reflection and healing, blending his emotional depth with eclectic influences, creating something deeply personal and powerfully poignant.
ARCTISKY, your latest single, My Relief, which hit the airwaves on September 6th is inexplicably sublime. We’d love to dig into the emotional underpinnings. Were there any personal experiences which inspired the track?
Yes, definitely! I’ve had to channel experiences from some extremely strange and dark places. Funnily enough, when I wrote this song, I was still in a state of not being able to understand this side of the emotion spectrum fully. Whenever I was dealing with anything, I’d usually work through these things with the help of music ‘cos I felt like self-reflection was what I needed over anything.
We always get bombarded with so many different opinions of how you should treat yourself and others, we usually tend to lose sight of what’s the healthiest thing for our mind, body and soul. This song quite literally came out of two different times I was admitted to the hospital for health complications I faced during lockdowns, where the last visit was close to being a fatal call. These things give you quite a bit of perspective on how you may want to spend your time on earth.
What was the core message of the song?
“Self-talk matters.” Yeah, I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to mind how we speak to ourselves. A lot of us are not mindful of what our internal dialogues are saying to us. If left unchecked, your mind is susceptible to all sorts of hijacking, and it’s quite literally like training a muscle. We must make it a priority to be our own best friend first, otherwise, the mind will absorb fear and doubt from the haters and naysayers around us, and use it as jet fuel for self-sabotage. It really doesn’t help when people around you are enforcing these, even if it’s just mindlessly repeating some things they’ve heard. It’s crucial for us to safeguard what we allow into our minds so that we don’t let others affect our thinking.
We must be able to judge what’s best for our own health and mental well-being. If our minds are getting too overwhelmed, they will manifest into physical illnesses. The mind and body work hand in hand – it’s all connected. You can’t have a healthy mind without a healthy body, and vice versa – it’s ignorant to think otherwise. Once you get your mind and body right, the soul naturally follows. It’s all a flow. We should do our best to eliminate all internal suffering and convert or channel that energy into the positives we can bring to the people around us. Positive self-talk is key.
How important is it for you to advocate for mental health awareness through sound?
I would say it’s what gives these projects their foundational pillars. I grew up in the Maldives, where the concept of mental health has just only started taking off at a rapid speed. I feel like it’s mainly due to the highly conservative side of the population that would shut anything up before it could even be discussed. I always saw a lot of people suffer due to this – where the prison system never treats the mental illnesses of the prisoners, and are run through what’s more identical to a brainwashing program on the weak – which in turn breeds a lot of mentally unstable victims of injustices to be released back into society without the proper care or systems in place to actually heal them. It’s extremely dehumanising, and inhumane in my view. The whole prison system is a wreck, and doesn’t even abide by ‘The Nelson Mandela Rules’. Demonised for basic human shortcomings, and anything that’s not in line with what they say, and all of a sudden you’re… It’s so f**kin’ sad, it’s ridiculous. Like quite literally using fear to bully an entire damn nation, and mental health is scrutinised as a weakness because the people in power are afraid that people may find their way to the knowledge that will help them arm themselves against these political manipulations and further efforts to prime social conditioning.
I honestly do not know where on Earth I’d be if it weren’t for music. Songs have spoken meaning to me, and some of the lyrics I’ve heard over the years have been a therapist to me more times than I can count. I’d always feel a whole lot of relief in my subconscious after spending a bit of time with some of my favourite songs.
What would you say to anyone who struggles to find self-compassion?
You’ve got to stay true to what you know is best for yourself, and then the people you love. Remember, you cannot love anyone else if you don’t love yourself first. The more we seek validation outside of ourselves, the further it gets away from us. The only form of validation we need in this world is our own. Once we can validate our self-worth to ourselves, there really isn’t a lot we need to do except guard our energy from those who may come to steal or drain it. You are going to be a reflection of the 5 people closest to you, so selecting your people wisely is crucial in my view. It’s better to spend time building yourself for a better future and life than trying to impress people you’re not even sure you like in the first place.
Most people hide behind masks, and it’s really not that difficult to move forward knowing that almost everyone’s got their own sh*t – so leading with love, respect, compassion and empathy not only makes it easier for yourself, but collectively allows us all to show each other a sense of love and care on a communal level. Always be kind to yourself first. The world is already full of so much suffering, and you shouldn’t be adding more pain and suffering to yourself with your self-talk. Stand up for what’s right, but don’t exhaust yourself in the process of fighting for something you have no control over.
Which artists did you draw influence from while orchestrating the single?
I feel like a bit of that old-school alt-rock/grunge may have influenced this track quite a bit actually. Okay, so here’s a blend of some influences that are in the ballpark – a bit of Daughtry, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Staind, Chris Cornel, Linkin Park, Creed, H.I.M., Lifehouse, Seether, Velvet Revolver. Also slower tracks by Metallica, John Mayer, Bob Dylan, a bit of Johnny Cash and probably a lot of the official soundtrack from the ‘August Rush’ movie – I love all the tracks in that motion picture. The blend’s just full of so many different flavours – I do have trouble pointing out exactly what it is. I feel like it’s just one big blob of everything I grew up listening to if I’m being honest. I’ve lost track!
How did you interplay influence with your own artistic identity?
I just end up blending the sounds to a stage where I get my selected palette of sounds to communicate with one another in the tone of whatever emotion/mood I’m trying to get out of the music. I feel like a lot of the work that I do feels like painting with colours, and looking at sounds through the visual lens really helps me conceptualise what I’m working with.
Other than that, I feel like there is just no way something can’t feel authentic and soulful if it’s a projection of real and authentic experiences. I definitely do my best work when I’m channelling exactly what I was feeling in the moment of the experiences that I write about. It needs to be authentic and real. You need to be able to visualise exactly how you are feeling.
An artist’s own feelings and emotions are their strongest tools for originality, and I live by that. The type of work that I do is really not something I can rush, and I do have to let ideas simmer and even let them marinate for a while before I can treat them more. It’s funny cause I treat my music like they’re my children – it goes through all the stages ’til it grows up and is ready to move out.
We love the tonal juxtaposition the gruff spoken word segment introduces, what inspired you to include this in the track?
I believe it came from wanting to emulate a half-baked numb mood with the music. I ended up wanting to retrograde the chords in that section and still wanted to maintain that washy sound as much as possible. When I ended up reversing some of the guitar layer, and flipped it – it gave the whole section this laid-back and cruisy motion where I got to just throw some light and sexy licks on top. The washy ‘verb tying the guitars together is what really makes this section almost sound a bit wet and slippery, and slightly purple. The message reflects a bit of a questionable dialogue with oneself before going down a very interesting rabbit hole (rabbit holes that open up the doorways of perception-type things).
Who did you work with on the production?
I played everything on this track and produced all of it, like most of the songs on this album (unless I want to have that unique flavour for BVs, unique instrument features, or if it’s a collaborative track). In addition to that though, I always pass my work on to my trusted mixing and mastering engineer, Alex Emrich, who’s based in Canada. I completely trust him to take my tracks to the finish line, and working with him has always been a pleasure.
What’s next for ARCTISKY?
I believe I’m getting ready to take these songs out for live performances soon. Currently, I’m exploring how flexible I can be with the music that’s already written. I’m open to being flexible and reimagining my sound to suit whichever venue I may perform at, and cater that sound to the energy of the venue.
There’s been so much I’ve had to rewire about live performances from the ground up, and I know for a fact I won’t take these songs out to live venues until I’ve tightened up all loose ends on the performance side of things. Obviously, it’s in tiers when it comes to the scale of productions. How you treat one thing is how you treat everything, so yes, I’m definitely not just gonna do it for the sake of doing it! I’m still on the lookout for the musicians who will occupy the spots in my lineup – who will help me fully bring these ideas to life. I’m extremely pumped to see what lies ahead on this journey, and I’m just keeping my eyes on the target, no matter how wavy it may get. So yeah, hopefully a lot of good comes out of all this output!
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Stream My Relief on Spotify now.
Connect with ARCTISKY to stay up to date with his latest releases on Instagram.
For more info, head to the artist’s official website.
Review by Amelia Vandergast