Belgian artist Capoon makes deep, hypnotic, melodic house and has previously released on labels like Rebellion, Natura Viva and MoBlack. Drawing inspiration from emotion rather than function, the rising artist makes music with a palpable mood and story-telling aesthetic, evoking a heady atmosphere with every release.
Hey, thanks for chatting with us today! How has the year been for you so far?
Thank you too, it’s been an amazing year and happy to chat about it with you. I did my first big shows at Ibiza and Dubai and started really big collabs. There’s a lot of new music coming coming out very soon. The last months/year have been the most fun ones of my career and 2023 looks very promising as well. Can’t wait to share all this!
Tell us about your journey into electronic music, when did you first fall in love with it?
I think the first electronic music I ever heard was my dad playing St. Germain over and over again. The crossover part between electronic instruments and real instruments really got me. Also the tempo switches during the albums, from really chill out to dance floor tracks. That’s something you can hear in my music for sure. For the cross continent part too.
What were some of the experiences that you think really shaped your love for music, and later your approach to music-making?
Studying guitar without a classical approach. But in the end I regret it because the classical is the part I don’t master. You really get that when you work with other musicians that have that base.
In opposition to that, I think it’s a good cause I didn’t do it because I’m not always that narrow minded and always looking for another approach compared to the educated way of doing it. When a musician plays a part that I record, I don’t mind taking it apart in my DAW and editing it like crazy.
“Driven by heartbeat grooves” – how does this approach inform the kind of music you produce?
Your groove doesn’t always have to be the same beat. Your heart hasn’t too. Don’t stick to a certain groove or beat.
For you, what’s the most emotional electronic track you’ve heard? How does it make you feel?
One of my favorite bands, or just everything what Thom Yorke does. Get’s me emotionally inspired.
Every time I go to the studio I put on one of his productions. Enabling stuff!
How do you work in the studio, do you have an idea in your head you work towards or do you just experiment and jam and see what happens?
Record, jam and arrange. Let’s see what happens. That’s just the magic about it.
What are some of the key bits of music-making gear in your current setup?
I use a lot of East West and Kontakt banks. I don’t have access to a lot of musicians that play the instruments I want to import in my music. So I always need to take care of business with my own tools. There’s a lot of outboard gear in my setup where I apply an analog feel to the sounds. Like this it doesn’t sounds like it is played with synthesis or sampled based production.
What else should we be looking out for from you for the rest of 2023?
For the first time ever I’m doing some remixes. That’s actually something I never focussed on.
I also made a lot of edits of tracks that I play in my sets. So if you can, come and sink into my upcoming shows!
Finally, what is the best record you’ve heard in the last few months we might not know about?
Leon Vynehall – It’s Just (House of Depree) [Cocoon]
You can hear a lot of samples hitting in this track. Beautifully collected and used with love for hiss and old school crackling. Isley Brothers’ ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’ pling plang plongs awesomely used as synth samples. Seems like the lyrics are saying ‘dees is goe’ which means ‘this is good’ in our Flemish (Belgian) Dialect. Never disappoints.
It’s not a recent release but this one just keeps blowing my mind.
Listen to Capoon latest ‘Hold On EP’ below
