The German-born and South Korea-based multi hyphenate Sion has returned with the release of his highly anticipated EP, ‘Sociavoidance’. Marking a transformative period for the hit-maker, ‘Sociavoidance’ goes against what we’re accustomed to, navigating a variety of genre-bending sounds; the 5-track project is a step in a different direction for the storyteller. Following on from the February release of “O.o”, we dive deeper into Sion’s unpredictable world. With an EU tour on the horizon later this year, ‘Sociavoidance’ is a glimpse of what to expect on stage. 

Thank you for speaking with ReVamp, growing up, who inspired you to start creating music?

I used to be a classical musician aspiring to be a pianist or conductor, but somehow I lost interest in it during middle school and started listening to stuff my friends listened to. Since my bffs were metal and rockheads they introduced me to artists such as Korn, Radiohead, Gorillaz and Red Hot Chili Peppers. But especially the work of Thom Yorke and Damon Albarn captured me a lot and I slowly grew an interest in creating popular music.
How has your music style changed since you started in the music industry? 

I started my pop music career with rap music. Listening to soundcloud phenomenons such as ski mask or pierre bourne I started creating rap music myself, but quickly found out that my talent lies somewhere completely different which is singing and producing. So I delved into darker RnB with my debut single “Molting” but I thought that this style didn’t suit me that well either so I delved into a more alt pop centric soundscape which I implemented in my debut EP “love”. I still wasn’t satisfied with my style so I changed things up a bit in the rock and indie direction with my follow up “live”. Now that I had kind of found my singing voice I wanted to improve my production skills a lot more so I started listening to a lot of edm, hyperpop and generally genres that have productive significance. I think this is what drove me to make my newest EP “sociavoidance”.

You have a new EP coming out ‘Sociavoidance’ which was released on the 16th of June, how did you gear up for this release?

Actually I didn’t have much time to finish this project. When the deadline was set I had only one song in catalogue which was “avoid!”. The rest of it I had to completely do from scratch. The problem was I only had 2 months left to finish the EP. So I changed up my life cycle completely waking up at 5am immediately going to work and getting back home at 9pm and sleeping immediately. I didn’t think I could do it but somehow this ended up being the work I’m most satisfied with to this date!

When you are recording/writing, what is the process and how do you know which songs will appear on the EP?

I never really know which songs will appear on the EP. Most of my demos end up in the vault usually. I just wait for a certain track to click with me and then I proceed to write it out even more. As for the lyrics I usually write non lyrical texts a lot and then go through a very difficult process of transcribing them into somewhat acceptable lyrical pieces.

What can you tell us about the EP, and what was the hardest song to write? 

The hardest, yet most fun piece to write was “incognito!”. So many switch ups, interludes, details. I usually do a rough mix to give the engineer a better idea of how the track should feel like, so sorting the tracks frequency spectrum out in a cohesive manner with all its details was a pain, but if was definitely worth it.

What are you most looking forward to for the release?

I hope that I gain more recognition among artists. I don’t know if it is just me, but I find myself a lot happier when my peers praise my work than my fans. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the love my fans give me of course I do, but getting recognized by other artists is always such a good feeling and drives me to make more outgoing stuff.

For someone who is getting into the music industry, what is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring singer/songwriter?

Really don’t listen to anything anyone says about your music. If you truly got the talent you’ll sooner or later figure out what you’re good at and also what you’re weaknesses are also what you like. And if you like it somebody in this whole world is going to like it as well. Don’t assume that you could satisfy everybody because there is always going to be some stubborn dude trying to criticize your work.