By Zvakwana Nomore Sweto,
Lazy Friday after work, chilling at home with no plans whatsoever, then boom my ‘partner in crime’ calls. “Hey Zee, what’s up? There is a show tonight and I think you need to be there, and I don’t want to hear a ‘NO’ from you. We are going,” she said.
I didn’t waste time arguing, I simply got ready for the event….we are the news people, remember!
We arrived there, the setup was nice, artists took turns to perform their original songs. Then one artist showed up. She was dressed for the occasion, and I nodded my head in appreciation of pure art.
Her performance was smooth, infectious, and sweet. I had never paid attention to Electronic music, but on this day, I had my ears and eyes wide open not to lose any bit. Talk about going low on the beat for people to listen to the lyrics, then go hard on bassline and fuse instruments for people to know and value the essence of your music, that was Cassia’s act.
I told my mate that this is it, I want a one on one with this amazing artist. Everything else was the background I finally had my interview with Cassia and below are the excerpts from the interview.
ZNS: When did you start music?
Cassia: When I was a little kid, my family had a toy synthesizer that I loved to play around on. My parents later bought a beautiful wooden upright piano that is a century old, and it was on this piano that I began my lessons at 9 years old. Throughout my lessons, I have studied a variety of styles in the Royal Conservatory of Music program, such as baroque, classical, romantic, impressionist, and modern piano.
Along with my repertoire, I studied harmony, technique, history, and composition, until I completed Level 10 in high school. As for electronic music, I began composing on Beatwave and GarageBand on my iPad when I was 13 years old. At 18, I got a MacBook with GarageBand and released my first album, Aphelion, under the name “Auklette,” which you can still find on YouTube. I began focusing on adding vocals to my music and released my first singles under the name “Streetveil” in 2022. A few albums later, and I’ve switched to Ableton, a more powerful digital audio workspace. My next album will mostly be produced using Ableton.
ZNS: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Cassia: Every day you’ll hear me say, “Do what you want!” For my whole life, I’ve been on a journey to self-acceptance. It’s always been difficult for me to relax and trust in myself, so now I think: if I’m doing what I truly want to do, it can’t be wrong. I try to focus most on having fun, feeling love, noticing the beauty around me, making art and music, and taking care of myself and those close to me.
I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from the University of Alberta a couple of years ago and have been a case worker at the Women’s Emergency Accommodation Centre since then. Almost every day, I wake up early to support unhoused women in the inner city with their wellness. Academically, I consider myself a postmodernist and an idealist; I am someone who constantly questions things that we think are normal and someone who dreams every day about how the world can change.
Some of my hobbies include playing video games, watching animated shows and movies, and reading fiction and poetry. I also draw, paint, and am currently writing a sci-fi novel called Abstraction. I also play Dungeons and Dragons! Since I fell in love with my wonderful partner, Comet Dust, I have found more hope and become more connected to lifeways like cooking, sharing food, and gardening. I also have a 4-year-old tabby cat named Link. She is my best friend!
ZNS: Why Electronic music?
Cassia: I’ve always loved listening to electronic music. Trance, house, and breakbeat are my favourite genres. My family also loves it, we all can enjoy it together. What appeals to me about it is that it can sound like anything. You can design and manipulate every sound to exactly what you want. It allows me, as a single person, to create an orchestra. One of my favourite elements to design is the drums; I love to experiment with rhythm and try out styles from different genres.
To me, electronic music is space making. I try to craft a space that feels large and full: above you are sparkles, on either side of you are airy synths, underneath you, is a low, smooth bass, and in front of you is a lead or vocal track. In my head I can almost see how all the sounds look travelling around the space.
ZNS: Your sound feels distinct; what’s your go-to synthesis method and how do you avoid sounding like everyone else?
Cassia: Thank you! My “go-to synthesis method” starts on Ableton. I go fishing for a MIDI instrument that I like and then create a 4 or 8 bar chord progression which will be the base of the song. I build the other song elements one at a time. I keep them layered together and listen to them looped over and over to ensure that they are all working together and occupying a different space in the soundscape.
Then, I separate and create variations of each element so that the song can evolve over time, usually starting simple and becoming more complex as the song goes on. Once I have an instrumental base, I start thinking about lyrics. Every day, I write in my Notes app on my phone about my feelings and thoughts, and when writing songs, I return to these notes and create songs from them. I like to use words that evoke tactile sensations and subvert expectations. When designing a melody, I try to find notes that are unusual and add harmonic context to the rest of the song, but sometimes I just sing what comes to me!
As for why my music sounds unique…Well, I just make music that I want to listen to! I take inspiration from different genres, but one of my main sources of inspiration is video game music: from old 90s drum-and-bass arcade tracks, to Nintendo main menu music, to the cinematic soundtrack of my favourite game, Nier: Automata. Another facet of what makes my music interesting is my classical music training, which taught me methods like counterpoint (combining two or more independent melodic lines), and my constant efforts to escape tradition! I want my music to make you feel like you’re in another world. Like you’re in my imagination, with me, dancing!
ZNS: Which non-electronic genre or artist has secretly influenced your production?
Cassia: One of my favourite bands is Cocteau Twins. There are elements of their music that are electronic, such as their use of electronic drum machines and analog synthesizers, but they primarily use guitars with effects pedals for instrumentation. I only recently discovered them, so they have been inspiring me lately to try to break the barriers further on my vocals. The lead singer of Cocteau Twins, Elizabeth Fraser, has an incredibly expressive voice. I feel like she’s just playing, having fun with possibilities, not expecting her words to be understood.
Mother Mother is another of my favourite bands. I admire their versatility, every one of their albums is a different sonic experience. The three-layer harmonies they pull off are unique and unorthodox. I admire them lyrically for their ability to poke fun at dark topics, lament seriously, explore surrealist ideas, and challenge social norms.
While learning piano, I only explored jazz on the surface level. After moving to Edmonton for Uni (University), I began attending jazz clubs like the Yardbird Suite and studying jazz piano theory. To me, it is a totally new world and it’s still not a genre I can play intuitively, but just being around it has expanded my ideas about harmony and free expression. I love how, at the Yardbird jams, each instrument gets a chance at a solo to show off during the song. I’ve been trying to incorporate moments like that where everything else takes a step away to show off a certain instrument. I also love Fleetwood Mac, The War on Drugs, Portishead, and Massive Attack.
ZNS: How do you write your music?
Cassia: As I said, I usually go through my journal and poetry to find song lyrics that work together. My instrumental tracks remind me of certain things, like landscapes, that inform the theme of the lyrics. The world and people around me do so as well.
One of my new unreleased songs, Permafrost, began as an instrumental track called “melting ice stars.” The sounds I created made me think of water dripping from icicles and bright stars in the black winter night. At the time, the winter around me was melting and re-freezing with the dropping and rising temperatures of the unpredictable Alberta spring. My imagination ran with this to a far future where all of the glaciers have melted into a new ocean and yet the land has become a frozen tundra. I love to imagine impossibilities and contradictions.
I struggle with undiagnosed mental illness that affects me every day. I am troubled by anxiety, depression, and sensory discomfort. Therefore, my thoughts frequently go to dark places. I express these thoughts in my music… always returning to the idea that, no matter what, we can still dance. Love, of course, is a major theme. It’s funny, my first songs were about fictional relationships, since I hadn’t had much of my own romance to sing about. Now that I have the love of my dreams, my lyrics have taken a sweet and spicy turn!
ZNS: Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years of a professional music career?
Cassia: Well, I sure would love to be a famous pop star! Unfortunately, that takes a LOT of time and money, and I’ve never been good at advertising myself. For now, my goal is to establish myself as a local performer. I would love to have shows at venues frequently and find a global fanbase!
With my good friend Mika Haykowsky, AKA Sir Kadian, I imagine the perfect events to throw. We love to dream about a decentralized concert: one where the performer isn’t on the stage but down with the audience. I’ll feel satisfied when I play my tracks and sing and dance with my friends in some cool spot with flashing lights. Once I finalize my next album, I’ll plan an album release party that’ll be a blast!!
ZNS: How do you balance work, music, and social life?
Cassia: As a Case Worker, I work long hour shifts every week. My work is unpredictable and can be very emotionally and physically draining, so I often just have to rest in the evening. I’m lucky in that I have a partner who lovingly takes care of me when I’m exhausted, and that I have friends that listen to my worries and help me whether it’s doing chores or having fun.
I play piano several times a week as it relaxes me and helps me express myself. I don’t have trouble with making a ton of instrumental song drafts on Ableton since it’s my favourite hobby and can be both meditative and exciting, but I struggle with recording vocals. I’m very picky about my vocal tracks sounding ethereal and pitch-perfect. I take every day as it comes and don’t expect too much out of myself. If I make it through the day, I’m doing just fine.
ZNS: How does your family support you in your endeavors?
Cassia: My parents have always been extraordinarily supportive! They funded my piano lessons for so many years. They listen and give constructive feedback to every draft I send them. My dad especially gets so excited about my music – he’s my biggest fan. He literally texts me every time he listens to one of my songs! My parents were my first audience and they have shown up to live performances of my original music in Edmonton–even though they live all the way in the small town of St. Paul! I am eternally grateful for their belief in me.
