You’re waiting in a small, hot and cramped venue and the atmosphere is buzzing, when suddenly soft red lights illuminate the scene and a small, blonde-haired man walks onto the stage sporting an other-worldly outfit and a teardrop guitar. As soon as he plucks that first string, you can tell he’s putting his life and soul into what he’s doing. This is the Connan Mockasin experience.
It’s only been a few weeks since I started to listen to Connan’s music, but it’s left a huge impact on my current music taste and inspired me to branch out more into the psychedelic pop-rock genre that he’s known for. And the good thing about him: there’s so much to explore.
One of his most famous songs, Forever Dolphin Love, starts with a chilling repetitive melody made by bells, which gradually grow louder and louder until they are overthrown by a somewhat piercing synthesised sound. After this first couple of minutes of confusion it falls into a comfortable beat that starts to resemble songs you may be more familiar to, whilst still sounding as if you’re in a dream.
Sounds strange to you? You should see the music video; it features a heavily face-painted ensemble, eerily bobbing there heads slightly out of time to the music. But his surreal visualisation of his music makes it all the better: it’s more open to interpretation. Why did he choose that to represent his video? What does it mean? And what could have possibly been going through his head?
Connan has always had a particularly unique approach to creating music. His 2013 album, Caramel, was recorded in a hotel room in Japan, in order to create his own distinct sound of distorted guitar strings and strange, monster-like ambient noises. What’s better, he got a lot of his production advice from Air. They too recorded one of their most famous albums, ‘Moon Safari’, completely by themselves, and the similarity between the two albums can clearly be seen: Take the song ‘All I Need’, for example; which has a similar dreamy tone to songs like ‘Do I Make You Feel Shy?’ from Connan’s album.
Even though he has had tips and tricks from the best artists, he still remains entirely his own person. His contrasts in character make him an intriguing person to listen to and experience. His shy disposition goes entirely against his flirty lyrics and desire to be with somebody, but the blending of the soft guitar with his high-pitched, harmonic voice makes it all seem so right.
There’s just one thing: Connan doesn’t come out with music so often. But, what he has released is so timeless and exciting, that the wait for new music shouldn’t seem too long. He also participates in ventures with other artists, such as LA Priest with the creation of Soft Hair, which is like Connan’s music but with an extra caffeine boost. ‘Lying Has To Stop’ features both artists singing, their voices contrasting each other’s perfectly, and then the music video showcases a lot of surreal but rhythmic dancing (nothing that Connan Mockasin is unfamiliar to).
In conclusion, I’m not sure that there’s anything this man could do better with his music. It is part of a complete new wave of music, alongside King Krule and Ariel Pink, that is simply unmatched in the music scene.