Fauxe shares the biggest inspiration for his latest album, thought processes that go into music and the legacy he wishes to leave behind.
How would you describe your music to someone who is not familiar with who you are?
Fauxe: To people who are not aware of me, my name is Fauxe. I’ve been making music as Fauxe for about 10 years now. My music is more of a by-product of taste and knowledge. It has changed a lot over the years spanning different styles of music. I’d say that there might be one or
two things you might like but I find it more interesting for you to join the process of my life in music and for you to describe it for yourself.
What are some influences that have gone into the creation of the music in your latest album, ”new life!”?
Fauxe: Barry Harris, Thelonious Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim — these three people were instrumental in my life in 2020 as ”New Life!“ was my space to focus harmonically in music. Improvisational music or what you can call, un-arranged or prepared music, was also the gel that pieced everything together for me as most of the music created for the album was improvised. The three masters above were merely my spiritual guides of sort. Yes, it was my new life.
—
Has Singapore’s cultural diversity played a role in shaping your perception of music?
Fauxe: I think truthfully, you are either fixated on the past, comfortable with the present or focused on the future with music. Singapore has had the three points ongoing in various degrees throughout our years as a nation.
I feel that our cultural diversity shaped my understanding of opportunities rather than perception in music. Opportunities however, aren’t about whether I have the privilege to do something based on my race, skin color or even utilising music from the past to create my music.
It was about realising that there was no such thing as a grounding point in music to return to, you might say it’s almost like a principle towards music. Knowing that most of our upbringing and inspirations were coming out of the west, it just hit me one day to finally realise that I too, need not feel obligated or responsible towards how and what I create. Thus, it actually made me more obligated to put my life out there with music and be responsible towards influencing and shaping society through my music — by creating my own opportunities with and in music.
You started the “ALTRUISM” trilogy in 2019 and “new life!“ being the second edition, what is the motivation behind this trio of albums?
Fauxe: Now that I’ve explained how I create opportunities in music, you will now understand how on one end, it might seem that I love making conceptual albums whether the themes explore love, culture or anything in general, but the real motivation behind the trilogy was to allow myself to practice, learn and slowly create. A lot of the songs were conceptualised in 2018, and if you think about it, every album dropped on 31st of December. If I started in 2018, and the last album drops in 2021, I’ve technically been working and conceptualising ideas on that album for three or four years. So working backwards, every album so far has had time spent thinking and with every part of the trilogy, there stems a longer line of thinking for me.
I have ideas that come in and out everyday. If I don’t learn how to manifest and digest these ideas, then I’m mainly flexing how easy it is to create music especially if I’m using a computer. And that’s not what the ”ALTRUISM“ trilogy stands for. It’s about the process of a Singaporean son making music from where he comes from.
—
Is the trilogy progressing the way you envisioned it to be?
Fauxe: Not necessarily. Rhythm | Harmony | Improvisation. Sampling | Songwriting | Big Band Arrangement. Three themes and three different ways to explore these themes.
The first album went as expected. The second one, with COVID-19 and all, made me push my future ideas forward as well. “New Life!” was really supposed to be about my singer songwriter intuitions. Improvisation, however, took over instead. Couple that with the fact that I rewrote the album (“New Life!”) and finished it in December 2019, improvising helped me realise my harmonic/songwriting ideas far more than I ever expected.
Which is why for the last installment — “Bakthi/Bakti” — it evolved into an album filled with improvised piano instrumentals. At this stage I cannot assume whether there might be some songs I’ve composed that will be in the album, but I know that I just want to improvise new pieces of music, songs or whatever you call it, and be as captivated in the moment as well as completely vulnerable because I’m not the most fantastic player yet. But I know that my mind and soul was created for music. And that is what I’m out to share, devotion (Bakthi/Bakti).
Have you noted an evolution in the music you put out from your first ep to the most recent “new life!” album?
Fauxe: So firstly, it’s important for me to let everyone know that my first EP was called “Ubuntu EP” put out by a label from Singapore called Phyla Digital. It had this song called “Thanks Ms. Panda” that threw light on me when I first started. It’s crazy how it’s still being listened to around the world.
Secondly, there definitely is an evolution and to be honest it’s part and parcel of my daily conversations with myself, that perhaps we are too used to looking at someone from a certain angle and to be content that people are at least creating. Evolving is part moving forward and part reflecting. I came to a halt when I realised I was moving forward so quickly that I didn’t have the time to reflect — to understand what it means to be doing anything rather. So the “ALTRUISM” trilogy is my practice with that. Moving forward and reflecting on my actions at the same time. My fingers hurt every now and then.
—
You also produce music for other musicians, how different are your thought processes when it comes to making your own music versus collaborating with other musicians?
Fauxe: Great question. Firstly, we have to set a fine line between collaborations and work which — trust me guys — took me forever to understand. Collaborations stand the test of time. Sure work can too. But if you are being paid to be there, you are still there because you’re being paid.
All of that being said and done, I too set a very thick line between what I do and what I do for others. Every now and then, little pieces of me would jump over the line but I’ve felt it always came at the right time for me during the production process. It felt like it spiced things up whenever I needed it to. So I take what I’ve learned and apply it to all the different styles of music I’ve worked on. Sure a lot of times it doesn’t work, but hey, if you ain’t got no patience with the work, there ain’t no points for style.
Collaborations on the other hand, they are but a real handful for me. Sometimes it comes with writing, beat making, mixing, mastering. All these non-money ventures, those are the ones I try to work on when I can. Sometimes they are just with the friends I hang out with that make music from time to time. I’d say I am looking forward to another level of collaboration. I have to grow and I won’t grow if I don’t understand what growth means and feels like.
Finally, what is the legacy you hope to leave behind one day for not just musicians but creatives?
Fauxe: I used to dream big. Now I take it day by day. When you realise that everything we do musically here, is either a way to know that it will get a stamp of approval worldwide or be treated as irrelevant, then you should start to live big. Big on empathy. Big on knowledge. Big on love. Big on every single aspect of life that isn’t about music. That to me, is my greatest lesson so far to others and my simplest reward to myself. That no matter what you do, you are all going to expire eventually. So don’t dream about it, try small and live it — and then watch it become a big reality.
—
Photography Siew Png Sim
This story about Fauxe first appeared in the June/July ’21 issue of Men’s Folio Singapore.
RELATED ARTICLES
