IMRO Creative Rooms is an online content series that invites artists to share an intimate insight into their creative process, by showing the spaces they create in.
Emerging artist Xona is a musical triple threat who combines a special talent for songwriting and production with a truly beautiful voice to deliver sensual, soulful pop music.
Xona has graduated from New Park College of Music, Ireland with degrees in Jazz and Popular Music before he began working with different producers and songwriters in London, Berlin, and Dublin. His influences emanate from the vast worlds of Jazz, Electronic, House, Rock, and even Classical music.
Xona is currently working on new songs for 2022 with producers such as Grammy-nominated MNEK (Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Madonna, H.E.R., Jax Jones, Christina Aguilera) and Irish producer Ross Fortune (A$AP Rocky, King Krule, Jarvis Cocker, Ellie Goulding.)
How important is it for you to have a dedicated creative space?
I think personally, I need routine to commence operation, a creative space to me requires creative output. So whenever I’m in said space I know I can’t leave without something to show for it.
What makes this space work for you?
I think familiarity, also something I’ve learnt from collaborating over the course of the year, a space requires artists who are benevolent and uncritical. Within these confines a writer like me can freely bring in early ideas without the fear of judgment and nurture it into its final form I think that’s why it’s worked so well thus far, my prime collaborator Roberto (whose studio this is) has mastered the art of nurturing early ideas.
In what way(s) does this space influence your output?
I think with the list of equipment we’ve consciously acquired it’s the reason for the 80’s influence on my sound, there are a list of synths that definitely always make its way into a song somehow.
What’s your favourite instrument/piece of kit? And why?
The juno synth for sure.
What would make this space better for you?
Right now the space is one part studio one part bedroom, an elevation would be the ability to fully move it to the next level and have it fully identify as a studio. That’ll come in time I’m sure.
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