Can you tell us a bit about how you created ''Warmer Days'? 
I really wanted to go for a raw boom bap style drum beat for this track, layered with organic textures to give it a warm, human feel. So that’s what I worked on first. Next I laid down the piano and started messing around with instrument recordings I made over the past few years. That’s where all the tiny sax licks and guitar arpeggios come from. It’s an amalgamation of recordings from different sessions. I love recycling recordings from unfinished beats (that will probably never see the light of day) in the new tracks I make. It makes it feel like all the time I spent on these unfinished projects wasn’t a waste of time after all. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out?
‍What I like most about the beat is the “openness” it has to it. It breathes. I often feel like I crowd my tracks with too many layers, but I’m happy I was able to keep it simple with this one. It lets each instrument come into its own and especially the jazzy piano solo has a lot of breathing room this way. 

What inspired ''Dole Out''? 
We wanted to bring a more bouncy feel to the winter. The track gave us the good vibes of being at a holiday family gathering. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out?
‍Overall it’s the good feeling of the track that we love the most and how it easily moves along.

‍Is there anything curious you want to share about the track?
‍We’re not always known for using brass instruments so the little horn hits were a little more out of the ordinary for us. It was cool to incorporate that especially because it adds a bit of an energy boost.  

What motivated you to create ''Come In And Stay''? 
When I started 'Come In And Stay' I hadn't felt like making music for a while. I wanted to enjoy the process again and to kinda lose myself in the music I was creating. To really get back that feeling of just having fun and not forcing or complicating things. 

‍Can you tell us a bit about how you created the track?
‍I started with the guitar line that you hear when the beat first comes in and built on that - drums first, which is very unusual for me. After that I sketched out an arrangement and then added bass, some synths and the melodic parts. I let it sit for a couple of days and got some good feedback on it from friends, changed it up a little, added some subtle synths and there it was!

Is there anything curious / fun you want to share about the track, or with your fans?
‍The track was mixed in the Chillhop studio while the room was being set up for a Chillhop staff karaoke night!  

Can you tell us a bit about ''The Loveliest Dream''? 
I created "The Loveliest Dream" with my beatstep pro beat pad to play the drums and my guitar and bass guitar to play some of the leads and serum to sound design some retro synthesizers for the chords. I wanted to channel what it felt like to have a dream at night about the happiest, fullest version of my future, having a house, a family, and nowhere to be to celebrate the holiday season with the people I love. 

‍Is there anything you want to share with your fans?
‍I wanted to share this is my first release back on Chillhop since going away for treatment for anorexia. I'm happier and healthier and want to spread awareness on eating disorders and that getting help was the best thing I've ever done for myself in my life.

"Between 0.3% and 0.4% of young women and 0.1% of young men will experience anorexia nervosa. Men with anorexia nervosa are more likely to have a higher risk of dying from the illness because they are often misdiagnosed or diagnosed later" men being such a small percent, there is less information to research, they usually suffer in silence and die. I found treatment and it saved my life. I want to pass along the message to anyone struggling.

How did you create "Satisfaction"? 
While creating “Satisfaction”, I was in a sort of flow. It happens every few months that I lock into a specific BPM (song tempo) and style. I wrote this right after writing my last song of my (forthcoming) debut EP. So it will definitely be an introduction to the new direction I'm going in soundwise. Funnily enough this will be the first song coming out of that period even though it was the last track I made. Currently I'm searching for new sounds again. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out?
‍I feel like it has this slow motion vibe, like driving a car on the beach in slow-motion especially in the "chorus". I also like how I made it by myself from start to finish. I used to be more reliant on other people to make a good track but it gets easier and easier to do it by myself.

What motivated you to create your track featured on Winter?
I was heavily inspired by SiR, and also named the track after one of his tracks. We definitely like the same tempo and the spacious production inspired me to leave a lot of room in the arrangement.

Photography by Tarona. Assisted by Tessa Konings.

Can you tell us a bit about how you created ''Swirl Solstice''? 
As I often do, I started playing around on my piano and wrote this little chord-loop, which I used to build the song around it. I focused on writing a clear pronounced hook melody to give you that warm cozy feeling. After adding some ambience, it made me think of the Dutch winter season: especially when it used to get so cold the rivers are frozen, and everyone starts digging to find their ice skates, comes outside and meets each other on the ice and drink coffee as they go. That is something I always miss now that I live in Australia. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out?
‍I love that this song gives me both warm and cold feelings, which is what I aimed for to catch the concept written above. I also recently started focusing on writing more pronounced melody hooks and that worked well for this track.

What motivated you to create your track featured on Winter?
Winter is my favourite season! I always want to be featured on the Winter compilation. Maybe that’s because I have so many good memories of winter and there’s no real “winter” in Australia.

What inspired ''Moving on''? 
We all know that feeling of being on the way home after a long period working or studying. When you just wait for the ride to end when seeing the landscapes you have not seen in a while. That is exactly the vibe we wanted to bring for this track. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out / is there anything you would have done differently?
‍Everytime we work together on melodies or other ideas, there is this instinct connection that makes things a lot easier to drive the making of a track, and it is satisfying every time. The only thing that could make this even more satisfying is learning to play new instruments to keep bringing more and more.

Is there anything fun you want to share?
Funny fact about Nymano and I. We have met only once about three years ago and none of us knew each other at that time. Still, we spent the night chilling in Paris and vibing with other friends. I knew only a few months later that it was Nymano, one of the main artists who inspired me to start making music. Lol.

How did you create "Soul Reflection"? 
We are two big fans of Samurai Champloo, and we wanted to create a track with the groove of "Pretending to" by Tsutchie. We have a simple bass drum, very textured with few bouncy elements but each of them is treated a lot. To this, we added a base of jazzy piano chords that come a bit late. Some digital flutes, a classic guitar and scratches to reinforce the hip hop dimension of our track. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out / is there anything you would have done differently?
‍Our favorite part is the arrival of the guitar and the dynamic that it creates with the rest of the instruments.

What motivated you to create your track featured on Winter?
Because we think that there are many Japanese chillhop/lofi fans amongst your listeners and we can't wait to get their feedback.

Can you tell us a bit about "Long Grain Game"? 
I started this track by playing a bunch of grooves on my drum kit. I then chopped up/rearranged them to have multiple drum patterns happening simultaneously. Once I added the rhodes/bass, the rest just fell into place! 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out?
‍I love the dichotomy between the energetic drums and the smooth melodics. I think they balance each other out in a unique way.

Is there anything curious you want to share about the track?
The piano that comes in half-way through the track is my grandma's old upright that I acquired not too long ago. It's been a blast to play!

How did you collaborate to create ''Mantilla''? 
We've been exchanging ideas for awhile now, this was me trying to write something soulful on my guitar over a groove Broken Transient had sent me. I sent the idea over and from there we just went back and forth sprinkling in elements and finishing off the track. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out / is there anything you would have done differently?
‍We both really love the live feel that it has and wouldn't change a thing about it!

What motivated you to create your track featured on Winter?
We have similar inspirations and we always find a way to push each other to make better music, I think that's about it.

How did you and SwuM work on ''Long for''? 
The drum production was done in a true collaborative manner, which isn't something that is done all that often. I started by tracking out the groove with drum sounds and when I passed it to SwuM, he sent it back with a little more embellishments and that classic SwuM sound. 

‍What's the thing you love the most about how your track turned out?
‍I love how the overall atmosphere of the song gives you the feeling of frigid air in the winter, yet mixed in with all of the other instruments, there is a sense of warmness that brings it all together.

Is there anything curious you want to share about the track?
There's a wide variety of instruments in this track, including saxophone, guitar, bells, keys, and flute. At first it doesn't feel like all of those instruments could fit on one track, but I think it all came together nicely.