A Chat with kazaizen (02.04.26)
kazaizen doesn’t build songs in straight lines. On Sky Fish Fly, ideas start as loose fragments, jams, chords, passing feelings, and evolve into something surprisingly cohesive, fluid, and alive. The album moves between groove-heavy tracks, hazy atmospheres, and dense, almost explosive textures, without ever feeling forced into a genre box. We spoke with kazaizen about trusting instinct, chasing feeling over structure, and why sometimes the best ideas come from just hitting record and seeing what sticks.
OSR: Sky Fish Fly feels incredibly fluid. Did you approach it with a clear vision, or did it reveal itself gradually through the process?
kazaizen: Sky Fish Fly came together gradually, but then became a clear vision as more songs appeared. It’s a little bit of both. As the songs write themselves, the vision gets clearer.
OSR: You’ve described starting songs from fragments. What does a ‘fragment’ usually look like for you? A groove, a texture, a melody?
kazaizen: The fragments will be chord progressions or jams that begin on any instrument. They are ideas that feel good in the moment when experimenting and improvising. I try to record everything so that I can listen back. If a certain cadence hits the spot, then it will get worked on further as long as the feeling might last.
OSR: The album blends psychedelic rock, soul, and experimental pop. Do you think in genres at all when creating, or is it more instinctive?
kazaizen: It seems to come together naturally, where everything clicks and feels good. There’s no conscious effort to make things a certain genre, but I suppose that the music develops along similar lines to the sounds that move me.
OSR: Tracks like ‘Nanoo Nanoo’ and ‘Make It Love’ feel groove-led. How important is rhythm as a foundation in your work?
kazaizen: Rhythm is a huge part. When coming up with ideas, I can hear the rhythm for how I want it to be in my imagination. I try to be diligent about hopping on the drums and recording them over the chord progressions as soon as I can.
OSR: ‘What Is’ has this warped, archival soul feeling. Were you consciously drawing from older recordings or recreating that aesthetic from scratch?
kazaizen: For ‘What Is’, I had the keys going through a vibropan type effect pedal that makes the pitch waver ever so slightly. I think that may be what the aesthetic is attributed to. I don’t know if it was meant to sound vintage or if it was a happy accident, as I just love that sound.
OSR: There’s a strong sense of atmosphere across the album. Do you think of your music more as songs or as environments?
kazaizen: There’s definitely more of a lean toward vibe. For myself, music is about feeling and emotion. Environments is a perfect description.
OSR: ‘State of Mind’ leans into a denser, almost shoegaze-like texture. What drew you toward that sonic direction?
kazaizen: I really enjoy dense sonics. I love when something sounds like it is going to explode out of the speakers. For that song, it was to convey something immense.
OSR: ‘Mr. Musk’ introduces humour and narrative. How important is playfulness in your creative process?
kazaizen: You have to laugh. For ‘Mr. Musk’ it might have been a funny but not funny type of thing really. With the absurdity of a lot of happenings in recent time, the only effective remedy I’ve found is laughter.
OSR: The album feels cohesive despite its variety. What ties everything together for you conceptually or sonically?
kazaizen: It may be more of the way the sonics are produced and put together that gives the music cohesiveness. As far as conceptually, the songs will just seem to fit and feel right side by side.
OSR: When you listen back to Sky Fish Fly now, does it feel complete, or do you hear it as part of an ongoing evolution?
kazaizen: It feels complete, although there are always things I would change. It’s a tricky thing, the process of truly finishing songs for me. As an album, it is a compilation of different emotions, stories, and moments in time. But, it is also pointing the direction forward to something new on the horizon.
Many thanks to kazaizen for speaking with us. Find out more about kazaizen on his Instagram and Spotify
