Sleepy Fish Artist | Chillhop

Sleepy Fish

coa Artist | Chillhop

coa

Last fall’s Like the Sky, or Something Else was the first part of Sleepy Fish’s newest trilogy. Now, the enigmatic and aquatic producer is back for round two: A Note from my Book. Ten songs in total, the entire project was created in collaboration with coa, another lofi artist hidden from the public’s eye. The mystery and anonymity works here. The two let the music do the talking.

Full of hushed vocal harmonies and cozy feels, it’s a ten song project both poetic and organic. A collaborative LP that continues where the last chapter left off, swimming through the sea one song at a time. Enjoy an in-depth Q+A with the two artists below.

How did the collaboration start between you two?

coa: Sleepy Fish found my Soundcloud page about a year or two ago and we started working on music right away actually!

Sleepy Fish: The main way we worked on the album was with coa starting all the songs and I just finished them all out. I don’t even think I started a single song. It didn’t take very long because he [coa] kept sending really good ideas. He made it really easy for me to finish it.

What was the creative process behind A Note from my Book & why did you pick this title?

coa: I would send a section and then Sleepy Fish would make a totally new section for it and send the whole thing out. Most of the tracks names were created by him as well.

The first track ‘’A Reminder’’ originally had lyrics and the first line was something like ”I put a note in my book” so [the title] is sort of a reference for that.

What inspired this project?

Sleepy Fish: We were inspired by the same things imagery wise. For me personally, because it was the winter time when we finished it, it was a very fall / winter kind of album. It wasn’t really a concept album for us, we weren’t trying to tell a specific story, but there’s a lot of everyday stuff in a lot of the songs, like the beauty of sitting in your room and looking out your window and the weather changing.

How would you describe the project?

Sleepy Fish: I think it’s a lot slower than anything that has come out under my name and it’s a lot closer to coa’s style. It sounds pretty different mood wise, is much more laid back, and I feel like all the tracks go together very well and they have a similar mood.

coa: I think there’s a lot of details and little things to discover, so I do think that playing all the way through is not passive but more towards active listening.

Some of the song titles (“The Field from Spirited Away’’),  (‘’Treecko is a Cool Starter’’) refer to Miyazaki / Pokémon. Were these inspirations?

coa: Treecko and Spirited Away were Sleepy Fish’s ideas and those are definitely references to those things.

Sleepy Fish: When I write a song I usually have this specific image in my brain as to what it exactly reminds me of, and I just call it that ’cause I want to be as specific as possible. I had a lot of fun with this album, because all the tracks are so good that they remind me of very specific things.

What are you hoping for this release?

coa: Since this is my first, right now I am just really excited about releasing with you guys cause it’s a great label and I have been following him [Sleepy Fish] for some time, so I was just mainly excited about putting this together and releasing it. I just hope everyone likes it.

Sleepy Fish: Same, I hope everyone enjoys it. I don’t really think it’s a big departure for what has come out under the Sleepy Fish name before.

To Sleepy Fish: if you compare this release to the previous ones you released with us, has anything changed in your approach to making music?

Sleepy Fish: I don’t think it really has. It feels really aligned with everything that I have been doing. This was just the first time making a full length album with somebody. It was really fun. I had a really good time doing this.