When it comes to heartbreak, we all deal with it differently. Whether it be blasting emotionally-driven tracks or binge-watching yet another 2000s TV show, the majority of us find solace in some way shape or form. For singer-songwriter Slopes, pouring out all his emotions over soft indie productions did the trick. Dropping his new project “Tears”, the artist melodically weaves empowering lyricism with bold and candid lyricism. Driven by a calming guitar lead production, Slopes opens up on his own experience with heartbreak while intricately expressing a new side to his personality.

“I wanted to write a song about a feeling I get sometimes – a feeling that I’m gonna end up disappointing or hurting people,” the artist revealed when discussing the track. “The best course of action is just to run away from the whole thing. ‘Tears’ is about choosing flight over fight.”

Spending this past year drawing on inspiration from new sources, the singer-songwriter revealed that while the time allowed him to write and produce new music, he also spent the time refueling and re-learning his songwriting process. Ready to go back on the road and serve up these new tunes, we caught up with Slopes talking about his early years in music, wanting to make melancholic music and how moving to LA changed his sound.

Check out the interview below now…

Hey Dag! How are you? How has this past year been for you?
I’m good, thank you! The past year was okay for me – a solid 5 out of 10. I’ve been lucky to have a studio to go to and songs to write. I can’t complain.

With everything that happened last year, was your creativity affected?
Because nothing much has happened over the last year and a half I’ve had to draw inspiration from other sources. Music, books, pre-covid-memories and whatever else. And it actually worked for a good while! But then eventually I came to a point where I started repeating myself, and it genuinely felt like I needed to be refueled – as if there was nothing more to process, and therefore nothing more to write. Because I think that’s essentially what songwriting is to me – processing.

How did you first into music, what sparked the interest?
Some of my first memories are from my dad playing guitar and improvising melodies on top. I thought it sounded magical and almost otherworldly. As I got older I started to realize that my dad isn’t a very good singer or guitarist. From a technical point of view he’s straight-up poor, but I still think there’s something magical about the way he plays and sings.

You moved to LA to purse your career, do you think this impacted your sound in anyway?
Hmm, yes, probably, although it’s hard for me to pinpoint how exactly. In terms of songwriting, I got faster and more uncompromising. But LA mainly changed my sound in the sense that I decided to write the kind of music I had always wanted to write, but never really tried to write. I didn’t think anybody would want to listen to my raspy, melancholic, artistic guitar and piano-based music, but in LA I decided it was time to just go for it.

Now you’ve just dropped your new single “Tears”, talk us through the production process?
I wrote the song on the piano standing in my studio. Once the song was 80% done I showed it to Hal and he loved it. We recorded pianos and vocals and sent it off to our manager. He said, ‘It’s amazing, but it needs to be bigger!’. So Hal and I thought, well, we’re gonna give you bigger… So we recorded a ton of choirs and smashed bass and drums and shitloads of guitars on – and that was it!

Talk us through your mindset going into the single, where did you pull your inspirations from?
I wanted to write a song about a feeling I get sometimes – a feeling that I’m gonna end up disappointing or hurting people, and that the best course of action is just to run away from the whole thing. Tears is about chosing «flight» over «fight».

What do you want people to take away from your music?
Well, although my songs tend to be kind of sad, what I really want is for people to get uplifted after hearing my music. I love that sweetspot between happy and sad, that melancholic spot where you can look at your life and say «yeah, there are both good and bad things in my life but I’m okay with it not being perfect».

Who are you inspires you?
I’m inspired by uncompromising people who do their own thing, who think weird thoughts and don’t get too hung up on what everybody else thinks. Musically my biggest idol is Jeff Buckley. His music is massively underrated in my opinion, but his music takes time to like, he doesn’t give you those sweet endorphins at first listen, but if you give his songs a little time you’ll be massively rewarded!

What’s next for you? What are you most excited for?
To get out on the road and play live! Let’s go!