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When it comes to Onra, his relationship with his own influence, personal identity, and creative production is a complicated one. Each of his projects under the Onra monicker are individually distinctive and yet it seems that what he perceives as his own burgeoning legacy does not necessarily align with what his casual fanbase see as his most recognisable contributions. This is a disparity that seems to only further fuel his creative output. Considering himself as more a fan of music than an artist, his approach is interesting and his honesty disarming. We spoke to him ahead of his Australian tour with Red Bull Music Academy Club Night series.

Your new album Fundamentals is coming out very soon. Does the name of the release relate to your Chinoiseries – given chinoiseries refers to a kind of artistic mimicry and fundamentals suggests a central artistic principle?

No. I don’t consider the Chinoiseries project to be part of my identity. For me, it was a side project and I do really different things. I know that it’s my most popular project so a lot of people like to put me in that box, but Fundamentals is to distance myself from this and this is where I come from more than the Chinoiseries project.

When ACCLAIM spoke to you a few years ago, you said you considered yourself foremost a fan of music than a musician. Do you still feel that way?

Yeah, actually, I was thinking about this last week. I was thinking that I am still, and always will be, such a big fan of music. It’s not up to me to call myself an artist. I can tell you that I’m making some kind of music but to call myself an artist, I’d say, is pretentious.

We’ve heard a new single off Fundamentals, ‘So Long’ featuring Chuck Inglish. It’s not the first time you’ve worked with him – he supplied the vocals on ‘Hold Tight’ from Deep in the Night. What was the motivation to collaborate again?

We just get along well together and we like each other’s stuff so when I told him I was working on the album, he was really motivated by being on it. I sent him the beat and he liked it. Everything can happen naturally for this album. I was looking for different artists who could understand what I was going for and I just knew that Chuck would instantly know what kind of vibe to make. It’s very natural and I always like working with him.

Do your different releases reflect the periods of your life when you were creating them?

Not really. It depends. Most of my albums are conceptual. It depends on the genre and the era I’m trying to go for. That’s always going to give it a certain flavour. It doesn’t necessarily relate to my life and stuff. It just depends on the project. I can tell you that on this new album I sample and produce all kinds of music. It’s not necessarily related to one genre.

You gained notoriety as a creator because of how eclectic your sample sources were. Do you still collect much vinyl?

Of course. I still buy lots of records, lots of CDs as well. I actually don’t buy music online, I don’t download music online, either. I don’t stream music. Of course I don’t stream, who would? I don’t know, I don’t know anyone who uses Spotify or iTunes or whatever.

Is there a reason or is it just what comes naturally?

I guess everything for me is spontaneous. I get the chance to travel a lot and because I travel a lot, I get to collect a lot of music on my way so I always have a lot of music to listen or to sample from so I don’t really have the need to go out there on the internet and search for more stuff because I already have so much stuff.

What are some good places around the world to pick up records?

My go-to in Tokyo is all the Disc Unions. In New York, it’s Northern Lights, it’s so good. In Paris, it would be Crocodisc, yeah. That’s three for you! That’s fine.

People often reference your rigorous use of the AKAI MPC. Do you still rely almost entirely on a pair of them when you’re creating music or performing live?

Yeah, I still use the same old MPC 1000. I think it’s mad that people know about. It’s nice to differentiate it from someone who uses software. It’s like I’m driving a Ford Escort GTI and everyone else is driving Formula 1 but we’re still racing against each other! It’s pretty much the only thing I know how to do anymore. I have no choice but to keep using it and hopefully I get better at playing keyboards and stuff and maybe I can move more onto some other production centres.

I saw a clip of you performing at Boiler Room a few years back and seeing you run two MPCs so cohesively was amazing.

Anybody can do this, man. It’s nothing crazy. If you look at AraabMuzik and what his live set is about on the MPC, then you’ll see what amazing really is, okay? We all have different styles of using it. I use it more like half-live/half-DJ and with him it’s purely live, it’s really amazing.

We’re seeing you in Australia very soon thanks to RBMA. You’re coming to Melbourne May 16 which is great. Do you have anything special in store?

I will be playing some new tracks from my new album! I hope that’s enough. I’m really excited about coming back, actually. I have to work on my set for the next couple of weeks and then I hope people enjoy themselves and dance. I’d be happy with that.

You’ve been here on tour previously. Is there anywhere you like to check out in Australia?

I really want to check out some more nature stuff. Anything related to nature, I like. Hopefully it’s not going to be that cold in a week.

Onra will be performing a special free Opera House show as part of ‘RBMA presents The Studio take-over’ – A special 5 night party series featuring Sydney’s tastemaker/partystarter extraordinaires Astral People, Mad Racket, Elefant Traks and Goodgod. Find out more hereFundamentals is available May 15.