Review Fix chats with Kashmir Winter’s junï, who lets us know all about his origin in music and the band’s goals for the rest of 2019.
About Kashmir Winter:
Kashmir Winter is a collaborative project between artists junï and Edwin Raphael. Hailing from Manchester and Dubai respectively, we are both now Montreal-based and have crafted a collection of guitar-driven songs that fall somewhere between our own unique sounds.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
junï: I’ll be honest, I was really late to the music game. Don’t get me wrong, I always loved listening, and I dabbling in making it back in highschool, but as a young brown immigrant kid I was never really pitched music as a career option. It was only when I ended up starting a bicoastal rnb band called “adhoc†with a couple of friends that really took off that I realized I could pursue it more seriously.
Since then I’ve decided to try things solo, although clearly that didn’t really work out since me and Edwin ended up hitting it off and started working on our collaborative project, Kashmir Winter.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
junï: For me, it’s all about experimentation. When starting a song from scratch, I almost like to approach it as though it’s a block of clay that I know has a beautiful sculpture hidden inside. By prodding and poking and scraping through the layers I’m not “creating†the sculpture so much as I’m discovering it.
Lyrically and conceptually, I find my best songs hit me like a spark of electricity. I know some people spend weeks methodically crafting verses, but for me, when I’m inspired, I can write a whole song in like 15 minutes.
Review Fix: What inspires you?
junï: I like to find inspiration within my own personal experiences and the things I see in the world around me.
Thinking about it though, the two are really one and the same. My thoughts and actions are influenced by the world, and the world I see is a reflection of me.
Ultimately though, I think I try and find inspiration in my weirdest or loneliest feelings. That’s what my music is really, me trying to put those feelings into words so that I kinda understand them myself, and so that you can feel them too. I’m always surprised by how many people relate.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
junï: Good question. I honestly don’t know. If there was a Venn diagram of the genres indie, rnb, punk, rock, alternative, folk, and hip-hop, I think junï would be somewhere in the middle.
My philosophy is to not be particularly tied to any genre or sound ~ just make the best music possible.
Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?
junï: For Kashmir Winter, we’re aiming to make the shows as intimate as possible. We’ve got the full live band, alternative and extended versions of some songs, and we’re working on a set that literally engages all the senses.
Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?
junï: Porcelain was inspired by a moment I had while jamming with Edwin, when I realized how many items of clothing and jewelry I was wearing solely for the purpose of feeling self-confident, and portraying self-confidence.
Like isn’t that messed up? If I’m truly self-confident, I should feel that while wearing a brown burlap sack just as much as in a $10,000 suit.
I mean I’m not saying don’t dress well or enjoy yourself, but just, your self-worth shouldn’t be tied to material things. Work on yourself, make yourself so dope that those things augment you, rather than make you.
Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2019?
junï: Above all else I’m trying to get in the studio. I’m actually sitting on a ton of amazing rough songs right now that need to be polished off. Edwin and I will be putting the finishing touches on our upcoming EP “Kashmir Winter†soon hopefully I’ve also got my own debut project in the works. So yeah, just tackling all that.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
junï: I actually love it when strangers reach out to me on social media ~ if you have something you wanna tell me, hit me up! @wordsbyjuni on everything.
Leave a Reply