Interview | Geo Aghinea

Our BA Songwriting graduate Geo Aghinea is a recent winner of the Oram Awards and is now gearing up to release their debut EP, 'I'll Hand You A Hand'. 

Geo is a deaf, non-binary, international student and has invested time in understanding the physics of sound to create their music, utilising hearing aids and DAWs to come up with their tracks.

In our interview, ahead of the EP's release, Geo lets us in on their creative process, winning the award and how their experiences at ICMP have helped push their creative career forward.  

Could you talk a little about the piece of music you submitted to the Oram Awards? How did 'I'll Hand You a Hand' come about? 

Sure, at the moment I am in the process of releasing my debut experimental and avant-garde EP titled 'I'll Hand You A Hand', which comprises five self-produced and written tracks.

My focus for my Oram Awards application was the song that carries the EP's title, which is set to come out on 24th November.

It’s my personal favourite from this whole body of work, and it’s the most experimental too. I produced it to feel like a sonic journey (which is part of my practice’s mission). The other two songs were 'Fell In Love With An Alien' and 'A Bird’s Wings'.

How did you begin your musical journey? Was there a person or record/piece of music that first inspired you? 

Well, it hasn’t always been easy. I have loved music ever since I was little, but due to the sensitivity of my hearing situation, doctors advised my parents to keep me away from loud environments, and that in a way extended to musical activities too.

As I grew up it was obvious that nothing could stop me from doing music. Then I remember at some point my parents got me my first pair of hearing aids, I started noticing sounds that I had not heard before and it kind of went up from there." 

My grandmother also writes songs and sings, though she has not had the opportunity to take that further unfortunately. She has most definitely been a huge inspiration for me - she’s one of the most vulnerable musicians I know. She only writes songs about and for the people close to her. She has no other agenda behind it. I find that really pure in a way.

What led you to ICMP and the BA Songwriting course? 

Before I joined ICMP, I had always wanted to study music in London, and the reason for that was the need to be exposed to a more diverse sonic climate. At that time in my life I chose this course because even though I was confident as a vocalist, I wanted to push myself and perfect my ability of writing my own songs.

The best thing about studying songwriting is that it truly was a very diversified course. This is also where I found my passion for music production. I had extensive music production, music business and performance lessons within the course, which packed me with a lot of knowledge beyond songwriting.

How were your experiences at ICMP? 

I believe what makes ICMP truly special is the willingness of everyone to help you at any time. Some of the most supportive tutors that I’ve come across my entire life I met at ICMP. They’re also practitising musicians with considerable background and experience in this industry, thus there is a lot to learn from them. The facilities are top tier too, so they’re something to keep an eye on. 

Fun fact, I produced the first two songs from my EP using the modular synth Mother 32 that was available to use on site. There is no way I would've owned such professional and expensive gear myself at that time in my life - so ICMP provided that environment for me to learn and experiment.

What were the most important things you learned? 

I am big on music business, mostly because I am self-managed, and I have had some really great lessons in music business at ICMP.

It is really important as a musician of this generation to know how to protect yourself and how to make the most out of your opportunities, which, by the way, can seem quite limited at first, or at least that was my case.

I have also learned to produce for the first time during my first year at ICMP. It was my tutor, Tim Elsenburg, and his classes that provided a playground for me to explore with music production. It can be quite hard to self-teach the basics yourself, as there are so many things to grasp that you can easily get lost when starting from scratch. Therefore, having someone dedicated to introducing you to this field is a must - which I am very grateful to have had at ICMP.

Could you talk about the Female and Non-Binary Music Producers Society? What led to this coming together? 

It was actually my friend Emilia Buchanan, who was also the recording engineer of my EP, who asked me if I wanted to run the society with her.

I was very excited about the opportunity, so I took it.

The music industry stands imbalanced when you look at it from a gender perspective, particularly within the field of music production and engineering. Even though there is still a lot more progress to be made, I think that it is slowly changing for the better."

Through our society, we have had the privilege of hosting masterclasses with some remarkable women engineers and music producers, including Dani Bennett Spragg. I believe it’s crucial for voices from all backgrounds to be heard within art.

That’s why we even have art in the first place, and we need to make sure that everyone has a space and a voice.

As a deaf music producer, how do you approach the creative process? How do you use hearing aids in your process? 

I could go into this for hours, but to keep it short, I sometimes feel the music more than I hear it. I do not really hear the low end, so I place my hands on the speakers to feel the vibrations of it.

My hearing aids are also quite old now and even if they were brand new, the way that I would hear sound would be quite compromised anyway. I hear very synthetically and I always have. That’s why my creative process came to be very visual, which is a result of me being reliant on sound design. I have spent quite some time learning about the physics of sound. I need to see what happens in my DAW and how my choices impact the individual sounds and overall composition in real time.

Where do you look for inspiration? And what are you aiming to communicate and say with your music? 

Everywhere and everything is an inspiration for me. I am a very eclectic person. I guess the message would depend on the body of work that I create. Although there is one thing that I want to do differently with my music, and that’s integrating a plurality of feelings or stages of feelings within it. In our human experiences, we rarely feel just one emotion - it's often a blend or a sequence of several.

If you had any advice for aspiring musicians or producers, what would it be? 

Producers - spend time trying to understand the physics of sounds. This is something that gets overlooked by many, but it could really elevate the way you create and understand music. 

Aspiring musicians - keep going and be patient. It takes time. And most importantly, allow yourself to be vulnerable in your music.

What does the future look like for you and your music? 

We will have to see about that. :)

Visit geoaghinea.bandcamp.com and instagram.com/geoaghinea for more. You can listen to their latest tracks below: