Ronan ( Eternal Ocean ) joins us for our 27th instalment, to celebrate his first full length album, ‘Reflections On Intrinsic Value’ which came out earlier this month.
Congrats on your recent release “Vision Quest,” a hypnotic 4 track EP, with a roving sense of wonder, continuation and movement. I understand this EP was produced whilst on the go between Boston and New York, Washington State, Bogota, and most recently Mexico City. Can you tell us a little about the EP and how these different places impacted on the final outcome of the sound?
Yeah, I actually recorded all that music back in 2017 while I shared a studio with some close friends in Ridgewood, NYC, so it’s kind of a funny feeling to be sharing it now and everyone having a fresh experience with it, but I love that it’s been getting love, those tracks are fun. I think it was kind of setting the tone for myself as an artist, with each track telling it’s own story and really existing in its own space. I realized then that I can never really pin myself down to genre or trope very well and feel most comfortable when I can just freely explore any type of space that seems interesting to me at the moment :)
Can you tell us a little bit about your label Eternal Ocean in how it came to be and the curation of artists involved/represented on it?
Eternal Ocean is all about the endless flow that surrounds us all, sometimes chaotic, sometimes tranquil; it’s about finding a space within this crazy world that makes sense, that feels like home.
It started as this reaction to this feeling of waiting around for someone to “discover” me, which I think is a pretty common feeling for young artists. But at a certain point, I think I realized I needed to bring my own chair to the table even though I really didn’t know how to do that at all. I always had this feeling that there was another way to exist inside this industry and now “post”-c0vid I think that we’re seeing a bit more openness to other formats of labels, agencies, and the way physical spaces are being run, so Eternal Ocean is kind of my little spaceship that I would like to use to transport myself and close artists/friends towards a bright new future in sound system music culture.
You’ve been busy in the throes of Mexico City lockdown, with your first full length album ‘Reflections on Intrinsic Value’ - the title of which is enthralling in itself. Can you tell us a little bit about the drive behind it and how the title came to be?
Yeah for sure, the title speaks to this internal process I feel like I’ve been going through for a while now that relates to that feeling of need for external validation and a sense of belonging. Finding the space for truly loving and recognizing yourself as enough and not depending on that constant external affirmation is such a crazy and long and non-linear process.
So I think that this feeling of reflection runs through my life, where it’s like you catch a reflection of yourself in some part of life and it allows you to see yourself in a new light and understand who you truly are, and which intrinsic values you do have that have always been in you and always will be. What is that thing inside you that feels timeless yet intimately connected to the experience of being here and now?
“So I think that this feeling of reflection runs through my life, where it’s like you catch a reflection of yourself in some part of life and it allows you to see yourself in a new light and understand who you truly are, and which intrinsic values you do have that have always been in you and always will be.”
We’ve heard the first track ``Producing Tenderness” and we’re all hot and bothered in excitement for the rest of the album to drop, as your sound is constantly evolving but there is a constant theme and exploration of sensation, mood and peaking emotions. Can you tell us a little bit about the influences and sounds explored?
So hyped you liked it! Yeah, the album will have dropped most likely by the time this is out so I hope everyone is enjoying it :)
The influences on the record are all over the place honestly, all of it is coming from my continued exploration of the hardcore continuum through texture and melody. The first track is heavily inspired by that tune ‘Finley’s Rainbow’ from A Guy Called Gerald but then jumps right into a super deep and minimal goa-tinged 4x4 tune, and then from that into some snappy UK leaning tune, and continues this cycle of jumping between these different worlds—trying to find the connective tissue between them and break down the divisions, while at the same time exploiting the tropes and motifs of those sounds, like pretty unabashedly tbh.
I feel like at this point it’s just fun to use genre as another musical tool and to acknowledge that everything I make no matter the BPM or the stylistic references, my personality will shine through, so that helps me relax into the process and allow whatever needs to come out to do so.
What’s next for Ronan and Eternal Ocean?
Big things! Now that the album’s out I can dive back into artist mode and will be spending a few months doing a residency with a close music collaborator friend, so I’m really excited to see what comes out of that.
Meanwhile 2022 is looking pretty spicy with a few EP’s on some pretty sick labels. Eternal Ocean will be kicking things up to hyper-drive as we pivot into a more management / artist collective model, which was what I was always aiming to do, so it’s great to feel like it’s finally happening!
Other than music I’m just focusing on letting go, letting god and living my best life one day at a time <3
Stay Blessed!
Follow Ronan here, and his label Eternal Ocean here!