Infamous for being in a band ‘Consouls,’ Zorsy is a human instrument of his own. He uses his love and passion for gaming to create music that is rich in flavour with harmonies to make you see colours.
A varied musical upbringing saw Zorsy trained as a classical pianist in his youth, but also drawn to jazz and hip-hop records, and ultimately the wide-ranging world of video game music. We sit down with Zorsy and get to know more about his musical history, how video games influenced him and what instrument he doesn’t play.
What’s your musical process when you created your latest single?
‘Insoulate’ was a track I created with the idea of a simple singable melody to be played by a warm brass instrument (flugelhorn) sitting on top of harmonies that were both satisfying and dissonant at the same time, where the listener could hear a bit of tension. I used a wider harmonic palette to allow both my soloists to express more when it came to their solos.
Were you forced to learn an instrument or was it natural?
I was forced to learn piano as a kid, but when I started around 6 I hated it purely for practising. I quit not long after but decided to take it up again as a teenager upon learning that other forms of music could be played on the instrument beyond what I was learning in my lessons (for me at the time, I’ll thank video game music for that!)
What else can we expect from you?
So far I’ve released 3 tunes throughout this year, all of which were recorded last year in Australia. I recorded another 5 tunes in Indonesia at the beginning of the year which wraps up a lot of last years works that I aim to release as an album in December, but am aiming to release one of them as a single soon… I can’t wait to share that! It’s been fun to space out the music, and I already have a lot of new originals to share that have been composed this year. So I’m excited and ready to get back into the studio.
Your music is quite unique, who do you think inspires you?
The simple answer to that is an artist that creates sounds that feel good! It’s usually context-based, who I’m into at a certain time. ‘Insoulate’ is inspired by modern jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda and neo-soul artists like D’Angelo. But outside of jazz, genres like dubstep and heavy metal inspire a lot of my writing. Though I think my roots with pursuing music come from my love of video games and their soundtracks. If there was one artist who probably inspires me the most it’s Nobuo Uematsu, a legend in the video game world for composing the music of final fantasy.
Is there an instrument you don’t know how to play? If so what and why not?
(Laughs) every instrument that isn’t piano/bass/guitar/drums I cannot play, and that’s simply because I am human. If I had more time in life I could try and learn everything!
Who are* your favourite jazz artists?
When it comes to traditional jazz, my favourite artists are Bill Evans, Benny Green, and Ray Brown, but with modern or in the jazz fusion world I love the band Void, Funky Knuckles and Keyboardists and producers Anomalie and Rob Araujo.
Where do you see yourself in a few years time?
For the vast majority of my time working as a musician, I’ve been based in Sydney, but have had the opportunity within this year to take some of my music abroad. I’d love to be travelling and playing music working with artists and sounds all across the world. I won’t stop creating, but in a few years time, I’d love to be all over the place to create!