“Zivi is a songwriter / producer originally from Maine, currently living in Los Angeles. His songwriting and voice are melancholic and nostalgic without being sappy. Hints of country western meets surf rock guitar and lazy afternoon rhythms fill out his sound.”
Zivi just released a new album which is a beautiful dreamy indie folk country western rock album for your upcoming long Fall evening. It has been released on vinyl and getting a special cassette release through Mama Mañana Records.
It is Friday evening, I have finished my work week at my new job and this album somehow suits me so well. It helps me to slow down, and keep my head off the outside world. I am just focusing on the melody, having some great vibes in my ears.
A really great album with really amazing country guitars in the background and melodies that you can easily connect to.
The songwriting has a great quality as well and I am glad this came my way. It would have been lost in the vast ocean of music being released every day.
I have reached out to the artist and asked Zivi our 3 Qs.
What inspired you to start making music and what keeps you making music?
I’ve been picking out melodies on a piano ever since I could reach the keys. And eventually, my parents enrolled me in piano lessons when I was 8 or so. The lean toward songwriting and rock/folk music came a few years later when I started playing an electric bass in a friend’s basement. We were 12 or 13 when we wrote and recorded our first 9-song album of nonsensical riffs and shouted choruses. Then a year or two after that we got a group of friends together and formed a band that started playing at our school and around town. Kinda all fell into place naturally! It’s hard to say what exactly inspired the beginning, whether fate or circumstance, but I’m grateful for my experiences & still feel like I’m learning things every day – whether techniques, history, craft, or perspective.
What keeps me making music is the inability not to! Take away all my instruments and tools and you’d still find me drumming on a dashboard, whistling on a walk, and singing in the shower. This album and this project as a whole is certainly a focused effort as a songwriter and singer, but my relationship with music is more multifaceted.
What was the most challenging thing in your music (artistic) path?
Doing one thing! I love producing other people’s music. I love making music in so many forms from beats to ambient and classical-inspired music. I love jamming and practicing the immediacy of the art form. I love playing many instruments from percussion to brass. The guitar is a convenient tool to write music and accompany yourself with, but the convention of a singer/songwriter playing the guitar isn’t something I’ve been driven toward…as fun as it can be!
What would you dream to do if anything was possible?
Play a concert in outer space!
You can follow the band on: