mïus is the multi-art project from Budapest-based Gergely Álmos. As a result of one year of work, the artist has released his highly anticipated full-length album, Abstrakt via Théque Records. The new record showcases Álmos’ strengths which converge from different fields such as architecture, design, and audiovisual art. The artist shared his recent experiences and exciting plans with us below.

THE WORLD OF mïus

HMWL: Hi, where are you answering these questions from? 

Hi, I am based in Budapest. I live here as a musician and also as an architect.

HMWL: What have you been working on recently? Could you tell us a little more? 

I am just releasing my new album ‘Abstrakt’ on which I worked on for a year. I have also been working with Andrea Sztojánovits (Attaray Visual) on our audio-visual set called ‘naked waves’ which we are touring this year. Besides music, I also work on my architectural projects. We have just finished the redesign of the archbishop’s palace in Veszprém, Hungary. A quite busy year is behind me.

HMWL: Which musicians did you listen to when you were growing up? Who influenced you the most?

The early musical influence I had was when I was 7 years old and I picked up one of my dad’s tapes, it was Neil Young’s famous Harvest album. But I think the biggest influence was when I first heard Bristol trip-hop like Portishead. I always listened to different genres like Esbjörn Svensson, Massive Attack, Bad Plus, Tosca, Debussy, György Ligeti. I have been more obsessed with interesting sound design instead of a story in a song or lyrics.

HMWL: Why did you decide to get into electronic music? What struggles / successes did you experience at the beginning of your career?

I think when I started to mess with the first DAWs appearing on the music radars, that was the significant moment. And then I had my first analogue synth. The direction became very obvious for me. 

When, as a young artist, you decide to get serious about your profession, you tend to fall into the trap of taking yourself too seriously, setting too high expectations, or comparing your own art to others. This can become a daily struggle for many of us. It also doesn’t help when the industry tries to measure art with rankings, top lists, awards, and tries to put it in genre boxes. 

The first success experience was playing on stages that you would never have dreamed of a few years earlier when you were in the audience listening to your favourite bands.

HMWL: What has been the most memorable gig you played? Tell us more.

I think it was in the former brewery building last year. This was the first “naked waves” A/V setup with Attaray Visual, there was limited space for the audience, so we could design a 360 degree stage. It was very intimate and we entered another dimension with our audience. Imagine a large industrial venue where we were on a steel grid with the audience, an entire level below you with subs and the lights. There were many smoke and light installations. Luckily we recorded it. I remember it was such a deep experience that I couldn’t speak into the microphone afterwards, it would have killed the moment.

HMWL: Do you enjoy playing to an audience or working in the studio?

I like both, they are very different experiences and processes. But I’m not an extroverted person, concerts are more like a theater performance for us, the music and visuals come first, not the musicians’ egos.

THE RAY OF HOPE 

HMWL: If you could collaborate with anyone for your next release, who would it be? And why?

I think it would be nice to work with an orchestra sometime, some mixture of classical and electronic music.

HMWL: So, what’s in the pipeline? What is next in terms of gigs, festivals, releases, that our readers should go crazy about?

We are very excited to go to one of the biggest audio-visual festivals in Pecs in July. With Attaray Visual we will design and build an A/V installation where the full band will play a gig one night. Also we will take ‘naked waves’ to Rome in September, which will be very exciting for us.