Feature: pastels
Words by Zuzu Khalil
pastels is back with a new release and this time, it’s her highly anticipated EP, Love Garden! If you haven’t already listened to the EP, I can confidently say pastels will surely have you captivated by her garden of stunning instrumentals and collaborative rnb/soulful tracks.
pastels is the artist project of Melbourne producer and musician Annie Bui. Annie’s love for music sprouted at a young age as she grew up in a music-forward environment where she picked up both the piano and the violin. Her passion for music ultimately led her into studying music composition in college. Bui’s love and interest for music production sparked later during her college career when she embarked on a trip to the capital of entertainment, the infamous Los Angeles.
Pastels celebrated the release of her latest EP, Love Garden, on June 2nd and I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to Annie about the process of creating such an incredible collection of tracks.
Although she is the same girl who kickstarted her career making mostly lo-fi tracks, pastels has come a long way with her sound since 2017. Over the past six years, pastels constantly pushed herself to think outside of the box and experimented with different sounds and musical styles which ultimately shaped her into the incredible artist/music producer she is today.
Throughout the years, we’ve seen pastels release a handful of EPs, each falling under a different theme. Her fans have noted that this characteristic, her ability to create a collection of tracks that capture the energy of a specific location, truly distinguishes pastels from other music producers.
“Themes definitely help me put together a cohesive idea/sound. When I created my collaborative project with Mr Hong (cafe a.m & cafe p.m), it was really fun putting together a story-like album. We played with a bunch of foley sounds and audio.”
We see this distinguishing factor again with her latest EP, Love Garden. When asked about the inspiration and motive behind choosing to set this EP in a “Love Garden,” she revels that she was actually inspired by things she saw and loved on social media.
“For Love Garden, I wasn’t going through anything in particular when I created it. I had a little vision in my head of a luscious garden – I put together some images on Pinterest and started creating sounds based on that.”
As someone who loves listening to music, more specifically listening to the stories hidden behind the lyrics written by my favorite artists, I am always fascinated by the ins and outs of the writing process. With pastels creating a largely instrumental EP, I was intrigued to find out how she goes about “writing” the music.
“I normally start by noodling out some melodies and chords on my keys, or sometimes I’ll begin with a beat and jam with that. I get inspired by lots of things - my emotions, film, music, traveling etc. I don’t force myself to create daily, so I choose to when I am feeling inspired or in the mood. My favorite part of the process is probably exploring the range of different sounds - it’s fun to play around with layers!”
As TikTok continues to gain traction, we see an overwhelming output of new music. But something we rarely see are rising artist who put out purely instrumental tracks. pastels happens to be one of the few music producers who can successfully put out instrumental tracks that depicts its own unique meaning to each one of her listeners.
“I enjoy making instrumental music for people to be in their own thoughts without any influence of words or lyrics. With that said, I hope that people feel relaxed, chilled out, and inspired when they listen to my music.”
pastels is no stranger to major collaborations and immersive musical experiences, both within and outside of her own musical releases. Love Garden is a nine-track collection comprising of both solos and collaborations with Grammy-nominated French producer, Häzel, Jessica Domingo, Eileen Sho Ji, and ThatKidMaz.
“My favorites off “Love Garden” would definitely be the tracks with features. I’ve been really lucky to have worked and collaborated with amazing artists who I look up to.”
With being just six months into this year, pastels has already made it one to remember, as she released five singles before finally dropping her latest EP. But she doesn’t plan to slow down any time soon as she still has more in store for her fans later this year! Make sure to stream Love Garden here and be on the lookout for new music from pastels coming soon.
