Oneo Fakind is an eclectic electronic experiment. The duo formed in 2017 and their debut album Your Secrets are Safe With Us was born in a frenzy of emails and live jamming on subways. Fusing elements of ambient and psychedelic electronica with hip hop and trap, the project invited listeners to share their darkest secrets. In 2018 the duo released their sophomore album Friendly Reality Ambush Squad, featuring more complex and layered work with the same signature blend of beautifully disparate elements meshing in surprising and often uplifting ways.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Oneo Fakind, it's a pleasure to speak with you. What first got you into music?
Matt: What got me into loving experimental music was I went to an art gallery that had an immersive sound-based installation by Janet Cardiff. I found it incredibly mysterious and exciting. After that I wanted to explore what weird and wonderful sounds were out there.
A) Brett: Listening to the same music my sister had originally discovered while growing up was what first got me into music. Later on, meeting friends who liked similar music and were trying to make their own was what helped me begin my own journey into musical creation.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
A) Brett: Most of my music creation happens during my commute to and from work. I sketch out ideas on an iPad and get them as far along as I can before bringing them into the studio. I do find it a bit of a challenge setting aside additional time when at home to refine those sketches and get them sent off to Matt. As a result, I was not very productive during lockdown.
Matt: I don't like to be too scheduled. I try to make music when I'm in the mood, which is often later at night.
'Medicinal' is your most recent single. Can you tell us about its history and whether anything remarkable happened during its creation?
A) Brett: The creation of Medicinal followed our standard working procedure with Matt sharing the initial idea, me adding more parts, Matt refining and trimming those parts and then me adding more parts again. Matt names most of our songs and usually does this whenever he shares his first version or revision of an idea. After that I use the title as a description of how the final song should sound. To me Medicinal features a euphoric high, a melancholic breakdown and a nostalgic afterglow – a medicinal experience.
Tell me about the biggest difficulty you've ever gotten yourself into.
Matt: I tried to climb a volcano that was too steep and treacherous for how prepared we were. We didn't even pack enough water. We all made it down OK.xs
You live in Canada. What do you enjoy best about this country?
A) Brett: When living in Canada – especially in a large city like Toronto – you get the opportunity to meet and mingle with people from all over the world. It is a place where ideas mash and meld together and it is OK to be different. This all makes it a great place to make weird music.
Matt: Agreed. There's music (plus art, food, culture...) from everywhere in Toronto.
Does your family share your interest in music? What are their thoughts on your work?
A) Brett: My family has been very supportive of my various musical endeavours even though they do not necessarily enjoy listening to the music I make.
Matt: They say they like my music. I dunno whether they're just being nice or they actually feel that way!
Can you describe your finest performance in your career? How do you recall it?
Matt: We played a show at a small Toronto bar but it was a big enough event that we were on the poster and I felt like we rocked it. It's a surprisingly glorious moment, even when you're just hunched over a tablet jamming.
A) Brett: I was previously a member of a post-metal band (Sarin) and played the keyboard, iPad and other synthy things. I would often connect directly into the main/live mixer and would listen to a clean feed of the band mix in one ear for reference while playing. I knew when we were playing well even when the venue didn’t sound so good. The downside of this was that I ended up with tinnitus in one ear.
Do you have any interests outside from music? If so, could you please introduce us to them?
A) Brett: Most of my interests are outside of music but there are some that intersect. Both Matt and I have interest in photography (see Matt’s photo blog here: https://eg…umblr.com/) and video. For our various releases we have individually worked on accompanying music videos. I also experiment a bit with VJ’ing and have had changing live visual elements for each live Oneo Fakind set.
Who is your dream musician with whom to work, and why?
Matt: So many! Maybe Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev. He's written some of the best lyrics I've heard.
A) Brett: It would be a dream to play with Nils Frahm who is also my favourite live performer. In this fanciful scenario I would most be staying out of the way, trying not to ruin the melodic progression and adding or shaping ambient parts.
What are your plans for the future?
Matt: I try not to plan too much when it comes to making music.
A) Brett: We have a growing number of partially completed songs to work through. Of note, we are working on some vocal tracks and I hope to collaborate with more singers (or the same singer) in the future.