Frank’s Corner #2: In Conversation With Air Hunger.
Intuition, droning, and the gut feeling that something just works.
Dawid Schindler has always championed routine. His work, far more ominous than the schedule he builds for himself, proves that dedication and quality good output come with balance.
Air Hunger, Dawid’s longtime stage moniker, has mounted the slow, steady rise up the ranks of experimental drone superiority. With public cosigns from the likes of Cult Friends, Montell Fish, and Ethel Cain following the release of his 2023 LP, “Grace,” he would find himself with a million and one directions to go. Still, he rests assured that all he needs are his loved ones, a couple synthesizers, a guitar, and the outdoors.
With his newest singles, “Inhabited Body” and “Push,” he sticks with a sound he knows well, only molded into new shapes with narratives that run wild, albeit somewhat ambiguous. But that’s kind of the whole point.
I sat down with Dawid to discuss his routine, studio setup, and the importance of his surroundings during his meticulous, creative endeavors. Take a read!
25Frank: Dawid! Thanks so much for chatting. I want to get into the new music, but I have to give a quick shout to “Grace.” What was it like to get such a reaction and cosigns for that album, especially tracks like “A Place to Sleep” (A personal all-time favorite track of mine, by the way), nearly 2 years after its release?
Air Hunger: It was a big surprise that Grace reached a larger audience. I must mention and express my deep gratitude to Hayden (Ethel Cain) here. She found it on Reddit, liked it, and shared it numerous times, which gave it more volume for sure. I remember having a morning coffee, seeing a new purchase on my Bandcamp from Hayden Anhedönia, thinking “ok sure, cool nickname,” and then going through Instagram and seeing her Instagram story with my songs. It was very surreal because I was just listening to “Preacher’s Daughter” the day before. We talked briefly over a couple of emails, and she was nothing but truly amazing and so kind. She owns my whole discography on tapes, which makes me smile every time I think of it. Funnily, I haven't listened to “Grace” since it was released.
I read in an early Reddit post that you classify your music as “mixed feeling music.” What feelings do you think of when you refer to your music as such? Does this classification remain true as you’ve released more bodies of work into the world?
It was an album and merch tagline! I struggle with the genre game, so I wanted to name a genre, I guess. I’m always drawn to things that are never just one thing, so ‘mixed feelings’ felt right as a tagline at that time.
Talk to me about your name, “Air Hunger.” Is there a story behind your alias? Have you created or released music under other nicknames before Air Hunger?
No particular story. I came across this term years ago and thought it would be a cool name for a power-violence band. I remembered it years later and decided to name the thing I was doing by myself that way. As for other stuff, I have a little side project called DES, where I released an EP earlier this year. It was mostly jazz-inspired guitar pieces, but the project is very open, like a folder I would throw anything that is not Air Hunger into. So the next release might be just anything.
Air Hunger isn’t my first musical outfit. I’ve been playing in different bands since I was a teenager, and for the past 10+ years I’ve been involved in a couple of, mostly hardcore, bands, which might be surprising. We’ve been releasing and touring, playing in Europe, China, and Taiwan, and opening for acts like Blacklisted, Touché Amoré, and Angel Du$t. Intense times.
I find that all of your tracks are sort of stapled down by a consistent, oscillating drone of some sort. Has this been a constant in your music? What draws you to this sound as a baseline?
There’s something very comforting and primal about a consistent, monotonous sound, I guess. Also kind of religious and mantric for me.
Do you create drones to mimic a specific atmosphere? A specific feeling or emotion? Is it different for every track, or is there a certain something you try to bring to all your music?
It all depends on the track. I often try to contrast it, which I found very interesting while working on (PERMISSIONS), where very dense, layered, monotonous pieces clash with very minimal (just guitar and voice) stuff. Maybe it’s ‘tension-release’ related, not sure. Sometimes I feel like making something very chaotic and noisy, other times something really quiet and peaceful.
What does your workspace look like nowadays? Are you restricted to a home studio? What tools are you using to craft your music right now?
It’s just a desk and a chair in a bedroom! I don’t use anything super fancy. There are a couple of guitars lying around, a couple of mics, a synthesizer, a piano (which is not even mine), two four-track multi-trackers, a stack of tapes, a couple of different headphones, and a pedalboard. My dog is always there on the bed, my girlfriend is working, writing, creating something in her study on the other side of the apartment. I smoke and drink coffee on the balcony. It’s a simple, quiet practice.
Cozy is always the way to go, I love that. In the same area, can you talk to me about your creative process with music like this? Does it build itself in layers? Does it all come together more randomly? Is it at all reliant on improvisation?
It's very fluid, but I try to keep it consistent. The process is the most important factor for me. I find peace in very consistent, repetitive work. I wake up at 6:30 every day, have a coffee, and write in a notebook for 30-45 minutes first thing in the morning. Then I meditate for 20 minutes. Next, I walk my dog and have breakfast with my girlfriend, Monika. Then I go to the bedroom studio and work on music. I try to do it in short intervals—30-45 minutes is optimal, 2 hours is tops when I catch something interesting.
Then I take breaks for walks, a coffee, lunch. I try to do 2 to 3 intervals like that during the day. I can do longer runs when I'm mixing. It's not easy because my go-to thing is to work till I'm finished (exhausted and drained as well), and it's very dangerous for my compulsive brain. It ends in frustration and hating what I did, which can last for weeks. I need to keep the level of excitement and stay in the zone of not exactly knowing what I'm about to do. That's why the intervals and breaks are crucial. I try to finish at 4 PM and meditate again. I do this every day except for weekends or when I'm working for money. I'm lucky enough not to have a 9-5 job. I work on commission. I need to keep it this kind of "strictness," but I find a lot of joy in it when I stay on track.
As for the "song building," I guess every song is different. I trust the randomness and rawness of catching a sound, idea, or melody. All I do comes to a place where I try to trick my brain to stop being me—to do something long enough to forget what you were after in the first place, then it comes. I found that whenever I'm sitting down and know exactly what I want to do or what I want to write about, it's always horrible. The whole practice is about dropping every little idea I had about what I'm doing and just really trusting very simple and intuitive reactions. I think the whole process is more important than the song itself for me. Sometimes songs come fast, like in a couple of minutes. Sometimes I work on a song for months. No rule here. With my future releases, I try to practice patience a lot more. I work on them very slowly.
I also like the way you use your vocals in equal amounts as the rest of the instruments and frequencies in your songs. Is this a conscious choice?
It started as a very conscious choice to hide my lack of any singing skills! As I’m becoming just a little more comfortable with singing, they might become a little bit louder here and there, ha! But yes, I like when the vocals are a layer, not a main statement.
What do these two new singles represent in terms of where you’re at in your career? Do you find that you’re still experimenting with where your sound can take you, or do you feel you’ve found a sound you’re going to carry with you for a while?
That’s a really good question and a very important case for me in the process of making music. It’s always three things for me:
It must evoke some kind of intuitive reaction in my body, even just a little one.
I’ve got to have a feeling of “Ok, I never thought I would do something like that” when it’s finished.
It needs to be a prayer or a love song, ideally both.
So I guess the sound or genre is not really that important. I mean, I love reverb, so you can most definitely count on that, but I want to do things that are new for me as a human. I just want to make weird, beautiful, and surprising (for me) things, that's all.
Whose music has you excited right now, new or old? Who in this moment do you find inspires your work the most? Any hopes of any collaborations? Do collaborations interest you at all?
I’ve been obsessed with LEYA lately. I saw them live a couple of weeks ago, and it was amazing.
I’ve been listening to Rainy Miller’s new album “Joseph, What Have You Done?” nonstop. Truly incredible, monolithic piece of art which is also super vulnerable and delicate at the same time. Just unreal.
I’m always deeply inspired by Tirzah.
I can listen to HTRK’s new single “Swimming Pool” honestly 20 times in a row.
Eartheater’s new single “Nova” is also breathtaking.
I keep coming back to Oliver Coates’s “Throb, Shiver, Arrow Of Time” - a masterpiece.
I’m always very excited for new Cult Friends’ releases. Sussana is a friend and the project is brilliant.
Always excited for Hayden’s new projects, and I keep track of her every artistic move.
I’m waiting for Simi Fyda’s new release. We met when she was opening for Alessandro Cortini and became friends instantly.
Oklou’s album is quite unreal. You have to go watch her live session on the ice rink.
I always come back to anything by Tim Hecker.
I listen to NTS a lot, especially Laurel Halo’s AWE show and Coby Sey’s show. Always amazing stuff.
I listen to a lot of jazz as well.
Also, there are times (sometimes longer periods) when I don’t listen to music at all, especially when I’m working on my stuff excessively.
Of course, I don’t think I would be doing this if it weren’t for Liz Harris of Grouper. Right now (after many years of listening to her nonstop), I treat Grouper as some kind of a sacred thing that I don’t want to “touch” too often because it seems irresponsible to do so. I only listen to a whole Grouper album in a special setting or a special time, once in a while.
I’m not big on collabs as I’m a pretty isolated and introverted person, but I have three things vaguely discussed right now.
Liz Harris is such a God, I get it. Final question: What’s next for Air Hunger?
I was invited to open for MONO on their two shows in Poland in November. So grateful for that.
I’m also working on setting up some DIY shows locally with a very exciting lineup. I’m working on more two-single releases this year as well. Continuing to stay busy, meditating, and swimming in a river with my girlfriend and dog on the weekends, hopefully.
Listen to Air Hunger’s new singles and the rest of his discography on Spotify and Bandcamp. Find his Instagram here.