Interview with Akrom: Behind the Scenes of “The Last Day” and “Medjay”

In an exclusive interview, we delve into the creative mind of Akrom, exploring the inspiration, challenges, and artistic evolution that brought his latest tracks, “The Last Day” and “Medjay,” to life.

Akrom shares, “In ‘The Last Day,’ I tried to express the energy you get from overcoming your limits to conquer the difficulties life throws at you. ‘Medjay,’ on the other hand, is about an ancient Egyptian hero fighting for his life. Yes, there’s some inspiration from a famous video game in this track—it really helped me during the hard, lonely times of the COVID lockdown, so I felt it deserved some kind of tribute.”

Working with Martina May must have been an exciting collaboration. Akrom explains, “Well, she’s my girlfriend’s sister! We actually never worked together in the studio for this track because the vocals come from a very old project of hers, which went through many stages over the years and finally saw the light with ‘The Last Day.’ She’s mainly into R&B nowadays, but we’ll see if I can convince her to make some DNB together again in the future. If so, I would definitely love to have some studio sessions together.”

Reflecting on his musical evolution, Akrom notes, “If I listen back to my first tracks, there’s obviously a great improvement under all technical aspects. I imposed myself since the beginning of my producer career that every track I finished should have been technically better than the previous one. That’s a great way to keep myself motivated and always have the will to learn something new to improve the overall level. I personally set the bar very high with my self-judgment, especially when it comes to comparing my tracks with other tracks from well-established artists, and I’m also very picky when it comes to releasing music, making minor changes till the very last possible time to show the very best possible version of the track.”

Discussing his creative process, Akrom says, “Sometimes I begin writing an intro (I love writing them), sometimes with a cool bassline groove. In both cases, once I decide on the vibe of the track, I add elements appropriate for the decided vibe, keep on adding stuff till I find there’s too much of them, then I eventually start removing something. I work 16 bars per time, and when the first drop is done I start thinking about breakdown and second drop. The final part of the job is refining the details of the track, until I’m satisfied and trust me, that’s often the hardest and longest part of the process. All the work on the track is done with the master channel already optimized for the final version, I try to keep everything already on point from the beginning.”

“The Last Day” is a track that began in 2017, while “Medjay” started in 2020. The biggest challenge was to keep a fresh and updated mixdown during the years of development. Akrom explains, “‘The Last Day’ was more complicated regarding the choice of the main drums (kick and snare), with their definitive versions coming only in the last months before the release. Additionally, fitting the vocals throughout the track was a nice challenge. ‘Medjay,’ on the other hand, has a very complex bassline that I wasn’t satisfied with for a long time. The lead arrangement was also quite tough, as there were so many elements I wanted to bring to the foreground.”

He continues, “I love epic emotional music, which is why I often write long melodic intros in my tracks. My main inspiration for this is definitely the beloved composer Vangelis. His soundtracks, like ‘Conquest of Paradise’ and ‘Chariots of Fire,’ have hugely shaped my music. In the Drum and Bass scene, there have been many artists who inspired me throughout my career. In my early days of producing, I was totally into Noisia, Spor, and Black Sun Empire. Then, in the early 2010s, I admired artists like Blokhe4d, Neonlight, and State of Mind. In recent years, I would definitely say Pythius, Magnetude, and Burr Oak have been my main inspirations.”

Looking to the future, Akrom shares, “The only future project already planned is a collaboration track with my friend Qua Rush, coming next month on a VA EP from a well-known label. You’ll hear about it very soon (winks). Besides this, I don’t have any other particular plans yet. My main target now is to keep increasing the quality of my tracks while maintaining a regular release schedule (let’s say new music every 3-4 months), hopefully with the EC guys. It’s been an amazing experience working with them, and I really want to create more and more stuff together.”

When asked if he has a personal favorite between “The Last Day” and “Medjay,” Akrom laughs and says, “Imagine becoming the parent of two beautiful children—would you tell anyone that you have a favorite between them? I love them both and support them equally, just as I’ve always done with all of my tracks in the past.”

Akrom concludes with a heartfelt message to his listeners: “Akrom loves you and hopes that you can feel the same positive energy I had within myself while writing these tracks. Music is nothing without emotions, and I really hope these two tracks can leave you something inside for the rest of your life.”

This interview with Akrom offers a deep dive into his artistic journey, revealing the passion and dedication behind his music. His latest tracks, “The Last Day” and “Medjay,” are not just songs but emotional experiences crafted with care and precision.