Lovro Baletić.
House at the decks. Synth-pop in the studio.
Lovro Baletić on his own songs, working at CYCLE Studio and a rooftop view of Zagreb.
Lovro Baletić
Lovro Baletić likes to keep the music he plays and the music he makes in separate spaces. Behind the decks, house is his starting point; in his own productions, he is currently drawn most to synth-pop and vocal songs. We talk about those two spaces, working with Magdalena Kipson and the daily listening involved in life at CYCLE Studio.
Lovro Baletić is a Zagreb producer and DJ working at CYCLE Studio. In five answers, he discusses his Sve Odjednom EP, the song Ispočetka and a set recorded on the Drveni neboder rooftop.
Two musical spaces
In your DJ sets you explore different sides of house, while your Sve Odjednom EP presents original songs with vocals. What personally connects these two ways of making music?
That’s right. I actually try to keep those two parts of my life separate. The music I make isn’t really the music I tend to play in my DJ sets. When I DJ, I mainly focus on house, although I like flirting with other electronic genres too. On the other hand, when I make music, I do whatever comes to me in the moment and whatever is within my abilities at that point. Of course, that doesn’t rule out producing other genres, but my main focus at the moment is making synth-pop music.
The voice that completes a song
You worked with Magdalena Kipson on “Ispočetka”. How did her contribution change your initial idea for the song?
Working with Magdalena brought a whole new dimension to the song. Her distinctive vocal tone fitted perfectly with the atmosphere I wanted to create. I’m especially glad that she wrote the lyrics, which I consider one of the key elements of “Ispočetka”. Interestingly, while the song was taking shape, I also discussed working with someone who is now a member of Lelek, but the story ended up taking a different direction. With her voice and lyrics, Magdalena completed the song exactly as it needed.
I look forward to every new release as though it were my first.
Listening more closely
Which moment of working together at CYCLE Studio most changed the way you listen to your own productions?
Since working with clients at CYCLE Studio is my everyday job, I’d say I’ve heard all sorts of things, and all kinds of vocalists. That’s precisely why I began listening to my own productions in greater detail and with more precision, and paying closer attention to the steps that lead to better results.
The city from a rooftop
For your recorded set on the Drveni neboder, you chose remixes of your own songs. How did that location help you decide what musical story you wanted to tell?
It’s actually quite simple. For roughly the past fifteen years, I lived on Iblerov trg, in that so-called Wooden Skyscraper, and I played that DJ set on its rooftop. It seemed like the ideal opportunity to make use of the location and create an audiovisual experience in which we capture the city alongside the vibe of those house remixes.
The excitement of a first release
What currently draws you most towards trying something in your own music that you haven’t tried before?
I think what draws me now is still what drew me ten years ago, when I threw myself into the world of production: the fact that I still find it really exciting, and that I look forward to every new release as though it were my first. :)
Lovro Baletić
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. Lovro Ohlhofer · Tina Kadoić