How has your day been? What is it like in the life of Carmen?
Dude, all I do is work.
Work, music, work.
But uhh… today is my day off, so I caught up on some sleep.
I really didn’t do much to be honest with ya.
But I had to uh..
- my landlord,
I have to mow her lawn every now and then
*laughs*
That’s the life of Carmen.
But yeah man, I just been working.
tryna make it happen.
Had to stop the
partying and the
bullshit.
Today is kind of a big day right? Technically, tonight “AYN” should be out on all streaming platforms. And that will be the first song of yours since October 1st, 2021 with Parting Company I think? That’s like two years.. Over two years..
Yeah, I even forgot I dropped that one. I thought it had been like three years.
*laughs*
But yeah, AYN
technically should be
coming out tonight.
AYN?
It’s A-Y-N, it’s a shortened
version of “All Your Nights”, that’s the original name. But I didn’t like how it looked so I cut it down, and AYN looks clean to me.
How does it feel to have music coming out after so long? Is it a good feeling? Does this feel like the feeling you’ve been working toward?
I always tell my friends that music to me is like a love and hate relationship.
See, I’ll love it but I will also hate it.
It’s very anxious.
Even though I’m not at a level like:
“Oh shit there are so many
people looking at me.”
It’s still like, this is me.
This came from my heart.
I produced this, I did all this,
and I hope that people enjoy it.
You have been making music for years, at least since I first knew about you like 2018 or 2019, through Mega Nova actually. And before that I’m sure you have been working so really its years spent refining your sound. And this is a big step,
taking a hiatus and then coming back with clear intent and effort. I can see it, there is a plan in motion.
I took a hiatus because I didn’t know where I wanted to go with the sound.
And I was just going through a lot in life, I was learning a lot of new things about myself growing up as a person.
And as a man, in the world.
The change in the feeling naturally came about.
I noticed I wasn’t super focused on music because I was focused on getting my life together, or working to make more money to support myself, and doing this and doing that. It was natural but it was also like:
“I need to get back to it,
I need to get back to it,
I need to get back to it!”
So now, I actually have a team of people that I can trust,
around me, when it comes to this music and this artistic vision and creation. We have plans for different projects that will come out in the near future, and it feels good.
I feel like I have been looking for people that I genuinely artistically and work-wise connect with.
A lot of people around here are like
“Yeah I would be down to do this”
But when it comes down to doing it, we don’t end up doing shit, you know what I mean?
That was frustrating for a lot of years so I kinda just tucked off for a while.
But now I got a new manager,
I got some good homies around me, and I am just sticking to that.
And I’m hoping for our first release to go well.
It is exciting to hear that you already have plans in mind. AYN shows that there is a crossed out B-Side, is there going to be at least one other song to go with AYN? Will there be a project or is it too soon to say?
Are you taking your time with this? Let it simmer and cook naturally?
Oh imma let it simmer. I don’t wanna really say too much because there is a lot of planning going on and things aren’t just yet concrete.
Don’t want to say something that might not be. 
On your instagram you label yourself as Carmen but you also have it written in Ukrainian Abekta. I noticed, also through your manager, how you kinda align with the Sacramento brand FAMINE that also happens to be proudly Ukrainian.
Sacramento has such a large Ukrainian community, which I think is especially unique to here. Would you say being surrounded by a large Ukrainian community affected your art? Has it helped you at all?
Definitely. I am not necessarily purely around Slavics, Ukrainians, and Russians, as of late.
Imhave actually been around a very diverse group of people, which I think is rare to have.
But me growing up Slavic, going to Slavic Church, people think “Oh you want to be a musician?” They’re not going to take you seriously, as is in most cultures you know?
In our culture it’s like, “You better get a truck driving job!”
You know? You better work your ass off doing this, and meanwhile I am doing this whole other thing.
But it is really cool to have those people who support around me, but then I realize they don’t even have to be Slavic.
Like my manager, Georgios, he’s Greek. He genuinely comes from there. And I align with him on so many things, on how we work and how we move. His culture lines up with my culture very much so. Finding people like that helps you a lot. They keep your mind on track and away from other BS.
It is good you have found people you connect with and get to work with. How would you say the creative process has changed working with a larger team? Now with a manager, you get organized. It can’t just be “I am making music in my room, let’s see how it goes.” You have to start working professionally now, or at least try to.
Yeah you got it on point right there.
I really am making music in my room and I’m seeing where it goes, most definitely.
The transition to having a team around me, with that the difference is you don’t have to feel like you have to do everything and everything you do has to be perfect.
Last year I had to come to the realization that whatever I am going to do, it isn’t going to be perfect. Even if I focus way too much on perfection, I am not going to like it at the end of the day. But now with a team, they will work on these things with you, or they will actually just take things for you.
It takes a lot of the stress off your shoulders.
When it comes to stuff like a video recording or even something simpler like a Tik Tok. If you are braindead after the day but you have a homie around you that knows what you’re about and is also invested, it’s really nice. So I can do my music thing still, just making my music. But we are planning things now, and I have people working with me consistently. That is so important.
So do you find yourself working with multiple people when you’re making music? Or do you stay in your own zone?
When it comes to the music itself, it’s still all me.
I’m like, “Get yo ass out of here!” *laughs*
I want you to touch nothing.
I did have a change of heart though for people who can do the mixing and the mastering and throwing extra keys here and there, maybe a saxophone or whatever.
It used to be “Nah, I have to do everything completely on my own”, which is really stupid.
Music is a collaborative process.
Even though I still do it on my own, I create it, the beginnings of it on my own,
I am willing to now work with other musicians or artists or maybe say a feature.
I am a lot more open to it.
What things are influencing your art? In the art world, in daily life, what is feeding your process?
Like right now?
You know, it’s weird, this is the first time I have been searching for music.
I am at that next point of life, right? Musically.
And I have been searching for something to inspire me, for that. But I haven’t found that yet. It has been bits and pieces.
I have been most inspired by people in the clothing world, and seeing how the way they do things can be translated in the music world. I guess you can say I am just inspired by the work ethic. It has been about trying to conjure up information and have that in mind for whatever projects I have next. I want to be consistent with how I work and get things done quicker. 
You have kind of always been around the fashion community. You’ve been making music but you also stay aligned with the clothing scene around you. You have modeled, walked, and even performed at a fashion show right? You have done a lot of things around fashion, would you say is that important to the identity of Carmen?
It’s funny, before I dove deep into being a musician or an artist, at 15 I wanted to make clothes.
I had a whole book full of my sketches and all that so I don’t know, clothes have always caught my eye, I always liked it.
I never got into learning like the screen printing process or anything like that, but it has always been around me. So I guess it might be part of my image.
I don’t know.
I love it. The shit is tight.
It is funny how it all comes together. Like even the artwork and videos that go with AYN felt very cinematic and artistically influenced. It is dark, and attention grabbing, it all fits a theme too.
Shoutout to Georgios for that photo.
So how do you listen to music? Do you have physical copies, playlists, radio, what works for you?
I’m basic man.
Ever since I found out how quickly you can find people on Spotify I’m like “Hell yeah, I’m snatching that”.
I feel like they bring up really good artists out of nowhere that you have never heard of before.
I still have some records, I’ll buy stuff that looks cool or I have never heard of, but honestly Youtube and Spotify is where I am doing most of the deep dives.
Physically, where are you listening to music at?
A lot in the car.
I will just drive aimlessly, I don’t care where I’m going.
For me driving my car is very therapeutic.
I need it at least once a week, I gotta drive and play some music.
I never even know where I will go.
It’s like 2 in the morning downtown, nobody’s out.
[ Q's by Beto, A's by Carmen, Flicks by @hiddenmist__ ]