Makarii’s move into production reflects a wide set of influences gathered over time, shaped by life between Hamburg, London and earlier years in Spain. Her reference points stretch from psychedelic trance and Bacalao through to the darker edges of house and techno, with a consistent thread of melody running underneath. That mix sits at the centre of After Cosmic Rain, her contribution to the R-TRYBE RETREAT 001 release, written during the label’s collaborative retreat setting.
In this interview, she talks through that shift from DJing into the studio, the learning curve that came with it, and the intuitive way she now approaches writing. There’s also a sense of change running through it, both creatively and personally, as she starts to recognise a clearer identity in her music while still leaving space for instinct to lead.
Your background touches several places and scenes, from Hamburg to London, with early exposure to psychedelic and downtempo environments. When you look at After Cosmic Rain, do you hear traces of those influences inside the track, or does it represent a newer direction in how you approach production?
I definitely feel traces of those influences in my track. When I create music, it may not sound like something you could easily identify as one specific genre, but you might notice elements that feel a bit trippy, with psychedelic influences.
The psychedelic trance I grew up with feels very much part of me, and I think it comes through in almost all my tracks in some way. Even if you might read what inspired me and not necessarily hear it directly in the music, everyone experiences music differently. For me it’s always about the feeling rather than trying to copy what I know.
Because I love many different genres, not just one, I like to bring the feeling and groove I enjoyed from the music I danced to in the 2000s and 2010s into my tracks. It’s a combination of elements; from industrial techno to psychedelic sounds, early tech house, minimal tech house and deep tech. I was very inspired by the sound of DC10 around 2008–2012, with artists like Tania Vulcano, Loco Dice, Jamie Jones and Maceo Plex.
At the same time, the LGBTQIA+ scene in Vauxhall, London, where I spent a lot of time in my early and mid-twenties, influenced me deeply. There were grooves from sets by HiFi-Sean and Gonzalo Rivas that brought a more driving, darker side of house, alongside more uplifting house sets. I experienced and loved many genres during that time and always felt the music very deeply.
Earlier in my life I also grew up in Spain around the Bacalao scene, listening to trance and later getting very much into happy hardcore, so in many ways my whole life has been leading up to this point, with a huge array of influences shaping my taste.
Today I’m also very inspired by the more industrial side of techno, like of course the master of techno Jeff Mills and Richie Hawtin, Ben Klock and Adiel, and the progressive sound by Hernan Cattaneo as well as the gritty sound of Upercent. I also especially enjoy live techno sets like Jeff Mills as already mention and by my close friend Pacific Voltage. Yet you might not clearly hear all those influences in my tracks either, or you may, because for me it’s more of a feeling I absorb when I listen and move to music. When I channel my own music, I can’t always tell you exactly what genre it is, but I know it’s definitely a mix of everything I’ve experienced and all of what I like but my own way I guess.
I also love emotive and ethereal sounds, like film soundtracks from Hans Zimmer, the atmosphere of artists like Ólafur Arnalds, or the depth in RY X. I enjoy bringing classical elements into my music, especially piano. Both my mum and my dad play intuitive piano, and that has definitely inspired me. I like bringing that emotive piano feeling into my tracks as a way to merge light and dark, which for me always feels present in everything, helping the music become a whole, complete piece.
With After Cosmic Rain, it feels like a mix of all those experiences inside me, but expressed in a fresh way, guided by what I feel in the moment. The music itself often leads me to sense what the next missing piece might be for the track to come together.
You began DJing years before producing. When you started writing your own material in 2023, what felt most unfamiliar in the studio environment, and how long did it take before you felt comfortable translating ideas from the DJ booth into your own tracks?
When I started making music in 2023, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was experimenting a lot, and the tracks sounded like a salad of different ideas all mixed into one. Even today I am still working on stripping things down, but back then it was much worse.
When I created my first song in 2023, it actually turned out to be more of an indie, soulful melodic pop song, which I performed singing at the final performance at Home Studios in Hamburg with Franz Plasa. It is a sound I might like to revisit someday, but for now I am focused on creating tracks for the dance floor.
Until recently, the tracks I was making were more like stories that went on deep journeys. It was a great trip, but less dancey and more experiential. Today I am focusing on honing the craft and developing tracks that are more dancefloor-oriented, while still keeping soul and grit.
The DAW was not completely unfamiliar when I started in 2023, because my mum used to create electronic music and I had my first attempt at producing with her program back in 2011. But learning about sound design, EQ, compression, and everything you can do with all kinds of plugins was definitely new territory for me. It still feels like a lifelong learning process, because there is really an infinite amount to learn and refine.
I think it was in 2025 that what I had worked on during 2024 started to translate into feeling more comfortable with the tracks I was making. I have not released much yet apart from this release After Cosmic Rain and the song I self-released in 2023, because until recently I did not feel my music was ready.
Now I am starting to feel that it is, and I have a bunch of tracks that I am currently finalising to release into the world as well. This feels like a really beautiful starting point, and I am very grateful for it.
The title After Cosmic Rain suggests something visual or cinematic. Did the concept come from an image, a mood, or a musical idea that gradually formed into a narrative while you were producing?
While producing After Cosmic Rain, I was also creating a series of other tracks and felt inspired to use the theme of weather. The day I created this track was the day after rain.
However, it also carries a deeper meaning for me because I was coming out of a period of metaphorical rain in my life. It was a time of moving through stronger emotions, from sadness to grief. While some people see rain as something negative, like “ugh, it’s a rainy day,” I don’t see it that way. Of course I love the sun and the sunshine, but I also embrace the rain.
Life moves through different seasons, and I felt I was just coming out of, or standing at the cusp of leaving, a rainy period. For me, those times can also bring a kind of divine messaging, so I learned to appreciate the rain. I even danced in it, and in that sense it felt cosmic.
So yes, like they say, after rain comes sunshine. It may sound like a cliché, but it is true. We need to embrace all periods in life, even the darker ones, rather than shy away from them. By that I mean not avoiding our inner world, but allowing ourselves to face our shadow and work through it.
After Cosmic Rain reflects that period for me. It also captures the moment after the rain has fallen, when the ground is still wet and you can see the reflections in the water. Everything is still damp, but it is already on its way to drying, moving toward sunshine again.
You often describe your sound as balancing darker textures with more melodic or emotional elements. When building a track like this, how do you decide where that balance sits without letting one side dominate the other?
Great question. I usually feel into it and try to find the balance where there is a bit of grittiness, a slightly darker vibe, and then moments where I can channel emotion through something more ethereal. That might be a piano, or a melodic synth element that often carries a melancholic tone.
I would say my system is constantly scanning for that balance. Is it too sweet or too polished? Does it need more edge? Or does it need more melody and feeling? I go by what I feel in each moment.
I like the balance between dark and light. I used to have this concept in all the art I created, whether in fine art, fashion, or music. It seems to be something inherent in me that searches for truth, and for me that truth only exists when both sides are present.
It is not really a rule that I follow consciously, but it seems to be what naturally interests me: the balance. Whether I achieve that successfully in the eyes of the audience, I don’t know, but it is at least my interpretation of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy positive and uplifting music. But what I tend to create naturally moves toward that space where light and darkness meet. There is something about that balance that feels melancholic and reflective to me. In a way, it is a way to express both the rebel and the healer within me.
With a background in piano, melody tends to play a different role compared to producers who come from purely electronic workflows. How does that training influence the way you write or structure parts inside a track?
Piano, for me, is an instrument that allows me to share my inner melodies. I am more of an intuitive piano player than anything else. I have always struggled with the traditional way of learning piano, and I told my recent teacher over the last few years that all I really wanted to learn was which chords could support the melodies that come into my head.
Melodies often appear naturally, and I could play them quite simply, but I was missing the intuitive flow with the supporting hand. So that is what we worked on. He helped me develop a way to support my melodies so I could play more intuitively.
Now I love sitting at the piano and allowing melodies to appear and just flowing with them. It is imperfect, but it allows me to express myself through music, which is really all I ever wanted.
Sometimes I use elements of that in my electronic music compositions. Sometimes there is more piano, sometimes just small snippets. I feel like melody comes first for me, and the rest follows.
What I have noticed is that often a melody simply appears in my head. It feels like a delivery, as if a melody just drops in and I receive it. I play it on the piano and then build the track around it. Other times I create the track first and freestyle on top of it with whatever comes out.
It is not a very analytical process for me. There is less overthinking and a lot of creation that happens by chance.
The R-TRYBE retreat format gathers artists who may never have worked together before and places them in a shared creative space. Did that setting change the way you approached writing After Cosmic Rain, or did you remain focused on developing something very personal?
Actually, we were all a bit in our own bubble. There was a group of us working alongside each other, which in itself was really inspiring, just being surrounded by people who were all passionate and focused on their music.
I was very focused the whole time during the retreat, working all day every day. The setting really helped me concentrate. And when you get stuck, having a coach listen to your music and help you break through whatever you are struggling with is priceless.
It was also inspiring to hear everyone’s work from time to time when it was played for the whole group. That would motivate you again to keep going and continue working on your track.
It was a lot of fun. I think we all naturally gelled and felt comfortable working alongside each other, everyone deeply focused. The days went by in the blink of an eye.
I remember producing a track a day, which was great because before that I had struggled with doubting my ability to create tracks. But it turned out it was all in my head, because the moment the retreat started I was firing them out.
It was a really fun experience. I always created something personal, something that felt like my style and came from me. Whether it fits into a specific genre or not, I just go with what I channel.
As a newer producer contributing to a compilation like RETREAT 001, what did you find most useful about the exchange between participants, whether that was technical advice, listening sessions, or simply hearing how others build their tracks?
I really enjoyed listening to everyone’s tracks. It was super cool. Being in a space with a group of passionate and ambitious people who truly love what they do is incredibly inspiring in itself.
It is always beautiful to see what comes out of each individual person. I love that moment when you listen to someones track, because it tells a story about them, and you get to know them better through their music. I really enjoy that and it inspires me a lot. For me it is really about the energy, and luckily we had a really lovely group of people.
Looking ahead, how do you see this period of your career evolving. Are you still in a phase of experimentation across styles, or are you beginning to recognise a clearer identity forming in the music you want to make?
I do recognise that I am beginning to recognise a clearer identity. I am getting much clearer about what I want and what I like. I do still experiment but I am pretty focused right now on a particular style and I can really recognise myself now in the tunes which is nice to have that bit more feeling of clarity and foundation.