Emerging electronic music producer Yak 40 has unveiled Travelogue, an album inspired by a two-year journey across Asia. Known for blending ambient, techno, and broken beats, Yak 40 draws influence from artists like Aphex Twin, The Orb, and Four Tet. The album captures the essence of diverse landscapes and cultures, incorporating organic sounds and field recordings.
In this interview, [Yak 40 discusses the creative process behind Travelogue, the impact of a nomadic lifestyle on music production, and the evolution of their sound since the 2022 EP Made in Nepal.
Travelogue reflects your two-year journey across Asia. Can you describe how specific locations shaped individual tracks on the album? Were there places that particularly influenced the direction of the music?
Overall, it was a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’d say all the tracks have certain influences from the places where I produced them. Uncle Boonmi was written in Thailand after my wife and I watched the famous arthouse movie *Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives*, a mysterious and beautiful film. I recorded it quickly, in one take, at a small hotel on Koh Chang island. There was even a bat flying in and out of the corridor, which was both creepy and funny. The track Swirls was recorded in Goa. It’s a joyful piece that I think would suit a beach party perfectly. Mahalaxmi Unltd was done in Nepal. The title came to me after seeing a local bank named Siddhartha Bank Ltd., after Buddha. Imagine a bank called Jesus Christ & Co! In Nepal, deities and material things coexist quite naturally. Anatta came to me while trekking in the Himalayas. We spent New Year near ABC Camp, where the trek ends and climbers begin their ascent. It’s a calm, meditative piece inspired by the high-altitude landscapes of Annapurna and other mountains. The video was shot on the streets of Seoul, though, and I found it remarkable how Seoul, despite being as vast as NYC, has a relaxed and even cozy vibe. The city doesn’t overwhelm you.
You mentioned that Travelogue is “dedicated to all the nomads and free spirits.” How has the nomadic lifestyle influenced not just this album but your overall creative process and approach to music?
Our nomadic lifestyle is a result of events in Russia, so it’s not as idyllic as it may seem. We didn’t always know where we’d live the next year, or even the next month. I was limited in gear; when you’re on a trip like this, you need to fit everything in your bag. Mentally, I tried to avoid being anchored to the past or anxious about an uncertain future, instead immersing myself in the present. I worked to translate this sense of ‘nowness’ into the music, which may explain the album’s frequent shifts in mood. Our nomadic lifestyle has taught me to maximize minimal gear and realize you don’t need much to create music. Before, I’d spend hours thinking about getting new synths and watching gear reviews on YouTube, but now, I’m content with what I have.
Your early exposure to Aphex Twin, The Orb, and Four Tet helped you discover your musical identity. How did their influence manifest in Travelogue, and how have you adapted their approaches to suit your own storytelling?
These artists are diverse, but they share one thing – their music is always adventurous and defies easy categorization. I love dub for its huge reverbs and delays. On the other hand, I appreciate the organic percussion that Four Tet often uses. I believe physical modeling synths and MPE controllers are the future of electronic music. Adding an organic feel to a synth lead or merging a harp with, say, a xylophone really inspires me.
The album features a mix of genres, from broken beats to ambient and techno. How do you approach blending these styles, and what does this eclecticism mean to you as a producer?
I think of an album as a journey. If you’re moving at a constant speed, say 100 km/h (or 120 bpm), it gets monotonous. I don’t like sticking to a single formula or mood. Looking back at The Orb and especially Aphex Twin, their records are wildly eclectic – a beautiful ambient piece can be followed by something chaotic. I didn’t want my album to be that extreme, but I wanted to show different sides of myself.
In the track Swirls, you explored acid-tinged, uptempo production. How did this approach evolve in Travelogue, and how do you balance more energetic tracks with meditative, ambient compositions?
While gazing at the ocean in Goa, I thought of big and small water swirls, which I translated into music. I wanted to make a trance-like track inspired by Underworld, a band I admire. This track moves from a meditative intro to dancefloor euphoria, which, to my taste, works well. This pattern applies to the whole record: the music flows like a river, at times slow, at times fast. It feels natural to me.
Organic sounds play a significant role in the album. Can you share the types of field recordings or natural elements you incorporated and how they convey the landscapes you encountered?
Throughout our journey, I recorded a lot: birds in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, where we went on safari to spot elephants and tigers; a Vietnamese girl chanting mantras in Nha Trang; street noises from Seoul that can be heard in Anatta. Not all these samples made it onto the record, but they inspired me deeply. I also used various free VST libraries – the gamelans and xylophone-style sounds are from the Monster Ethnica library. I wanted the Eastern influence to be subtle, not artificially emphasized.
Travel and discovery are central to this album. Did you face any challenges, technical or emotional, while recording on the road, and how did those challenges shape the final sound?
The album is quite lo-fi, as my gear was limited to one synth (I had two, but one broke in Nepal), portable IK Multimedia monitors, and headphones. Proper monitoring was a challenge, but I enjoyed the process. I even worked on one track in a tiny hotel room in Seoul that barely fit a bed. Being a foreigner in an unfamiliar city, with no certainty that anyone would ever hear my music, made me feel young again. As a teenager, I couldn’t imagine making a record this way, without loads of synths, samplers, and analog mixers. Today’s technology offers so much freedom, it’s incredible.
Travelogue promises an immersive experience with its textured soundscape. How do you want listeners to feel or visualize as they journey through the album from frenetic energy to serene calm?
There’s a lot of love and light in this music, whether it’s a club track or an ambient piece. Music is peculiar; once it’s released, it’s no longer yours. No matter how many concepts you envision, listeners will connect it to something meaningful to them, not to you. And that’s beautiful.
Looking back at your 2022 EP *Made in Nepal*, how has your sound and artistic vision evolved leading into Travelogue? Were there specific lessons or experiences from that project that informed this album?
Travelogue is a big leap for me. I’ve learned a lot about mixing and production since I recorded that EP. A key lesson from Made in Nepal is that you can create solid music with just a few instruments. Made in Nepal was a kind of prequel to the album, and Vpered Khariprasad is my most popular track on Bandcamp, which I’m proud of.
The press release describes each track as a “postcard” from your travels. What message do you hope these musical postcards convey about the places and cultures that inspired them?
Asia remains a mystery to me. Though raised in Western culture and knowing little about Asia, I feel at home in Nepal and miss it deeply. It’s something beyond words or concepts. Rather than explaining Eastern cultures, I’d like to convey a universal message: there’s an almost invisible thread that connects us all, beyond borders, cultures, and backgrounds. If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is.