Malta-based composer Serag Baddar talks about a song 15 years in the making, the philosophy behind his approach to songwriting, and why he has no intention of turning music into a career.
Coyote Music: You describe yourself as a philosopher who happens to be a musician. How does philosophy influence the way you approach music?
Serag Baddar: Certain principles I hold for music writing can be debated philosophically, like my claims to write for dopamine and why people should write for dopamine and understand which kind of dopamine hits to go for when writing music. Philosophy helps me question certain common consensuses about what people think of certain things, such as listening to your own music. A lot of people consider this to be an arrogant thing, but I believe it entirely depends on the reason.
CM: How did you first get into making music?
SB: The main riff of “Limerence's” hook is the first riff I ever wrote as a teenager. I always wanted to write my own music. It was the most exciting thing to do when I picked up a guitar. I just learned the hard way that I had to practice first to be able to do anything.
CM: That's interesting, because “Limerence” itself has apparently been with you for quite a long time. Tell us about that history.
SB: “Limerence” used to be “Lotus,” and I've had the instrumental with me for over 15 years, evolving and going through different iterations. “Lotus” was in Drop B tuning for a few years before I changed it back to D when I finished it as “Limerence.”
Then I picked the title “Limerence” as a reference to the actual limerence I have suffered from in real life. You could say the song is a message to that girl.
CM: So the song is actually about a specific person?
SB: Limerence is in fact FOR someone specific.
CM: The artwork—“Please talk to me” followed by “Seen 3 weeks ago”—makes that story pretty clear. What's behind that image?
SB: Most of the contact I had with this person is met with silence and ghosting. That's what “seen 3 weeks ago” expresses. This can happen to you if you suffer from limerence—you could put the person off and then they ghost you when you try to communicate again.
CM: The music has a repetitive, almost hypnotic quality. Was that intentional?
SB: Not really. That's the delay effect and the kind of riffs played. They just happened to come out hypnotic.
CM: One of the most interesting things about the demo is the outro, where you break down the hook into its individual guitar and bass parts before bringing everything together. Why did you want to demonstrate how the hook was constructed?
SB: I wanted to demonstrate it for two reasons: to show off (haha) and because it means something to me to keep it there. Having every instrument play something different and each instrument sounding good on their own while sounding even better together. That, specifically, is something very difficult to achieve musically and somehow i managed to pull it off. I'm proud of myself that I managed to achieve this with a mid-tier guitar technicality. So it's like a "great job, dude" to myself.
CM: You describe your approach to songwriting as “writing for dopamine.” What does that mean in practical terms?
SB: In practice what that means is you write material you want to listen to recreationally yourself. Whether it's a riff, a section or sections, or an entire song, you always write material that makes you want to listen to it like you want to listen to your favourite band. Create new music for yourself.
CM: Do you normally begin with a musical idea or with something you want to say?
SB: I usually start with guitar, so yes, it's usually riffs. The meaning almost always comes at the end. I don't envision the meaning before I have a solid foundation for a song first.
CM: You've been influenced heavily by Opeth and Tool, and your music has evolved from a more groove-heavy metal approach toward post-rock. What did you take from those bands?
SB: Their standards for quality. Opeth and Tool music is written phenomenally well. Both excel at different things, but Opeth tends to tick more boxes. One likes to write whatever comes to mind, the other has to stick to a strict formula, and both have produced high-quality music. There's something to learn from both there.
Listening to bands like Opeth over the years is also what pushed me toward cleaner sounds. They mix cleans with heavies, and I became more interested in the cleans. So I became more interested in cleans overall.
CM: You also talk about wanting to be original while remaining accessible. What does accessibility mean to you?
SB: Accessible means the music is easy to digest for almost anyone. The more accessible the music is, the more people are able to get into it easier and quicker, unlike music that’s an acquired taste.
CM: You've made some pretty strong claims about creativity, including the idea that music is mostly objective rather than subjective. What do you mean by that?
SB: Music is mostly objective, not subjective. Subjectivity coexists with music, but its structure is objective. That's why you can objectively improve your creativity.
CM: And what are you ultimately trying to accomplish with your music?
SB: Addiction to the product, haha. It's funny because with music it's completely harmless. Other creative mediums, with the exception of video games, can be rather difficult. Imagine trying to create an addictive movie.
CM: Where do you see the Serag Baddar project going? Are you hoping to turn it into a career?
SB: Yes, just a personal creative outlet. I do not intend to make a career out of music. My writing is too slow for that.
CM: Finally, if you could sit down with any musician for an hour, who would it be—and what would you ask?
SB: Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth. It's funny, I already met the guy in Milan in 2016 but only had 20 minutes and there were other people. I would ask him to write a second Damnation record without sounding like Damnation. Basically to go back into that modern prog sound that sounds a lot like post-rock, to be very honest with you, if the album wasn't tied to a progressive metal band.
If not Mikael, then Dave Mustaine, and I'd ask him to write an album where he pours all his brainpower into making that record by writing like I do. That guy's a goddamn genius, man.