Join Envine on his journey into Melodica

Envine aka, Alex Snoeren. Recently, he was signed to Scantraxx’s main label. From this moment on, he wanted to tell a story. For him, melody is the most important part of music and he wants to bring his fans into this. He will do this in the form of an EP, with the first release being a track about his son: Sem’s Song.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT MELODICA? AND THE SOUND OF IT?

Melodica to me is something special, like another world where I want people to join me in. It is a way to share our stories, passion and emotions trough music. Like the name says, to me melodies are the most important thing in music to deliver a real experience and to take people on a journey. And with this I don’t just mean the melody of the track itself, but also the vocal melodies, melodies of instruments, everything basically has to fall into place.

While making the step from Scantraxx Silver to the Main Label I was thinking for a long time on how I want to stand out more and what elements for me are the most important in hardstyle. What drives me to create more music and where lies my passion?

I figured that for me hardstyle is not just about the drops, but the whole emotion and vibe around the track, from start to finish. It is about sharing a short story trough both lyrics and feels that people can relate to and this is something I wanted to take to the next level. I went back to my roots and researched what sound made me fall in love with hardstyle and I tried to use that as an inspiration for what I want to represent.

ALSO READ: ENVINE: “I’M REALLY AMAZED BY ALL THE POSITIVE RESPONSES ON THE SCANTRAXX MAIN LABEL ANNOUNCEMENT”

HOW CAN WE SEE THE STORY OF MELODICA REFLECTED IN YOUR MUSIC AND CLIPS?

I try to reflect the stories I tell with Melodica into the visual side aswell, I think a videoclip needs to represent what the track is about in one way or another and both the visual and audio side of a release should bring eachother to the next level.

A good example is my first release on the main label “The Way We Began” where we decided to take it to another level and use actors and a real storyline to add another layer on top of just the music. This is not something you see often in the hardstyle scene. You could say we actually made a short movie to tell the story and show the emotions in their purest form.

For this EP we made sure all videoclips are somewhat alligned in their own storytelling. Mainly by the use of a seperate colour in both the videoclip and the cover-art that is attached to the specific track and the emotions that come with it, everything in the end feels as a whole. For the first release “Sem’s Song” we found out that blue was the perfect colour for example, since it is a track dedicated to my son Sem.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE NEW SOUND YOU WANT TO INTRODUCE?

In Melodica I want to blend real sounds with hardstyle, for example in a few tracks we recorded real instruments like a Cello. To me this captures much more emotion then just using digital sounds. Also the fact that I am sitting there, jamming together with artists that play instruments and we come up with something that really touches us and blends perfectly into a hardstyle track, really inspires me to make much more music and see the beauty of it. It feels like Melodica is bigger then just me, but a part of everyone that is with me on this journey.

I guess you can say that trough Melodica I evolved from just making catchy euphoric music to sharing a total experience with the listener.

THIS EP IS A VERY PERSONAL PROJECT, CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT?

In this EP I made my most personal track so far. like I mentioned briefly before my track “Sem’s Song” is dedicated to my son Sem. Eversince my wife and I found out we were expecting a child I felt the urge to create something out of this experience, something that goes beyond material and words. I wanted to share a universal message to Sem that a lot of people can relate to; Don’t worry, everything will be okay and I will always be here for you as long as I live. I also wanted to use a deeper, more personal layer to the track and decided to record Sem’s heartbeat in my studio while he was still in his mom’s belly. Besides this I also recorded one of his very first laughs and used that in the end of the track aswell. Ofcourse I also wanted the visual side to be represented in a way that matches the idea of the track.

We had the idea that we have a family that is looking into the sky and seeing a lot of memories together, from finding out we were expecting a child untill this very moment where Sem is now 10 months old. We included a lot of personal highlights in the video aswell, for example the Echo you see is a real echo recording of Sem, you see the first moments of our parents (Sem’s Grandparents) meeting their grandson and a lot more. It is almost like an ode to Sem, I am really curious what he thinks of this in a few years when he sees this clip and all the happiness he brought to my family. Basically like in the clip, where you see the child growing up from being an echo, to somebody that is grown up and let go by his parents to choose his own path in the end.

Creating this track really led me to the start of this EP, I wanted to share multiple stories that people can relate to and connect with on a deeper level. I wanted to make music about different themes.

After “Sem’s Song” I wanted to make a track about people needing eachother to feel whole, this is when both the singer Réva and I came up with “Remedy.” The lyrics are a bit more abstract, but in that way it sets itself apart and I like to do different things. I wanted to make a track that is uplifting, very easy to dance to, surprise people and also hit them in the feels again. I think we succeeded very well!

The third track of the EP is a collab between me and a good friend of mine, called “REKALL.” A fun little story is when I just started out making music (back in 2007) I was really looking up to him and his music since he had several cool releases on an old alias and he made the melodic hardstyle I always loved. Many years later (after he had a break for quite some time) he told me the exact same since he loved what I was doing as Envine. After this we decided to go into the studio together and make a track out of one of his old melodies I always loved. We also wanted to tell a deeper story and let vocalist Myke write lyrics about letting go of your problems and accepting life as it is, something a lot of people will relate to.

WHAT IS THE VISION BEHIND THIS EP?

To me making music is about sharing stories that people can identify to. This, combined with the extra layer of real instruments, singers, and a videoclip that shows exactly what the track is about, is what drives me to connect with everyone that wants to go on this journey with me.

WHAT ELSE ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?

At the moment I am already working on a lot of new music that might result in another bigger project again 😉 Melodica really gives me the oppertunity to expand my creativity and share stories to the world. I found out this is what I love doing and where my real passion lies. I am surrounded by a great team and musicians that really know what Melodica is about and take it to another level. I can’t wait to show you what is in the making already. Perhaps you will see it at Scantraxx 20 years on the 3rd of December, where I will do my “Envine presents: Melodica Live act.”

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