Hyper Lion is a producer, composer and mixer who is also one half of Pariis Opera House, making him a rather prolific artist. I enjoyed his recent release B Ok, and found myself eagerly wanting to learn more! If you missed the track, you can also find it at the end of this interview.
By Jane Howkins
How has your year been?
Surprisingly busy. After all the craziness of the past few years I fully intended to take it easy in 2022, but somehow ended up with more on my plate than ever.
You recently released a track titled B Ok, which we reviewed. What can you tell us about the song?
After I listened to the first draft of the album Koinkidink, I felt it was too unbalanced and meandering. All the disorienting cacophony needed to be grounded with 3 or 4 tracks that would give the listener a bit of a breather. B Ok was one of those tracks. It needed a real purpose for existing, so in terms of the album I wanted this track to be a kind of mantra. I set myself the brief of writing the song the world needs right now. Its placement as track 3 was purposefully chosen as that’s where a character’s ‘want song’ would typically be in a musical. I knew I wanted it to be reprised at the end, so the message had to be hopeful. “Every little thing’s gonna be okay in the end” is generally my outlook in life. I actually wrote the whole lyric and melody in the shower in about 10 minutes. The music had to be suitably uplifting, so I grabbed the ukelele and the rest is history.
How has the reception been for B Ok, and where can it be purchased?
It was definitely designed as ‘the single’, so naturally it’s the song from the album that is being played more than the others. Nobody ever talks to me, but I think people like it. I’m kinda in the dark here, people. It can be found anywhere you normally buy/stream/steal your music.
The track also features Essa V. How did that collaboration come about and can we expect any more collaborations in future?
This was a fun one. I recently joined TikTok just to claim my handle. I populated my profile with a few videos I had on my phone from past promo campaigns. One of those was for my 2018 EP Yo Miro, which featured the track Siglo. I put a load of tags on it so it got a bunch of views. One time I was checking my notifications and saw there was a comment. I assumed it was a porn bot or something, but it wasn’t, it was Essa V! I guess her algorithm had chucked my video onto her feed or something.
I clicked through to her profile to figure out how she might have stumbled across me and saw she was a musician. Now, coincidentally (koinkidentally) at that time I was also searching for a female singer to feature on B Ok. I’d been all over Fiverr and Instagram trying to find the right voice, but nobody quite matched what I was looking for. I played some of her videos and a lightbulb went off in my head. I immediately DM’d her and asked if she’d want to sing on my track. She was probably a bit wary about this random lion-faced guy sliding into her inbox, but once I sent her the demo I think she was sold.
She did a great job and sent me a bunch of multitracks. I used all of them. Suddenly the song was finished! It had been sat on my laptop for about 2 years and it was finally done. I’d really like to work with her again as she’s too good to just be buried as a backing vocal behind my idiotic robot warblings.
Do you plan to release any more singles in the near future?
Yes! My band Pariis Opera House released our new single U I back in August, and the follow up will be coming out in January. We have a whole bunch lined up and they’re pretty astonishing, if I may say so myself.
Are there any plans to release an EP or album?
I have too many plans. The next thing I release is going to be an EP. I guess I can give you the exclusive here! The EP is called sans, and I’ve set myself the challenge of not using any traditional instruments. It will be composed purely with my voice and found sounds. It’s got kind of a lo-fi, lowercase vibe, like some of the pieces that are peppered throughout Koinkidink. There is a larger element at play with sans, but I’d rather keep that as a surprise. After that I’ve started an album, which is going to be more stripped back and guitar-based. I’m not using any reverb plugins so I’ve been setting up mics in various rooms in my house and using it as an echo chamber, so that’s fun. Beyond that I have ideas for 2 other EPs, a very ambitious album, and definitely another ambient album Submariner 3 in 2029.
Your music has an indie electronica sound. What/who influences you most as an artist? What have you been listening to recently?
My guiding light is always Radiohead. They have this reputation as being experimental and groundbreaking, but if you follow their career progression there’s a very organic linearity to it. At heart they’re just a bunch of very inventive musicians who aren’t afraid to try things and see what sticks. That’s definitely an approach I’ve adopted. Except they end up making the greatest albums of all time and I make the kind of crap people turn off after 10 seconds. I can never remember what I listen to. I’ve been enjoying the What Is Music? podcast a lot, so I’ve been revisiting the Radiohead and Muse discographies and having a cracking time. I’m sure they’d love to have me on as a guest before the Radiohead season concludes.
Where are you based? What is the local music scene like?
I’m originally from Watford, where the music scene has actually always been incredible. In recent years you’ve had a bunch of people like Daughter, Kyla La Grange and The Staves break through. Even when I was gigging in the early 00’s, the indie and metal scenes were absolutely popping. A few years ago I helped produce and mix the first Lakes record, now they’re gigging like absolute bandits and doing really well. My vinyl copy of that album is one of my prized possessions. Seeing my name printed on an actual physical record that people love is pretty amazing. Now I live just outside of LA. Here I’m very much an outsider so my music lives exclusively online, aside from when Pariis Opera House tracks get used in films and stuff.
Do you have any UK tour dates lined up?
Afraid not. The best advice I ever got was from Tony Beard, who was with Big Life Management at the time. He said “don’t play live until you need to”. Pariis Opera House gigged in front of a few thousand people and got no new fans, but then got played on the radio once and got hundreds. That’s where my focus is. If I have an audience, I’ll think about it. My main reservation is that I’m an electronic artist, and I refuse to go on stage standing behind a laptop. The audience is smart, they know you’re cheating. Or playing solitaire.
Any last words for the fans?
Every little thing’s gonna be okay in the end.