Track By Track: Mikael Delta – Life Is Now

Music

Since first appearing on the Greek electronic music scene in 1992 as a founding member of the band Stereo Nova, Mikael Delta has become something of a pioneer. Having worked with people from a local level as well as musicians who have international followings, he's put his talents to good use in the formation of his latest album Life Is Now. We were so intrigued by the album that we asked Mikael to talk us through it in detail, one track at a time.

Here's the album for you to exclusively listen to as we leave you in Mikael's capable hands;

During the last 15 years I’ve been learning and gathering information about Psychology, Philosophy and Esoterism. I was very interested in exploring and experiencing all aspects of the holistic human development.

The Mind, the Soul and the Spirit.

Music had always been a medium that I could find my true self through.

I’m grateful that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Usually when I produce a record the inner conflicts and anxieties become weaken as the self-awareness arises through the realization of “I am who I am”.

The experience of being present teaches me how to rid myself of stereotypes and false beliefs. This new self dimension reveals new paths of living and connects me deeper with people.

Living in the Now, is the only thing that really matters and it gives me purpose and meaning to go on doing what I’m doing with less mental noise.
This is the canvas on which all the album’s tracks are painted.

TURNED INTO LIGHT

I was in Berlin 5 years ago when I decide to make a new album. Since 1997 it was the most inspiring city I’ve ever visited.

It was a blurry morning when I started thinking of this first album track, having the essence of as If I wasn’t the composer but the listener.

Actually that was the basic axis of the whole album concept which I had to follow until finalize the record. The first composition was based on the cello arrangement recorded in Athens and some Doepfer A-100 drones, without the drum pattern and the detuned piano which I added a few months later.

This hypnotic track intro could be described as an opening meditative vibration to the intuition.

Color : Indigo
Feeling : No feelings no pain.

RISING CITIES

This title has a metaphoric meaning which refers to the two different countries, two different cultures and their financial and social issues, Greece and Germany.

Everybody knows that nowadays political systems are planning to disorientate all the (European) liberal democracies and willing to keep under control the collective mind.

Meanwhile, people all over the world become more conscious and take action for humanity’s future.

The piano motive brings the light of pure consciousness and embraces the cello solo which empowers someone’s inner being.

Color: Transparent orange
Feeling : Things change

HOW EASY IS TO FLY

This is a recent composition. I recorded the vocals and some personal objects with an AKG microphone at my studio in Athens, where I also finished the album mix in 2015. I wanted to give this characteristic 80’s solo guitar using a synthetic sound from Dave Smith Evolver synth, which simply made the track more touching.

Flying is one of my favorite things to do while I am dreaming. But in the ordinary life flying means that I disconnect myself from lower emotional frequencies that keep my positive energy trapped.

The repeated vocals work as Mantras which inspire and challenge those who are listening or flying.

Color : Deep Ocean
Feeling : Free

UBHA LINE

I like to use the Metro because I think it is the best way to see how people look like under the ground. Tired, beautiful, sad or hopeful. For me it is so exciting to distinguish that most of the passengers are so quiet, even if they seem lonely or desperate, they have something alive that energizes them from within.

One day I went out with my digital Dictaphone to record various urban sounds. I was at the Metro station near my neighborhood when some immigrants started talking about their holiday experiences. They were really exhausted.

When the discreet recording started I heard a piano chord melody in my head which gave a more cinematic mood to the track composition afterwards.

Color : Light Grey
Feeling : Discerning, we are all the same.

LATE NIGHT PEOPLE

Another cello based track driven by an hypnotic mood and detuned piano drops.

Back to Berlin in 2014. The winter was heavy but the studio sessions with the owner German friend have been imaginative. I had prepared a remix for a German band and we just put the last touches on it. I’m always working late at night, making music or even reading books. I feel like the sky is open and sending the purest energy of the day as well as receiving easier our thoughts or prays.

It was after midnight and I was stepping around Friedrichshain.

I had this feeling of being so far away from people I love and care about and at the same time, I could empty my mind from any kind of commitment or emotional baggage. Suddenly there was more space within me.

Color : Bright Red
Feeling : Fearless

WALKING AROUND SPREE

It was a beautiful afternoon walk around the river Spree surrounded by flying seagulls and a light grey sky.

I was looking at the river’s beauty and then I felt a strong connection to those people who were passing by the bridge. People I’ve never seen in my life before now seemed quite familiar. It took me a while to realize that all these strangers, Germans, Turkish, British, Asians, Greeks, people from all over the world had something in common.

It was clearly painted on their faces. A color tone of loneliness and desperate expression, a hard and stressful living mixed with brighter tones of inner strength and passion for life.

For some reason I couldn’t see myself separated from the others.

I questioned myself 'why do we see ourselves as separate from each other instead of one with each other?'

We might all had the experience of not being accepted but we definitely can change our thought pattern to a more positive one.

Color : Forest Green
Feeling : No separation

LIFE IS NOW

I accept and forgive myself, I am who I am, I’m walking between the lines without identifying myself as a good or a bad person, I express my feelings with words, I can be tough but my purpose is to find peace with myself and others, I love you because I recognize myself in you, I live in the present moment.

Color : Gold
Feeling : Present

WITH MY WHOLE BEING

I produced this track in 2010 . I think it is one of the most interesting tracks I’ve ever made because the composition has two different emotional landscapes well balanced composed.

Traveling from place to place, falling and rising again and again complete the itinerary of an inner journey that eventually guides to peace after the experience of catharsis.

I see myself everywhere in nature. I am the leave, the mountain and the thunderbolt. I am the child, the man and the old man. I live with no fear.
With my whole being means that I am in the state of surrender.

Eckhart Tolle says, "You cannot fight against the ego and win, just as you cannot fight against darkness. The light of consciousness is all that is necessary. You are that light."

Color : Sky Blue
Feeling : Myself

THE STRONGEST LIGHT

The day I produced this track I was in a trance.

I looked at the sky outside the studio window and I whispery asked, “What is power?”

Then something like a voice inside my head said, “Power is to realize that you will not stay here for ever”

Color : The strongest light is a combination of all colors.
Feeling : Transcendental

SNOWING IN BERLIN

Berlin 2015. Standing still on the bridge and breathing deeply, I remembered my country’s crisis and all the close friends who refused to give up the struggle.

The night came slowly while I took the back way home having this sense of being.

Then it started snowing for days. I thought that snowflakes would take to cover us and the entire world for ever.

Color : White
Feeling : Protection