Cassie Forsyth | Arts & Life Co-Editor
Sophomore music production major Myckeal Rake recently released his first extended play (EP) entitled Dreams. The EP features four electronic songs that work together as a progression to fit the “dreams” theme because he is interested in sleep, especially being a college student who barely gets any of it.
Rake goes by the stage name “Frost” after having debated about a name for the past couple of years. He liked the simplicity of the name, and it correlates to his love for winter. It’s also a name he could imagine a crowd of people shouting. Rake doesn’t believe a stage name is necessary in his genre of music, but he hopes to be unique.
“I feel like a persona is an easy way to label yourself and promote yourself as well,” Rake said.
To create a branded vision for himself, he also made a logo design for himself that features a white F against a light blue background, both to relate to the name Frost and to reflect the simplicity of his music. Because he doesn’t like to make complicated music or something that is more than necessary, he feels that his logo echoes that idea.
The EP is a story and each song is a different stage of that story. It begins with a slow, light-hearted song and ends with a heavy, dark song. The songs titles coincide with the different patterns of sleep.
The first track on the EP is entitled “Dreams.” The song is a slow, melodic piece that sets up the remaining tracks. The song is relaxing, and it progresses into the next song entitled “Four Stages.” There are four stages of non-R.E.M. sleep that keeps the body relaxed, and the song reflects that notion. The third song is entitled “R.E.M.,” and this one begins to get more energetic. Because the eyes move during this stage of sleep, the music reflects that chaotic time. The last song on the EP is entitled “Nightmare,” and it is a fast, dark song that also represents the chaotic time we feel when we experience a nightmare.
Rake hadn’t planned to create a theme to the EP. Instead, it came together that way, and he thought it would be a neat idea for the album.
Three of the songs were done while he’s been in college, but one of the songs, “R.E.M.,” was started when he was a senior in high school. The song began as an introduction to a video he and a friend were producing at the time. It started off simple, but he enjoyed the beat of it and continued to work on it to make it what it has become now. After spending all this time on the song, it has become his favorite on the album.
None of Rake’s music has lyrics because he prefers only instrumental songs. Most electronic music is without lyrics.
“It could pretty much be anything. You’re not really limited to what a guitar could make or what a saxophone could make. You can really create whatever sound you want,” Rake said.
Rake’s favorite part of creating music is the creativity, especially since it’s his own music.
“I can take as much time as I want,” Rake said, “as much work as I want to put into it is what it’s going to take.”
Rake’s only regret of the album is that he didn’t let more people listen to it before it was put out there. Being picky with music, many of his songs have never been released. Because he didn’t really warn people his EP was coming out he didn’t have much of a following before it happened. He is currently using social media and Reddit to promote himself as an artist.
In the future, Rake hopes to release another small EP with music he has already started producing. Eventually, he hopes to release a full length album, but time is the current issue. In the summer, he wants to DJ in Des Moines where he would be able to promote himself and expose his music to a larger audience. His ultimate dream as a musician is to be a full time writer and DJ, playing his own music live in clubs with a large crowd.
Rake’s music is available on his bandcamp page and is free to download. He uses this outlet because it doesn’t require people to buy his music, and he doesn’t believe in charging people for something he’s passionate about doing. He doesn’t have any plans to charge people in the future for his music, either.
Rake advises people to listen to his music because it’s different.
“My stuff goes from really ambient to really energetic,” Rake said. “I think it’s different enough that people go ‘Oh, I haven’t heard this before, this is kind of cool.’”
For more updates, check out his facebook page.
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Photo by Tyson Domingo
