Nelly: How does your interest in art, design, and your personal collections influence the music you create?

Faysal: I think the atmosphere you surround yourself in is really important. Since I mostly work from home, I wanted to create a space where I felt comfortable and inspired to work in for hours. As a music producer and songwriter, I tend to find inspiration through the art, books and records that I’ve collected over the years. Sometimes it’s from a feeling I get out of a painting and other times it’s out of a line from a book I keep going back to. The records that I’ve collected serve as a good reference point towards song structure and sound design.

I also tend to find inspiration from films and try to explore ideas and themes that resonated with me.

What are your top 10 favorite films? 

1. 8 ½ by Federico Fellini
2. Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard
3. Persona by Ingmar Bergman
4. Dreams by Akira Kurosawa
5. Mulholland Dr. by David Lynch
6. The 400 Blows by François Truffaut
7. F for Fake by Orson Welles
8. Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders
9. Mystery Train by Jim Jarmusch
10. The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson

Who are your musical influences?

Curtis Mayfield

The Velvet Underground

James Blake

Brian Eno

Emile Haynie

Frank Ocean

The Cure

Aphex Twin

Jimi Hendrix

The Beatles

David Bowie

Animal Collective

Jai Paul

Dirty Projectors

Beach House