Inside XINTRA’s Beautiful Collapse
Punk Head: You describe XINTRA as emerging from trauma and a year of transformative change. How did that process shape your approach to melody, harmony, and arrangement?
XINTRA: That is a fascinating question. To be completely transparent here: I got a difficult health diagnosis that really put everything into perspective for me. The process of healing and coming to terms with it still informs most aspects of my life in one way or another.
My approach to music has become more free and less bound or distracted by expectations, industry tastes and trends. I am allowing myself to be me and write and produce like me and explore the spaces that feel less conventional. I am also much bolder in making and releasing what I am proud of. SKIN for example is a song that has no playlist potential, that can be hard to listen to emotionally and that is so vulnerable that I was really nervous to put it out. But that is also the space where art is that really matters.
Punk Head: If XINTRA is a dream-like world, what’s the first thing you want someone to notice when they step in?
XINTRA: When someone steps into XINTRA, they will always step into their own version of it, their own world. I hope they notice themselves and that they can meet themselves with curiosity and warmth and love in that world.
Punk Head: You’ve consciously avoided computer-generated sounds—was that a choice to preserve emotion, or is it about challenging yourself creatively?
XINTRA: It is to preserve creativity and the emotion with it. By limiting myself to a curated set of tools, I am more in tune with them, I know them better, and I can create flows in the creative process. Even though it might sound counter intuitive: Being limited set me free. Free of comparing my sounds to others, free of distractions, free to focus on what really matters: The art of it and how it feels.
Punk Head: Looking forward to the full DAYDREAMS & NIGHT-TERRORS album, do you see XINTRA evolving further, or is this a crystallization of the world you’ve been building for years?
XINTRA: I am not sure. Maybe both. I have a million ideas but let’s focus on one thing at a time.
Punk Head: Your live shows avoid backing tracks entirely. Can you describe the feeling of improvising in that space?
XINTRA: Like a meditation, sometimes it feels like a flow state, sometimes it’s really hard to stay in tune with all the elements. I do have some preprogrammed sequences in the drum machines to make my life a little bit easier but the instruments are still all played live. It takes a lot of practice, energy and deep focus but it can be very rewarding.
