INTERVIEW: Nightcrawler

With Malevolent Forces, Nightcrawler pushes electronic music back into the realm of subtle tension — where repetition, space, and restraint carry as much emotional weight as distortion or intensity. Navigating effortlessly between digital precision and an analog mindset, he crafts a sound that feels dystopian yet intimate, dense yet carefully controlled. The EP channels the overstimulation and anxiety of post-digital life, transforming that pressure into rhythm, texture, and atmosphere. In Nightcrawler’s universe, the club becomes a place where fear, tension, and anticipation coexist on the edge of release, and where every element is stripped to its essential form. Malevolent Forces stands slightly apart from the current landscape: dark, cinematic, and physical — designed for a room where the lights are low, the system is powerful, and the music can be felt as much as heard.

In Malevolent Forces, you explore how repetition and space create emotion. Do you think electronic music today has lost touch with that subtlety?

Not lost, but it’s less common. Everything is louder and faster now, so subtlety gets buried. I like using repetition and space because that’s where the real tension appears.

The production feels both analog and digital. How do you navigate between the two worlds in your studio?

I mostly work digital, but I treat every sound as if it were analog distortion, imperfections, small movements. It’s more about attitude than gear.

R.U.S.H. deals with overdrive and anxiety — is it a commentary on post-digital life?

Yes, in a way. We’re all overloaded, always connected, always rushing. The track is

basically that feeling turned into rhythm.

There’s a dystopian energy running through the EP. Was that intentional or a byproduct of the creative process?

It just happened. I didn’t force a dystopian concept, but the sound naturally went there as I pushed the intensity.

What kind of gear or workflow did you rely on to build that dense yet controlled intensity?

A minimal setup: a few key plugins, lots of automation, and constant layering. The control comes from cutting everything that isn’t essential.

When you think about the club as a space, what role does fear or tension play in your sets?

Tension is everything. A club works when you feel something is about to break but never does. That edge keeps people locked in.

How do you see Malevolent Forces fitting within the current electronic landscape?

I think it stands slightly apart. It connects with the darker electronic scene, but it also

brings my own melodic and cinematic touch, so it doesn’t follow a strict formula.

If this record had to be played in one specific place or environment, where would that be?

In a dark club with a powerful sound system a place where the physical impact of the music can really be felt.

BUY

http://nightcrawlermusic.com