A daisy in your hand, a dilemma of do they love me or do they not. Whichever way you choose, it will result in a change in your life. “Let Me Go” by Kiolo is a journey on embacing change no matter what is in store for us. The duo privides an electric silky groove that keeps the audience uplifted and wanting more. We had the pleasure of interviewing Kiolo, and here is what they had to say:
Q: In your EP covers, I noticed most of your themes are related to nature, why is that? And if you could name “Let Me Go” after any nature element what would it be?
KIOLO: Yes, nature has definitely been a large inspiration for us in our songs. We like to tie in nature sounds and other ambient sounds into our production, which is another reason why our covers tend to depict a nature scene. If we had to name ‘let me go’ after a nature element, it would be a soft breeze.
Q: “Let Me Go” presents you with a dilemma: choose me or let me go. What was your creative process behind “Let Me Go”?
KIOLO: The song is generally about communication between two people and how a relationship can be heavily influenced by that communication or lack of it. The lyrics “let me go or let me know” show that. To write this song, the two of us started jamming over some 6/8 grooves, and we found a harmony, a melody, and a drum feel that we wanted to expand upon. The laid-back feel inspired positive lyrics about going with the flow and being willing to accept change.
Q: Your ethereal, silky sonics float atop your soothing vocals accompanied by glowing instrumentation. How do you achieve those sonic textures?
KIOLO:Thank you for the great description of our song! We used a combination of organic instruments blended with modern production techniques. We included ambient sound effects (birds) and other transitional sound effects to enhance the song and make it flow smoothly from section to section. We performed the electric guitar, bass guitar, and other electronic piano and organ sounds to make the sound fuller. We also had our friend Aleksander Heckert play the tasty saxophone on the track.
Both of us work as audio engineers, so we worked together to mix and master this track. When we’re mixing and mastering, we work to blend together all the song’s different elements into a cohesive whole.
Q: Your music gives me Motown energy and has been described as indie pop. Is there a story behind how you came up with your current style?
KIOLO: We derived our chemistry playing music together in previous bands and jamming together over different genres of music. Jemz is the drummer and I’m (John) the guitarist, so we started out jamming on cool rhythm and harmony ideas and developed a cohesive sound together. Both of us listen to an eclectic blend of music, but when we create together, we gravitate toward songs that are catchy and upbeat with a nice backbeat to groove to. These ideas sum up our sound, and we love the idea that our music has Motown energy, that is a huge compliment!
Q: How did the idea of coming together as a duo come about? Why Kiolo?
KIOLO: John Kolar and Andrew Jemiolo (Jemz) make up the indie pop duo, Kiolo. The name Kiolo derives from a blend of our last names. We liked the sound of the name and thought it was abstract and fun, and also broad enough of a name to allow us to grow in our sound as we create more music.
Prior to Kiolo, we had played in other rock bands together like Stray Tuesday and Mother of Earl (both bands have their music available on all streaming services). We loved making music together and decided that we wanted to make pop music that was based more heavily on the production and that used catchy lyrics and melodies.
Q: Is there an album in the works for the duo?
KIOLO: Oh yes, for sure!! We will be releasing several singles this year, leading up to a larger album release by the end of 2023. We are super excited to be sharing our music with you, and we can’t wait to groove to it together.
Interviewed by Shertara Brazil
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