INTERVIEW: Electronic Pop from Awaywhere

San Francisco-based visual artist and musician Justin Kleiner has spent years building something that feels like an invitation to disappear somewhere else. Awaywhere is an imaginary multimedia world inspired by the dream realm, populated by wandering creatures, mysterious landscapes and surreal adventures. Created with collaborators from around the world, it brings together art, music, storytelling and design with an ambition to make curiosity and wonder feel closer to everyday life.

That idea has been gradually taking shape through music since 2019, when Awaywhere first unveiled its sound with the debut single “Mysticeti.” A year later came “Moon Leaf,” followed by “Another Shore” in 2024, with each release adding another piece to the project’s expanding universe. Awaywhere has never been designed to exist within music alone however and its songs act as gateways into a wider creative world where animation, illustration, characters, games and interactive experiences can reveal different sides of the same developing idea.

Now, Awaywhere takes that world into a brighter sphere with “New Misty Morning,” a dreamy new electronic pop single featuring Argentinian singer Lucy Rod. Bringing together indie electronic and pop with subtle house influences, the track combines bright electronic textures, intricate rhythms and delicately manipulated vocals into a sound that’s warm, colourful and distinctly otherworldly. The track’s electronic production has a lightness to it, with melodic rhythms providing the mellow energy while layers of processed vocals transform the human voice into another instrument within the arrangement.

Glitching effects, chopped phrases, pitch-shifted fragments and stacked harmonies give the song its experimental tone while always keeping sight of its pop appeal. Lucy Rod’s vocals provides the framework for an elaborate vocal arrangement in which the traditional boundaries between singer and sound design are repeatedly blurred. At points, her voice functions as a conventional lead, carrying the melody and emotional context of the song while elsewhere, it becomes fragmented, reshaped and stitched into the electronic environment around it and that balance is what makes “New Misty Morning” such a natural fit for Awaywhere.

Thematically, the song is about discovering somewhere new and approaching an unfamiliar environment with curiosity and wonder, essentially turning exploration into its emotional engine. Opened by the chime of bell tolls, the shimmer of airy tones and Lucy’s ethereal vocals, the track develops with the steady pulse of kick as pattering rhythms inject a laid back dance groove to the dreamy soundscape.

Flowing with alluring melodies and the stutter of chopped vocalisations, the intricate instrumentation swirls around Lucy’s voice to craft an immersive slice of electronic pop music filtered through an experimental sonic lens. Wrapped up in a colourful musical fabric and propelled by pulsing groove, “New Misty Morning” sees Awaywhere serve up another stellar musical moment that’s truly impossible not to love. As Awaywhere continues to go from strength to strength with each move, we can’t wait to see what comes next on their exciting, unique and thoroughly compelling musical adventure.

We caught up with Awaywhere to find out more about their musical journey so far, their new single “New Misty Morning” and what they’ve got lined up for the future. Check out our interview with Awaywhere below.

Hey Awaywhere, how’s things?

Things are good! I’ve been keeping busy making music and working on some new projects. Thanks for having me!

What’s your earliest memory of making music?

I took guitar lessons as a kid, but at the time I couldn’t really connect the basic music theory I was learning to how you actually make songs. When I was supposed to be practicing, I’d get distracted experimenting with the guitar instead, putting things like aluminum foil or rubber bands on the strings and seeing what strange sounds I could make.

It seemed like a silly distraction at the time, but in hindsight, those two sides, structured musical learning and experimenting with sound, became the foundation of how I approach music. If you only go by the book, it can be hard to make something distinctive, but if you experiment without any structure, things can become a mess. I’ve always been interested in finding the balance between the two.

Which artists do you draw most inspiration from?

There are probably too many to mention, but two that come to mind are Björk and Deltron 3030. I love albums that feel like they take you on a journey into another realm. Deltron 3030 feels like you’ve stepped into an alternate reality where hip-hop somehow merged with Star Wars, while Björk’s Homogenic feels like traveling through this vast landscape where nature and technology have fused together. They’re completely different worlds, but both showed me how much more an album can become than just a collection of songs.

How else do you find inspiration for your music?

I find that the music that turns out best often starts with wanting to capture a feeling or experience. For example, one sunny afternoon, I was floating in the ocean when a seal popped up next to me to say hi. Between the subtle rhythm of the waves and the goofy, friendly vibe of the seal, it was one of those small experiences that somehow felt really special. I wanted to make something that could give someone else that same feeling, so I ended up making a song and animation inspired by it.

What do you love about the San Francisco music scene?

I’m grateful to live in a city that loves electronic music so much! Whether it’s local DJs throwing an impromptu dance party in the park or an international artist coming through to play a massive rave, there’s always something happening here.

What would you say is the perfect setting for listeners to enjoy your sound?

I like how music takes on a different life once it reaches a listener’s ears. So, one nice part of being a musician is finding out all the different ways people enjoy it. Someone once told me they like listening to my music while stargazing, and that felt like such a compliment. I love the idea of the music becoming part of an experience like that.

Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?

I kind of feel like this has already happened while working on the upcoming Awaywhere album. I don’t want to say too much because it’s not finished yet, but I’ve been collaborating with vocalists and voice actors from around the world to help bring the project to life. Seeing how people with different backgrounds, talents, and personalities bring something completely different to the project has been one of my favorite parts of making it. It ends up having much more depth and dimension than anything I could have created on my own.

How did you find making your new single “New Misty Morning”?

This song started out as an experiment to make something more pop-inspired than anything I’d released in the past. As it progressed, the sounds and melodies started to feel like the soundtrack to a forest or jungle. There’s even a sample of a monkey hidden in the beat!

Once that environment started taking shape, it felt like the song needed a main character to inhabit it. That’s when I asked Lucy Rod to see if she wanted to sing on it, and her voice really helped bring that character and the whole setting to life.

What message did you want to get across with this release?

For this song, I wanted to give listeners a little rest from the real world and imagine what it might feel like to wake up in a forest in another realm. There’s this sense of optimism and comfort as the character explores and realizes they’ve discovered a place that just clicks with something inside them, somewhere they want to stay and explore a little longer.

What artist have you been listening to most recently?

Ooh, it’s hard to pick just one with so much good music always coming out. A few who have been in pretty heavy rotation for me lately are Bambii, Erika de Casier, and 1tbsp. I love the energy and sound design in Bambii’s music, Erika de Casier has this understated style that always pulls me in, and 1tbsp has been making some really fun, inventive dance music.

What’s the main thing you want people to get out of listening to your music?

As a listener, some of the music that has meant the most to me came along at just the right time. Sometimes it amplified an emotion or mindset I was already experiencing and made it feel bigger and more vivid. Other times, it took me somewhere completely new and opened up feelings or ways of seeing things that I didn’t know how to access on my own. Those experiences genuinely changed me in positive ways.

When you make music, I don’t think you can ever hear it completely objectively, so I can’t say how mine lands for other people. But my aspiration is to make something that might have that kind of effect on someone else.

Who would be 3 artists to headline your dream festival? And where would it be?

This is a fun question! Let’s go with a 90’s dance music legends theme: Underworld, The Chemical Brothers, and a reunited Daft Punk. It could be at this club in Tokyo called Womb. They have such an amazing sound system there.

Finally, what do you have lined up next?

I’m currently finishing up the first album, which expands on some of the ideas introduced with “New Misty Morning.” I’m also working on some animated and interactive projects that take Awaywhere beyond music. There’s a lot I’m excited to share, but I’m trying to take it one adventure at a time!

Listen to New Misty Morning below