Meet Praveen Sharma

We recently connected with Praveen Sharma and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Praveen, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.

I lost the excitement to write songs back in spring 2019. The joy had almost vanished from the creative process in the studio. Personal expectations, endless technological options, lack of time, and lack of urgency all contributed to this. I was working full-time, a consistent pattern throughout my career, including the few years I toured as Sepalcure. I decided to put my musical aspirations to rest. This decision deeply affected me, filling me with disappointment and resentment. Instead of going to the studio, for nearly a year, I turned to TV or video games. After a career spanning small net label releases in 2006 to Pitchfork’s best new music, this was the longest I had gone without writing in my entire life.

Then the pandemic hit. My wife and I moved back to New York. A year later, my friend Mark visited with a MIDI controller he had made. It was a hexagonal, nondescript device with no labels and a few loose power cables dangling from the bottom chassis. This was the first time I had sat down in the studio with a clear intention in months. The experience of blindly navigating this device and relinquishing control was a revelation. I realized that what I had been missing in my process wasn’t just a system that encouraged improvisation and happy accidents, but a system that brought me the joy of exploration that I had started writing music for in the first place. Later that week, a video of Moog’s quirky, esoteric semi-modular Subharmonicon appeared on my YouTube channel, and something in my mind did a backflip.

A year and a half later, surrounded by cables and significantly poorer due to the multiple cases worth of Eurorack gear I had splurged on, I felt a sense of accomplishment as I reviewed the 64 songs I had started in the past year. It was undoubtedly the best material I had ever created in my career. However, there was something distinctly different about the way it made me feel. While I was proud of the songs, I was even more excited about the prospect of writing more.

Over the past year, I have learned a valuable lesson: if you can create a system that fosters an initial sense of joy and excitement during the creative process, you are less likely to be deterred by the subsequent pressures that come with it. This principle is not limited to specific technologies like Eurorack; it applies to any process that aims to streamline your creative workflow. Your goal should be to remove any obstacles from your ability to plant the initial seeds of your next piece without worrying about the potential outcomes or the pressure to produce something specific. Here are some ways you might achieve this creative mindset and overcome whatever creative blocks you face.

1. Shake things up and experiment with novel interfaces. Implement systems in your studio (or wherever you create) that inspire joy rather than instill fear or option paralysis.

2. Show up and put in the work, even when you don’t feel like there’s a clear path to a desired result. Set a schedule for yourself. For instance, I allocate 30 minutes to an hour in the studio before I call it a day. Usually, around the 15-minute mark, even if I haven’t been feeling what I’m working on and start getting “the fear”, I suddenly stumble upon a breakthrough and end up spending far more time in there than an hour.

3. Be kind to yourself and don’t hesitate to take breaks when needed. Sometimes, writer’s block or a lack of motivation to create is perfectly acceptable. After we learned that IVF had succeeded and we were expecting a child, I took September and October off from the studio. It was a great way to reset my creative impulse and prepare for what I needed to do next: finish a down selection of these 64 songs.

4. Remember the reason you started creating in the first place. As an artist, why do you create? The desire to express yourself or find joy in the act of creation might outweigh the pursuit of likes and fame that often becomes a driving force in our lives, especially in today’s society.

5. Have fun creating music, however you find it. For most of my life, I believed that the tortured, substance-abusing artist epitomized creative integrity. I followed that path blindly. However, the opposite proved to be true. Instead of writing music that indulges my negative emotions, I’ve discovered that writing music that aids me in processing and overcoming these emotions in a positive manner is far more rewarding.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’ve been writing and releasing music for nearly 20 years, most recently as Braille but also as Sepalcure, Praveen, Praveen & Benoît, Pleasure Jail and Rights. Lately, I’ve been fairly active on social media and last year I started a YouTube channel focused on creative process and challenges.

You can learn more about me here:
https://whoisbraille.com

And you can find me on the internet here:
https://linktr.ee/braillesounds

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities I’ve found essential for my journey, a dedication to working hard, reflecting on my experiences and a refusal to give up.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Technology has created an environment of overstimulation and endless possibilities. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the expectations and complexities of day to day life.

I’m not a religious person but I do find it important to have faith in yourself and to manage your time as best you can.

I’m constantly juggling family, career, art and self and every day is a re-prioritization based on the day’s requirements. Some days, I know I need to focus on work and others I can take care of my mental health. Don’t try and do everything every day. Chipping away at the things that overwhelm you consistently and slowly is much better than trying to deal with everything at once.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Danny Scales

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