Cyberbae // “26”

Cyberbae, headed by the prolific Ahomari, is a Space Pop project that will surely soundtrack our nigh apocalypse “26” by Cyberbae is wrapped in brooding synthesizer chords and a Miami Vice beat. Ahomari croons with a powerful ascending vocal line “I’m tired of being light when it’s dark outside” during the persistent chorus. Later their urgent voice is swallowed by the ominous accompaniment. Ahomari joined me a brief chat about songwriting, their process, and the scene in Columbia, SC.
 
Check out “26” by Cyberbae here. 
 
SC: I love that this song feels like a life-affirming pop song but has lyrics about the tension between the public persona and self. Can you tell me about this tension?
 
A: I've been me for as long as I can be. Being Ahomari is tiring and so is being Ahomari Raymond Turner. My public persona and self aren't different. They're both face value.
 
SC: Can you tell me about the inspiration for the chorus—“I’m tired of being light when it’s dark outside”?
 
A: “I'm tired of being light when light when it's dark outside” is about my friendships or just my relationships with people. I'm often supposed to rise above things or be the bigger person. It's tiring. I get angry at people I love but I have to calm down but I'm usually being considerate of their emotions instead of mine which is fucked up. I'm tired of the light in dark situations. I want to be dark also.
 
SC: What was your writing process like for “26”?
 
A: It was a bit difficult. I didn't know what I wanted to talk about. Like what is there to talk about? In my bed I was incredibly irritable and had kind of started hermiting from the world and really wanted to kind of die. Wanted to eat my life. Wanted to be without my possessions, my thoughts and my shorts. So I wrote this song.
 
SC: You write every day. How has your daily writing process evolved since you started?
 
A: I've stopped writing entire albums a day. Now just lines.
 
SC: How does your community of songwriters influence you?
 
A: Not going to lie. Not many of them influence me musically. I admire them as artist but none of them influence my work because what I do is different from anyone locally. My narrative is also different. Please recommend three artists to check out. Crybaby, Blvckpunx, WaBeya