Ash Clarke was always interested in creating music, and they’re now ready to share it with the world — and, of course, their hometown of Marblehead.
Clarke said they gained a lot of inspiration for their music from the five years they lived in South Africa. They are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns.
“One of my biggest learnings from being there is just exploring like how do you enjoy life? That’s one of the concepts I explore with my music,” Clarke said. “How do you enjoy life through music? And how do you have more fun with music?”
They go by the stage name Ash_01, and their first single, “I Want It,” was just released Friday. They worked with Brendan McGillan, co-producer and engineer of Ugly Duck Studios, to create “I Want It” and the rest of the work that’s soon to be released.
“It’s an exploration of the concept of wanting and how there’s a thing that’s been socialized and popularized in Western cultures (to ask) is it a need or a want?” Clarke said. “The main message of my song is: Needs? Cool. We 100% need needs, but wanting is one of the most human things we do, and we shouldn’t repress that.”
The chorus goes: “I never need any of this. We will let go of it all. But tonight, I want it. That’s why we’re here.”
The song uses piano, percussion and synth and aligns with Clarke’s electronic genre. They said they were drawn to this genre because of “the variety of instruments and all the different processing you can do on sound.”
Clarke’s main musical inspiration is Tim Bergling, who is much better known as Avicii.
“What people said about Avicii is that his sound was from the future, so I’m just trying to write in the sense that this message is from the future,” they said. “Whether I achieve that, obviously, we’ll see. That’s quite a tall ask, but at least that’s my (intention).”
Ash_01’s next single will be released on streaming platforms on March 18, and it’s called “Freak_01.”
“It’s just about embracing one’s inner freak or the weirdness in who you are. I think that definitely goes along with sometimes (being) judged for being in the gender non-confirming community and how it can be seen as this thing that’s taboo or frowned upon, but how it’s a very freeing and radicalized existence,” they said. “It’s meant for everyone to relate to, so I don’t specifically talk about the concept of transness in it, but obviously, it’s linked to who I am.”
Their EP, “Dreaming Backwards,” will be out mid-April, and there is still more in the works for Ash_01.
