Interviews

Following the success of his debut album, "Stop, Look, Listen", Greek producer and musician George Koutalieris returns to NuNorthern Soul with his stunning new EP, "Seasons". Inspired by the shifting cycles of nature and emotion, the new release finds Koutalieris blending his distinctive brand of melodic, sun-drenched electronica with organic instrumentation and a deep sense of introspection. We sat down with Koutalieris to discuss his return, his creative process, and the inspiration behind his latest release.

Hello George, great to chat with you. Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi, I'm George! I'm a guitarist, composer, and music producer. It all started with my uncle, he's a multi-instrument percussionist, and his house was always full of records, instruments, and musician friends dropping by. I was still a kid when he introduced me to all the great jazz artists of the '80s, which really opened my ears (though I sometimes joke that's not always a good thing! lol). From there, I picked up the guitar, joined bands, and got curious about songwriting, composition, and eventually music production.

I’m also an experienced engineer who’s been working on innovation projects for many years. Creativity and curiosity, which naturally lead to experimentation, are my passion in everything I do, every day. Of course, all of this comes after my family, which will always be my main priority. I still see myself as a student, blending all the influences I’ve collected into my own music.

It's been five years since your debut album, Stop, Look, Listen. How does it feel to be back with a new EP, and what inspired you to title this one Seasons?

It feels great to be back. Stop, Look, Listen was about awareness. It’s about being present and making music that’s honest in the moment. My close friend Panos, who runs Musica Balearica on Instagram, encouraged me to contact Phil. From there, things took off. Since then, I’ve been making other productions, releasing tracks, and creating music for art events. I love those projects because they give me complete freedom to explore.

Seasons shows a different side of my life. Living close to nature with my family, I’ve realized the seasons change not just outside, but inside us too. Every emotion has its own circle. Each track feels like a different time of year, not literally spring or winter. For me it represents an inner shift when our mood changes. Like the weather, these feelings keep returning, but never quite the same.

What is your creative process in general, and how do you get that sense of time and space in your tracks?

I work a bit like an engineer. I start with the basic building blocks of a track and almost never use stock sounds. I like to use sounds from my guitar, foliage, or other personal recordings, and then process and transform them until something catches my ear. Sometimes I add little touches that feel worn out or shiny, depending on whether I want a sense of the past or the present. Other times, I layer sounds at different depths to create a feeling of space.

In Seasons, one main sound came from recording the wind, sampling it many times, and shaping it into something new. In Wildflowers, it was a processed piano sound I discovered that tied everything together. To my ears, it could have come from a Bowie record, but feel free to judge for yourself. I believe the artist should own every sound in a track. This can have a transformative effect on the final result.

I pay particular attention to the creative process. In fact, I see the process itself as the main artistic act. I couldn’t imagine having a magic production recipe and churning out tracks that would feel right years ago. Electronic music, in particular, needs to watch out for this trap because it’s easy to end up following someone else’s creative flow. The internet is full of EDM -recipes,” and let’s not forget how incredible styles like trance, house, and chillout eventually started to lose their spark after years of overproducing tried-and-tested formulas.

Still, there are artists today pushing the envelope, and that’s what it’s all about for me. For example, Tame Impala’s approach or the latest Trevor Powers (aka Youth Lagoon) record — which I just got my hands on this weekend — both show what a freeform creative process can achieve.

The EP's opener, "Wildflowers," you can hear the influence of laidback West Coast rock. What are some specific artists or albums or tracks from that genre that have been a significant influence on your sound?

That’s a great question. I’m actually a latecomer to the West Coast sound. It really started for me around 2010, when it became common to revisit those late ’70s and early ’80s productions. Mashups of classics like Boz Scaggs’ Lowdown were everywhere. I’d loved that track since I was a teenager, and it’s still a favourite. I also became more aware of bands like Fleetwood Mac after realising their influence on newer discoveries like Midlake.

As a youngster, Steely Dan was my biggest influence, along with Johnny Marr of The Smiths (if you can imagine!). I also loved Weather Report and later Miles Davis. The whole vacation-style yacht rock thing came much later for me. So the West Coast flavour in my music is more about the influences I absorbed along the way than the result of a deep, methodical study of the genre. Those suspended chords are just what my hands naturally play every time I pick up the guitar.

With Wildflowers, the West Coast touch is more about the concept. I had this idea to record two complementary guitar parts in dialogue — one was 'Jerry’, the other ‘Bob’, a small nod to the Grateful Dead. That guitar conversation became the track’s heartbeat.

The track "Seasons" pays tribute to the ever-changing natural world. Can you elaborate on the story behind this song, and how did you use the different musical elements, such as the vocal snippets and fretless bass synth lines, to capture the theme?

Very good point! I started by sampling nature sounds and transforming them, then repeating the process until I had something entirely new. An instrument I could actually play in the track. Isn’t it what samplers are supposed to do? (lol). I rarely use stock pad sounds, even though some synths do that beautifully. For me, the artist needs to work closely with their ingredients, preparing them like a chef making a special dish.

For the human voice, I scatted some melodies into my phone and then transformed them. The funny thing is, I also grabbed my trusty small parlor nylon guitar (a tone I love that was a mainstay in Porta De La Mar) and jammed along, again recording straight into my phone. That exact take made it into the final track. I tried re-recording the same parts later, but the magic was not possible to be recreated.

The bassline came last, acting as the glue between all these elements. I shaped it with a breathing pattern, so it feels organic — like the quiet rhythm of nature itself.

The EP features a blend of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Do you start with a specific instrument, or is the process more about layering different sounds and textures?

Blending electric and acoustic guitar with modern electronic production feels natural to me. Most mornings start with coffee and my nylon-string guitar, recording ideas that I later develop in my software, where I am further developing small sound blocks, transforming them, and refining them until they feel balanced. This becomes the track’s foundation, and from there I seek melodies in the interplay of these components or jam to create new parts.

I’m careful about overplaying. Sometimes I solo too much, but I only keep what’s essential and melodic. For my own music, I prefer a fused, baked-in sound where every element belongs together. Lately, acoustic guitar has been central to that. It’s more challenging than the electric to work with, but it naturally keeps me from overplaying.

How has your local environment in Athens continued to influence your music and your creative process?

I grew up in Eleusis and was lucky to be surrounded by some incredibly talented people, many of whom I’m honoured to call close friends. That’s where I first discovered electronic music, synthesisers, and the art of production. In high school, I was lucky enough to work in a studio environment recording with my friends. I still must have “Boys’ Theme” from that period on a cassette somewhere!

Jamming in bands in Athens and Patras where I studied, led me to work with established names and join a then-famous Greek band as a guitar player and band member. There I learned firsthand how to operate in a studio but also what it means to write a good song and the science and art of songwriting. Later, I decided to follow my passion for the freestyle eclecticism pioneered by José Padilla and began devoting my time to electronic music production.

Even now, I still see myself as a student. My goal is to make music that moves people emotionally but still holds small elements of novelty. In the past years I have moved away from the city, living closer to nature, and this has provided the grounding and inspiration to keep exploring and developing.

What are your future plans? Are you already working on a new full-length album, or do you have any other projects on the horizon?

I’ve just finished two tracks for an arts installation that will run in September in my hometown. One of them is based entirely on acoustic guitar, and I’m particularly happy with it. Lately, I’ve also started reworking some of my own electronic productions for solo acoustic guitar. It’s a big challenge, but an exciting one. I’ve already made an acoustic version of Early Morning Ferry and plan to share a short clip as part of the promotion for my new release Seasons with NuNorthern Soul. In this way I pay homage to the track that has started it all, and I’m grateful to Phil for encouraging that journey. I do hope people will enjoy hearing the track in a new light!

In the months ahead, I have a fresh album’s worth of new tracks ready, and I’m looking forward to diving into their production and mixing. I’m also thinking about pursuing collaborations, as they would allow me more freedom in certain aspects of my guitar playing.

One more thing I’ve been exploring in recent months isn’t directly about music production but about supporting artists and music fans. As a software engineer, I see real potential in existing technology to genuinely help artists and enable fans to support them directly. We all know that music platforms operate like monopolies and often fail to treat musicians fairly. Honest artists are overlooked, while fake AI acts are promoted and generate revenue at the expense of genuine creators. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but it’s one that’s definitely worth tackling.

Check out the latest release from George Koutalieris.