22-year old Yargii is a sound engineer and musician who puts 60 hours a week into his craft. Naturally, we couldn’t wait to chat with him.
Yes, Yargii’s work ethic is inspiring, but so is his personality. The creative has been hunkering down in Melbourne’s CBD, offering up vulnerable tunes that span from punk to 60s psychedelia.
His recent single Just Wait was sincere in delivery, dreamy in production, and vastly intriguing. We just had to sit down with the artist to learn more about the song, but most importantly, more about him. Take a look.
HAPPY: Hey Yargii! Where do you find yourself today?
YARGII: I’m living in an apartment just a couple of km’s east of Melbourne CBD! I have an apartment and a small studio setup here, I’ve been living here and working as a sound engineer for the last few months.
HAPPY: Tell us a bit about the name Yargii, what is the meaning behind it?
YARGII: Honestly there’s not much behind it, it’s a combination of a childhood nickname and some lyrics from one of my favourite rappers, shoutout Lord Apex!
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HAPPY: Massive congrats on the release of Just Wait… tell us a bit about the track.
YARGII: As you guys know, I wrote it during a hotel stay facing a stint of homelessness, it’s a letter to myself but also to the world, each piece of music I personally create to invoke a certain emotion and connect with the listener on a personal level. Each song I write is open to the listener’s interpretation, some may find hope and happiness, others might find deep reflection.
HAPPY: Your music has such an incredible amount of variety, do you think about crossing genre lines when making a track?
YARGII: Honestly I never think about “crossing genre lines”, I put the microphone in front of me and do what I’m feeling on the day, it always comes out different, but I don’t think you should be bound to one sound if that’s the sound that takes off, make what you want to make and just do you.
HAPPY: What would a typical song making process look like for you?
YARGII: I don’t ever really write anything on pen and paper, I record most of what I make bar for bar off the top of my head and I rarely re-record my takes, specifically for the reason that I’m capturing the rawest, purest form of my self. it’s a very specific process for me, to truly get in my zone I need to be in a vocal booth in pitch black, or my apartment studio with every bit of light blocked off.
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HAPPY: You’ve been through some challenging hurdles in your life, facing short term homelessness and now you’re spending 60 hours + a week working on music – what advice would you have to channel hardship into art?
YARGII: Channelling hardship into art is much easier said than done, I went through a lot and even died in hospital in August 2020 before I got to where I’m at, it shouldn’t have gotten to that and I knew I needed to make a change. It does take a long time I’m not going to sugar coat it, there’s a lot of tears shed and a lot of memories relived but it’s also one of the most healing experiences you can have.
It’s been a bit over 12 months since I started to make effort on getting sober and changing my life, and for me that translated into working harder on my music. Instead of popping a pill I’d make a song, instead of letting myself get into a bad place I learnt to reach out to other artists and friends. These things all take a long time but I can promise you it’s worth it, and it never hurts to ask for a little bit of help. I thank my best friend Josh for literally saving my life, and I thank my girlfriend for believing in me every day. YOU NEVER HAVE TO DO IT BY YOURSELF. HELP IS OUT THERE. ALWAYS.
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HAPPY: What can we expect for the future of Yargii?
YARGII: What to expect is a video premiere of Just Wait on a channel with 800,000+ subscribers, and following that you’ll see a couple more drops and an EP from me between now and January!
HAPPY: Who is an artist you have had on repeat lately?
YARGII: Ohhh wow, that’s too hard to narrow down, right now my daily rotation is Olive Amun, R.em.edy, and YNG Martyr. there is some insane artistry coming out of Australia right now.
HAPPY: Cheers Yargii!
YARGII: No worries, I’ll be back around soon.
Interview by Jasmine Kassis
Listen to Just Wait below:
