Last weekend, EDMTunes visited the beautiful Navy Pier in Chicago, IL, to celebrate the return of Nore en Pure’s Purified Event series. The event took over the North End of the pier for the very first time, and besides some scattered rain, it was magnificent. With a stacked lineup of Progressive/Melodic House heavyweights, we sat down with outstanding Dutch producer Corren Cavini. After an incredible year that propelled him upwards directly after the release of his debut album, A Place To Call Home, Cavini gave us an insight into his year. Moreover, he opened up about the power that music has to heal, and how it may heal some wounds of trauma and pain.
The Utrecht-based producer and DJ is impossible to miss behind the decks: physically commanding, visibly electric, jumping, moving, and pouring every ounce of his passion into the room. People who are part of his journeys never lose the feeling. From Amsterdam and Berlin to São Paulo, Johannesburg, New York, and Prague – wherever he plays, audiences feel more than they expected to.
Corren Cavini in Chicago
This is Jay with EDM Tunes, and I’m with the one and only Corren Cavini. How are you?
I’m very good. I just played my set, and it was amazing despite the challenges.
Yeah! Even with the rain, you had a tarp on your face; you made the best of it. Have you been in other situations where the weather is a little too inclement during a set?
I have, but not like this. I think because the rain was a bit unexpected. So then there are suddenly people making makeshift tarps and putting them over your head. Yeah, it’s a challenge, but it’s also fun to get thrown a curveball and try to deal with that in the best way. And I think we did it well.
I feel attendees were up for it for making the best of it. I think that especially through the last tracks that you have released, including your debut album, you touch a lot on resilience. I love that even during live performances, you truly represent that. Before all this rain, you were in San Diego earlier this weekend. How was it?
Amazing. I haven’t been to San Diego yet. Actually, for most cities I visit in the US. This is my 1st year touring in the US. I absolutely loved it; such a beautiful city. I really like the people there as well; they’re really sweet and laid-back and very much my vibe. Of course, I played at the beach during sunset, and for me, that’s the ultimate situation for my kind of music, you know, where you’re throwing beats by a beach, and the sun is setting, and I absolutely loved it. People were amazing. The crowd was amazing. It’s that kind of amazing situation when you get a show where all of the factors come together to make something bigger than the sum of its parts
You draw a lot of inspiration from nature, of course, working with Purified Records. With your track ‘Lion’s Head’, we had a glimpse of the location through Nora’s visuals. What does this location mean to you in terms of this track? And are there any other places in the world that you might draw inspiration from?
For me, inspiration comes from feeling something, and that can be connected to so many different things, like things in my personal life that go very well or very badly, but also quite often I’m noticing it when I’m traveling. I get very inspired by interactions with people and/or places, which quite often go together. And, when I create these memories that are very important and make a big impression on me, I often feel the need to express that and try to turn it into a melody that is connected to that memory.
‘Lion’s Head’
This location is an ultimate example of that. I was in South Africa one year ago, and it was also my 1st time playing there and visiting the country. Nora took me to hike up Lion’s Head, a mountain just on the shore of Cape Town. It’s an amazing mountain because when you’re at the top, you have a 360-degree view of the ocean, and on the other side, you have the rest of the mountains behind you, and then you see the cape of Cape Town, and you’re in between all that. You can imagine sort of the visual and the atmosphere and how impressive that moment was for me. Being there with Nora, who’s become a good friend of mine over the past years- from, you know, somebody I worked with to really having a good personal connection and getting to know each other meant a lot.
These kinds of memories feel like they need a soundtrack, and that’s sometimes how it goes, where I make it as a tribute to a place or a moment. Lion’s Head is one good example of that. I have plenty more. It’s so amazing because you can look so far into the distance, into the ocean, that you can see whales coming up for air, with the sun setting behind them.
New Music
Speaking of latest releases, of course, you’ve had incredible releases this year, including ‘Lion’s Head’ and ‘Darkness Into Day’ Are we expecting new tracks soon?
Of course, we’re doing a new release soon, which is one of my favorites I’ve done in a long time. I’ve been working on it for, I think, 2.5 years already. It’s called ‘Magic’. With a beautiful singer who’s called Down Under. He’s from New Zealand, and I met him in the Netherlands. We did a couple of sessions together, and right from the start, it was just that. Every now and then you get these people where you just connect on a personal level, but also on a creative level. We had an amazing session. It’s quite a deep and emotional tune, you know, as is very much my thing. I’m very excited to share that with the world.
We are very excited to hear it. You said that you’ve been working on it for 2.5 years, Is that usual for your creative process?
Kind of depends on track to track. I would say this is maybe a bit on the extreme side, where it took so long from the 1st demo, which I already really liked, but then you’re just constantly tweaking and iterating on that because sometimes I just feel like this track has so much potential, and then I constantly feel like I’m not getting the most out of it. I can drive myself crazy. So those are definitely the situations where it takes a very long time. There will also be a track where the process goes faster, but definitely in almost any case, the process from first demo to release takes at least half a year, but quite often a year, sometimes two years. And in the case of my album, for example, there are also tracks on there that have been a demo for 8 years.
Relationship With Purified
You have had quite amazing opportunities with Purified, and you have had many releases in the last 3 years. How did this collaboration come about?
It’s funny, actually; people ask me this quite often, and usually I really have to think about it, because I don’t quite remember exactly how it started. But before I ever did a release with Purified, I did quite a lot of releases with different labels, and I still do now and then. And a couple of those records, Nora had already been playing in her sets sometimes. So, I don’t remember exactly how it went, but I think somehow we got into a conversation in an Instagram DM with me saying: “Hey, thank you for playing this and this track,” and she continued: “Yeah, I really like it. Maybe we should talk about doing some music together.”
Slowly but surely, from that conversation, we decided to do our first EP together. Gradually, that has grown. I think from the first time we met each other in person, (because we met online first and then we met each other in person), we also noticed that there was a real connection, not only in terms of music, because we have a very similar musical vision, and in terms of the way we are in life, the way we view the world, the way we try to act in in life.
There’s a real connection there, and that’s why it works so well for me to work together. Because really, almost everybody I work with in my team, from my manager to the label, I try to work with people who I feel good around because, for me, music is such a personal thing that if I work with people who I don’t trust personally, that creates friction.
On Working and Vulnerability
It’s very important for me to feel that way, and I definitely do have that with Purified, and then I mean the whole team, not just Nora, because the other people are amazing as well.
And being able to have those virtues aligned with everyone that you surround yourself with makes the difference!
It’s also super important to me because If I make something very personal to me that’s vulnerable to me, I want to be able to trust the person that I send it to before we’re even talking about the release schedule, I want to feel comfortable that that person is going to handle it as I want them to, you know, I don’t want to work with somebody who’s very harsh and um, what’s the word I’m looking for, very business about this. I mean, we need to, in the end, the music industry is also a business, but for me, in the first place, it should always be about emotion and what the music means, and that’s why it’s super important to me to have people who I feel that with, that I feel safe to send something that might not be a dance floor banger, but being allowed to me personally.
On the Evolution of His Sound Through An Emotional Lens
Nonetheless, you do have some great club bangers. You definitely have so much passion and emotion in your tracks, but then you’re able to tap into those grooves that might be a little bit more clubby. Could you talk a little bit about that evolution that you’re able to go into those more emotional musical spaces versus straight-up dance floor bangers?
Yeah, it’s that’s been a challenge, honestly. It’s been a very long process. I’m 29 now, and I started making electronic music when I was 14 years old. So I’ve been doing this for a long time and have grown gradually, and especially in my early years, I tried everything, you know, Hardstyle, Deep House; I experimented all over the place. For me, it’s been a personal process as well as just learning technical stuff about the music.
When I went to music school in the Netherlands, I went to college for music production. I spent a lot, a couple of years just completely focusing on developing my technical skills. So at a certain point, I was very far along; I could make almost any sounds I wanted to. But my tracks, they didn’t mean anything, and I think that started showing, and this was around the same time that I started to run into some trauma that I had to deal with in my own life, as I think people quite often do, you know, when you’re 20, 22, you run into stuff that you might not have dealt with as you did in your youth. And the funny thing was, as I started facing that. It was a very hard process, especially for a young person to go into therapy and to learn how to be vulnerable and work out these emotions. I think it’s no coincidence that it was the same era when I began making emotional records. That was the beginning of the sound that people know me for now. I’m telling stories that mean a lot to me, and even if they don’t have words, I think somehow that translates.
And then from that point on, because initially those records were quite deep, so not perfect for the dancefloor. I’ve gradually grown to combine that emotional side with the harder beats, and bit by bit, develop my own sound, which now is very much about bridging both sides.
That’s beautiful because you seem to have that emotional maturity to be able to tap into those feelings that then reflect on the stuff that you produce. And that’s really hard, even just being able to reach that level of emotional maturity and understand yourself enough to then create that work and be genuine about it. That’s awesome.
Yeah. It’s still a process. Don’t get me wrong.
As much as I’m still learning, I still try to learn new musical skills, and as much as that’s important for me, it’s still important to keep working on these things and try to reflect on my personal growth and what I might be running into. Funny thing is, I also notice when I’m in periods where I don’t work on myself, let’s put it that way, that usually hurts my creativity. I found that it may be a toxic trait.
Sources of Inspiration
For me, so much of my inspiration comes from emotional moments, not just sad trauma moments, but just anything that means a lot to me. That eventually will make its way into my art, and that’s really what it’s about for me. It’s no coincidence that I started doing it this way because when I was dealing with heavy things in my own past, like from very young on, what helped me was music by artists that also poured their heart and soul into it.
Can you mention some of those artists that helped you through those tough times?
Before I made electronic music, I played guitar, and I was really into rock music. So I remember seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they came to the Netherlands. That was a big one for me. I remember coming home from that concert and saying: “This is, this is what I want to do.” And back then I thought it was going to be like a rock star guitar player. That eventually wasn’t the direction I turned towards. Then, I discovered electronic music, and one of the artists that I really give a lot of credit to for inspiring me to do what I do today is I never know how to pronounce his name – Worakls, French, electronic artist, is absolutely incredible.
Touring Around the World
Can you tell us a little bit about those major highlights like playing Woodstock, playing Purified during Miami Music Week?
I mean, it’s been absolutely amazing, of course.
Yeah, it’s so incredibly meaningful to travel the world, and I know what music can mean to people in the crowd because I’ve been in the crowd, and I had super valuable experiences. And now I get to do that for people all over the world, and there have been so many places where I’ve had such strong connections with people; to name a couple of examples of places that I really feel that way about. I’ve been to São Paulo in Brazil a couple of times now. It was my first ever international show, at Ame Club. People there are absolutely amazing. And the funny thing is, I don’t speak Portuguese.
Now, I do a little bit, but the first time I came there, absolutely zero. And this is extremely cliche, but there I really noticed that music is a universal language. You know, I played that show there, and I absolutely loved it. Afterwards, I tried talking with people and, you know, about myself, and we couldn’t understand each other, but somehow you can get connected with these people and see what it means to them. And they see what it means to me. And that’s so incredibly special. So that’s definitely a place I have very warm memories of and a good connection with, but this happens in so many places around the world. I’ve had a couple of really amazing shows in Montreal; New York has been amazing.
Common Ground
I can tell you from just being in the crowd today that it meant something to everyone. That was present. And I love that you’re bringing, you know, community; that music is a universal language. You just finished your very own production and 6-hour set. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?.
Yeah, this was the debut edition of Common Ground. I don’t like the word concept, but it’s a community we’re starting to build. I’ve played all-night-long sets in the Netherlands before. But this was the first time that we’re doing it with this new brand, which is all about, well, basically what I’ve talked about so far. It’s all about the community aspect and bringing people together, where differences between people disappear, and then people can just feel connected and rooted, and that’s what it’s all about. That’s been the ambition. We did the first one of that last week in the Het Sieraad, in Amsterdam. It’s been absolutely amazing.
I think it’s important to remember that we are all human and that we share much more than what makes us different. And for me, the dance floor is the ultimate place.
What’s Next?
What’s your next step?
Honestly, still figuring it out. I released my debut album, which was a whole, both personal and creative, very intense process. We did some separate releases after that, like the tracks we already talked about. In the background, I’ve been working on many demos going all over the place because I kind of want to give myself some space and time to figure out what the next step is.
I’m trying to be more ambitious than just making more tracks than I have before.
I’m trying to figure out how I can do something new. I’m trying to figure out new aspects of my sound without losing my core, and I’m giving myself some space to figure that out because it takes time- these things, you know?
Not in the sense that I need to put a lot of hours into one production, but I just need to make 30 weird experiments and see which one sticks. Which ones land, right?
