Spending your creative cash with Eyedress, Homeshake, Na'Kel Smith and María Zardoya

Eyedress, Homeshake, Na'Kel Smith and María Zardoya discuss the difficulties of re-capturing a moment, pushing everything else away when going through a creative block, and the importance of controlling your own visual identity.

Eyedress is a singer, rapper and producer who grew up in the Philippines but moved to the USA with his family at the age of six. He grew up playing in punk bands, before moving back to Manila in 2005, where he formed garage pop band Bee Eyes. Meanwhile, he was pursuing his own project which would eventually become Eyedress, a name he originally came up with for his Twitter account. His music takes inspiration from everything from shoegaze to bedroom-pop, and last year he released his fifth album, FULL TIME LOVER.

Canadian musician Peter Sagar, AKA Homeshake, is known for his unique brand of R&B influenced indie-pop. Originally part of Mac DeMarco’s touring set-up, he uses synthesizers and drum-machines to accompany his guitar-playing and soft vocals, creating a relaxing, ethereal sound.

Na’Kel Smith is a rapper, actor and skater who was originally one of the non-musician members of alternative hip-hop group Odd Future. After debuting with a powerful, emotional verse on Earl Sweatshirt’s DNA and teaching himself how to record, engineer, and make beats, he’s evolved into an experimental, lo-fi artist who embodies the spirit of DIY music.

Puerto Rican singer María Zardoya fronts American indie-pop band The Marías. They create a dreamlike fusion of jazz, psychedelia and funk music, drawing inspiration from the band’s diverse musical backgrounds and singing in both English and Spanish. Their debut album Cinema was released in 2021, and they’ve since gone on to collaborate with the likes of Bad Bunny and Cuco.