Soular Order is the ambient- and beat-driven project of Mancunian musician Jon Maynard. The experimental productions of Soular Order are largely constructed from an amalgamation of sounds generated from analogue synths, guitars and found percussive elements, a hands-on approach established through years of playing guitar in various bands in his youth.
He has a number of releases in his wake, including seven EP’s and 2016’s full-length album “Rhythmic Sleep”. Above and beyond his musical output, Jon has gone on to establish City By Night Records in 2012, a label focused around laid back music in a wide range of genres, and Beatsupply alongside label-mate IOM in 2017, a label supporting select lo-fi and experimental beat music.
His single ‘Beholder’ is a wonderful balance of celestial harmonies that creates space for the listener to enter a meditative state while still maintaining an intrigue. As a whole is about choosing your own path and making your own choices, a concept that truly reflects Jon’s active role in forging a path for independent creatives up to this point in his career.
Tell us about you, how long have you been producing music? What did inspire you to start?
My name is Jon Maynard and I make ambient/ beat music under the name Soular Order. I’ve been producing for around 12 years in total now, 10 under this alias. I previously played guitar in metal bands and aDer my last band broke up, I heard Noisia’s remix of Konflict’s “Messiah” and was really into it. It made me want to try my hand at producing and things just evolved from there.
The music industry is super competitive these days, was there a moment in your life that you wanted to give up on music? How did you manage to stay focused and achieve what you want?
Yeah, a few Mmes actually haha. It becomes easy to start comparing yourself to your peers, and looking at others’ success and comparing that to your own. But then I realized that it’s all relative. You kind of define your own success I think. You make your own goals and that’s what’s important. Making music for your own reasons is what’s important.
How would you describe your creative processes? Who writes the lyrics to the songs? Are the music and lyrics written in conjunction, or separately?
Usually, I just sit down and jam on guitars or synths and see what happens. Some tracks are older acoustic ones that I’ve written and never used, that I turn into electronic stuff. I rarely have lyrics in my songs, but usually, those are written in collaboration with (or wholly by) whoever is singing. I try to separate the songwriting from producing as much as I can.
Where the inspiration comes from?
All kinds of stuff! The things that surround me, important events and the people in my life. Other people’s music is always a big inspiration for me. There are so many people creating interesting music that it’s hard to hear it and not feel inspired.
What’s your favourite track from the upcoming album and what other bands/artists are you listening to right now?
I’d probably say Downfall. It was the most fun track to write on the EP. it combines a lot of generative synth stuff with more structured elements.
As for other artists I’m listening to, I have a pretty eclectic playlist haha. Rival Consoles, Clark, Shigeto, Tycho, Lorn, Jon Hopkins, Holy Other, Olafur Arnalds, r beny, A L E X, submerse, IOM, Solace, Reversed Fireworks, Hotel Neon, 100 Day Delay, Bluereso, David Bowie, Pantera, Hopesfall, The Contortionist, Iron Chic, Enemies and many, many more.
What’s next for you?
I’m definitely planning on another EP after this one. I’ve already started to work on it, but I’m not sure when it’ll be finished. I have some new material for my side project “Drohves” that I’m planning to release before the end of the year, and I’ve just started work on a new project with a friend of mine called This Too Shall Pass.
