Interview: Caminauta

General info

Artist Name: Caminauta

Real name: Camila

Age: 29

Location: Uruguay

How long have you been making music? 10 years

Social Media / Music Links

instagram.com/caminauta.musik
caminauta.bandcamp.com
youtube.com/@caminautamusik

Do you release music under a label or independently?

Label

Creative process and inspiration

What drew you to ambient music in the first place?

What drew me to ambient music was a deep curiosity to translate visual inspiration into sound. When I was 17, I became fascinated by the idea of making music that could evoke the same feeling as a photograph or a memory, a sound that prints an atmosphere. That curiosity led me to explore film scoring and music for image.

Can you describe your creative process when starting a new track?

My process always stems from something I've read, an image that haunts me, or a question the surrounding landscape seems to be posing without fully answering. I try to build the atmosphere of that echo using sound. Then, I begin to play with that sonic skeleton. I gather instruments, textures, and samples, reconstructing them like a collage fragments seeking one another, unsure of why they belong together yet knowing they need each other. The original elements serve as my guide; I return to them to verify that the emotion remains intact. Without it, the sound becomes artificial.

I work in cycles of immersion and detachment. I let the material rest while gathering new stimuli to nourish the soundscape. Rather than polishing, I seek to preserve the discovery—that initial spark. I need to surprise myself, because what I am truly trying to sustain is an enthusiasm I often fear losing. The process itself is my way of expanding my own being through curiosity.

What kinds of experiences or environments tend to inspire your work most?

Life experiences that inspire me could be traveling to new places and discover culture and the different ways of how people live, the simple moments of life and experiencing places in silence, about environments, vast landscapes, the ocean, forest, the countryside.

What atmosphere or emotional space are you trying to create with your music?

I think the emotional space I like contribute is a space we can feel less alone by feeling vulnerable, a space you can find inner peace, but also any kind of emotions that evoke reflection, curiosity and stillness in life.

What moment made you feel like you had truly found your sound?

The moment I heard my own surroundings not imitation, but real feeling come through in a soundscape, when the music stopped sounding like someone else and started sounding like my own way of seeing the world.

How important is storytelling in your work?

Storytelling is central to my work because, for me, it's deeply connected to how I experience the world through moments of observation and sensitivity, making ambient music became an extension of that impulse, is not just what I create but how I live it every day, through the ups and downs, I've gathered so many stories along the way, so storytelling is how I give them a voice to my work.

What makes a track feel “finished” to you?

For me a finished piece is that moment when I admire how all those elements from my creative process connect (images, poems, landscapes, walks, collections of sounds) creating a language of their own that reconstructs and proposes new ways of listening and of being sensitive to the world outside.

Which artists (or even non-musical influences) have shaped your artistic vision?

Its been many of them, I could mention musicians like the guitarist Robert Fripp (King Crimson), the pianist and composers Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Ryuichi Sakamoto, ambient artists like Loscil and Brian Eno and bands like Sigur Ros.

From non musical influences, I could say film director Tarkovsky and Jean-Luc Godard, writers like Maria Rilke and David Thoreau.

Gear and setup

Are you using hardware instruments, software, or a hybrid setup?

I mostly like use hybrid setup, limitations are big part of how I make my music, I mostly use Ableton with Arturia controller with some Arturia plugins. Acoustic guitar and sometimes some friend lend me their electric guitar.

What's your favorite piece of gear or plugin, and why?

I like custom plugins I often use from independent artists, I can recommend the ones from @diver.audio they have a really unique organic approach.

What piece of gear completely changed your workflow?

I am not so much into gear :) I like to play with what I have and I find joy in limitations.

Challenges

What's been the biggest challenge so far in creating ambient music?

Ambient music has been a part of my lifestyle for many years. I don't think there have been super big challenges, but if I think back to my hometown when I started to make music, I felt kind of lonely making ambient music and finding a space I could share. Later I learned it's a niche, and I was happy eventually by staying with it and finding a great community around the world.

How do you stay motivated or inspired when you're in a creative rut?

I take walks, I listen to podcasts, I rest myself a lot from music, and I try to stay in connection with nature and reflect on other aspects of art and life. I do not try to force myself.

How do streaming platforms affect the way you release music, or what is your relationship with those platforms?

For me it has had a positive impact, especially Bandcamp, which is the main platform I use and feel is the most loyal for artists, as well as YouTube for all related with the visual side. I find they are great spaces for sharing my music and connecting with my audience. Even though lately I find myself looking for new ways to create and release in physical formats that can bring more different kinds of experience and closeness to them, and connect in a more intimate and memorable way.

What are your thoughts on AI's impact on music and art? Have you, in any form, used it in your approach to creating and shaping ideas?

I never did use AI for shaping or making ideas, and I think the impact is weak. I don't see how far this will go in a positive way, but I must say keeping our human trace is what matters, and that will always be irreplaceable.

How do you see AI evolving in music and art? Are you cautious about it, or do you think it will increasingly function as a tool within creative workflows?

I do not see any evolving, and I feel it is a weak and unoriginal generic tool in workflows.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working in making new graphic scores for a future book project and an new EP! also making sound collaborations with several artists.

What advice would you give to new ambient artists?

Keep going no matter what. Make your own world and explore. It is a beautiful genre and also a nice community involved.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

If there is any idea you wish to exist in the world, just keep making it and shaping it. Explore more of the world outside – the real world has more answers than any screen, so spend less time scrolling and more time living. Stay true to yourself even when it's not easy, contribute to the things you want to see survive in this world, and keep curious.

youtube.com/watch?v=O9BZuQUSkX4

The sound of Caminauta