Interview: Dead Lincoln

Dead Lincoln creates ambient music that feels both alien and deeply familiar, shaped by nature, memory, mystery, and the quiet pull of repetition. Based in Lakewood, Washington, the self-taught artist builds intricate sonic worlds with a modest hybrid setup, using Microkorg loops, found sounds, guitar, and Ableton to search for moods that resist easy definition. In this interview, she talks about early discoveries through Enya, Vangelis, and late-night radio, the influence of filmmakers like David Lynch and Tarkovsky, and why creativity remains something human, sacred, and worth protecting.

General info

Artist Name: Dead Lincoln

Age: 40

Location: Lakewood, WA

How long have you been making music? I remember making up my first song when I was seven and my little sister got a small keyboard for Christmas. The first time I made a recording was at 12 or 13 onto a cassette tape using a Yamaha PSR my dad got from a musician friend. I would say I have actively been recording since 2008, so going on 20 years. Most everything I know I taught myself, and I still have a long way to go.

 

Social Media / Music Links

deadlincoln.bandcamp.com
soundcloud.com/dead-lincoln

 

Do you release music under a label or independently?

Independent

 

Creative process and inspiration

What drew you to ambient music in the first place?

My dad showed me Enya and Vangelis as a kid, and that got me on a search to find similar music. I used to record ambient and electronic music played on 91.7 KVRX in the early 2000s which was the college station in Austin TX after 9pm. I learned about Boards of Canada, Windy & Carl, Stars of the Lid, Aphex Twin, and many many others. The more I learned to play synths, piano and keyboard percussion in high school, the more I realized I was interested in both patterns and getting lost in the sound. Music like this became a place I could go in my mind.

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

I usually turn on my Microkorg and strip a voice of all effects and settings, then I start carving it into something I really like listening to. Many times it becomes a loop, and I try to make the loop either change over time or the sound waver, delay or phase in a hypnotic way. From there I may change the loop a bit, either the delay timing, panning or something similar so that it starts talking to the other loop in an interesting way. I want it to sound organic and systematic at the same time. I often use bell-like tones, and I am searching for a mood that is difficult to categorize. I rarely record something that I have an idea of how it will sound in the end. I have a similar process when drawing a mandala. I start in the center, then build outward. I also enjoy samples and found sounds - they add a sense of “artifactness” to the track.

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

I am very inspired and moved by nature - forests, mountains, the ocean. And like everyone I have had traumatic and difficult experiences - music helps me to alchemize these into musical expression. Solitude in nature is the ideal substrate for my music.

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

I want to create a space of something intricate, vast, intelligent and mysterious. I want it to sound alien but extremely familiar at the same time. In some of my later tracks in the last few years, there is a childlike feeling as well - like a storybook.

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

I don't remember a particular moment, but I feel around 2016 I seemed to start to hone in on the sound I am in now. This is also around the time my recording methods started to improve and I became more comfortable posting my music online. I also became friends with another ambient musician online that I still collaborate with to this day. I will say though, that I don't know so much that I am after a particular sound - so much as I am after a certain level of expression.

How important is storytelling in your work?

There are many ways one can interpret the element of storytelling in music and art. While my tracks are often meandering or circular, I have tried to develop one voice or building melody in the track, and the phrasing of it that can help it sound like a singing voice, a really loose narrative. Some of my favorite older tracks are ones that change from pensive to joyous, or the opposite. My track titles often reference things in my life, such as the track I chose to highlight, that I made while I was recovering from a surgery. And there are groups of others that create a small series or I'll create version after version of the same track, and it sort of matures over time. I also mentioned that some recent tracks have a sort of “storybook” feel. But when it comes to a concrete plot, beginning middle and end, hero and villain - it's nowhere close to that.

What makes a track feel “finished” to you?

I don't think I have yet made a track that felt fully finished. I am never completely satisfied and always see ways in which it could have improved. So I just keep making more and more until maybe one day, I will make something I consider perfect. I have difficulty coming back to something - even now that I have been working with a DAW for several years - which is absolutely conducive to fine-tuning. I just want to be on the hunt always for the next idea and the next new sounds. I know this perfection is not impossible because I have heard it in many other pieces of music.

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

I am obviously heavily influenced by Boards of Canada, Fennesz, Tim Hecker and Loscil. I am a child of the 90s, so I am sure I was unconsciously enchanted and unsettled by the waves of the old analog world crashing into the new waves of the internet as I started to become an adult. Mystery has always played a role in my life. Film has also influenced me, and the seminal person of mystery when it comes to directing film is David Lynch. Followed close behind by Andrei Tarkovsky, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke and others. They express something mysterious in a haunting and inexplicable way. And they never promise answers.

 

Gear and setup

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

I use a hybrid and very rudimentary setup. I have a Microkorg and a Juno-DS that I mainly use, sometimes guitar, and once in a while a basic condenser mic for vocals. I line these into a cheap USB interface to my laptop and use Ableton 11 for further sound manipulation and mixing. Before this I used a Tascam DP008 for recording - and I may try using it again at some point - as it seemed to have an earthier, more present sound to it. Limitations and a simple setup have challenged me a great deal and I enjoy this challenge.

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

The Microkorg is my favorite. It can make almost any sound you can imagine - and there is something about physically turning the knobs and pressing buttons that feels like crafting something tangible. I received one as a gift in 2008 and I have never gotten bored with it - in fact I still learn new ways to use it all the time. I am on my 2nd as I wore the first one out. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something versatile.

What piece of gear completely changed your workflow?

The Tascam DP008 really took me to the next level. It is a digital 8-track recorder. I had never been able to combine so many tracks at the same time - and this made the possibilities open way up. Before this, I made really inefficient use of recording short looping samples with a Roland SP-404 - also an awesome piece of equipment but not the way I was using it.

 

Challenges

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

Mixing and mastering are my biggest challenge in recording. I feel I have come a long way, but the more I learn the more I know I need to learn. It's difficult to make something minimalistic also be compelling - and at the same time keep it from being muddy and too nebulous. There are times when a track will sound great from in Ableton, then the exported track sounds awful. Then other times little effort is put into the mixing and it sounds fantastic, but you don't really know why. Experimenting is the way to overcome these challenges.

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

When it comes to the creative process, my biggest challenge is knowing when to stop trying to force it and trust that the idea or the spark will come. David Lynch said “Negativity is the enemy of creativity.” I keep getting this feeling that I am running out of time or that I may reach the end of my creativity, but these feelings have to be overcome lest they become self-fulfilling. The more you force creativity the more it will elude you. And it's so hard to tell when the creation stops and the forcing begins.

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

I generally release my newest good tracks on Soundcloud, then I release albums at least once a year via Bandcamp. I tell everyone I know about Bandcamp - to me it's the best thing out there for artists like myself. I also like the album listening format, though it does now have capability for playlists. I would love to see Bandcamp expand and become more communal. Bandcamp is the first and only way I have ever been paid for my music. I have discovered lots of amazing music there and I love supporting other artists.

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 am completely opposed to the use of AI in any creative area. I have never and will never use AI in this way and avoid its use anywhere else in my life as much as I can. Creativity is a divine act and should not be relinquished by humans.

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 see its use in creative works expanding every single day. I think we'll soon be saturated in AI-made “music,” “art,” “films” and “books” and people will let go of their wish to create to make room for their wish to consume. Not only am I extremely cautious about it, I feel it could destroy us if it is not regulated and safeguarded (and hopefully rejected by humans) soon.

What are you currently working on?

Right now I am experimenting with creating more percussive elements with sound. My music is often rhythmic, but I adore a good beat. I want to make something different than I have before.

What advice would you give to new ambient artists?

Everyone starts somewhere. Record and save it all - even the absolute garbage. Over time you will see how far you have come.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I would like to thank you for putting these questions together and for your interest in ambient music.

I would also like to add my favorite quote that I have been comforted by - and that is absolutely true: “No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” C. G. Jung

 

The sound of Dead Lincoln