Interview: Gostrail

Gostrail turns ambient music into a place for emotional intensity, catharsis, and healing. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, Marcus works from inner visions rather than fixed formulas, shaping immersive sound worlds where sadness, yearning, doom ambient, and abstract minimalism can resolve into something gentler. In this interview, he talks about the mystery of a single note, making music from pain and intuition, the importance of wonder, and why generative AI has no place in his tracks or visuals.

General info

Artist Name: Gostrail

Real name: Marcus

Age: 42

Location: Tallinn, Estonia

How long have you been making music? 20+ years

 

Social Media / Music Links

bsky.app/profile/gostrail.bsky.social
gostrail.bandcamp.com
youtube.com/@GostrailOfficial
linktr.ee/Gostrail

Do you release music under a label or independently?

Independent

 

Creative process and inspiration

What drew you to ambient music in the first place?

A mystery of how a single note can express as much as a complete piece of progressive music.

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

I go into a headspace where I am nonverbal, working from and with emotions. I try to keep my setup and starting points as simple as possible. Usually there's already chaos inside and simplicity helps to counterbalance that. Title is usually the last piece, it sometimes arrives as a visual when working on a track.

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

Sadness, yearning for places or experiences (this can be abstract). Work is healing the void. I wrote Second Serum to the Weak and Wild (soundcloud.com/gostrail/second-serum-to-weak-and-wild-c) after an injury which made me basically immobile for a month. I went through cycles of pain and was emotional wreck during writing, but it is a healing song. In The Memories Begin is a trip into different timeline where possibilities play out differently. (soundcloud.com/gostrail/in-our-memories-begin)

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

Immersive and emotionally intense, cathartic time dissolving. A safe space to process experiences and emotions, to seek depth, to wonder and embrace without judgement. A journey which resolves in a better place.

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

The moment something clicked was when I finished Through Dragon's Breath, but I won't stick indefinitely to one defined genre or sound, it would be a sure recipe for burnout. I like to marry very high and low notes, drums are often in back, not in front. Doom ambient and abstract minimal are general directions I will continue to explore.

How important is storytelling in your work?

As a listener, you're invited to follow your personal associations and make the audio journey your own. My story is not that important.

What makes a track feel “finished” to you?

When all is said and there's nothing to add or change — track feels like a complete sentence.

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

Incomplete list of bands and musicians I think highly of, in alphabetic order:

Arvo Pärt (I really like his idea of “sacred minimalism”, he's Estonian, like me)

Emma Ruth Rundle (pure and rare soul)

Kurt Cobain (a single reason why I picked up a guitar as a teenager)

Metro Luminal (first two albums)

Morbid Angel (this and Death were the first bands whose brutality really made sense to me)

Sigur Ros, Stars of the Lid, Steve Roach, Tori Amos (it's difficult not to be inspired by them)

Non musical influences: gnosticism, nature, coffee, life's absurd humor

 

Gear and setup

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

Virtual instruments, MIDI keyboards, electric guitar and drum kit come together in DAW. In live situations I play either guitar or drums.

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

My current electric guitar is my creative soulmate, a love from the first sight. Even though you don't hear guitar in my work often, her existence is an absolutely crucial backbone for my sanity and music.

What piece of gear completely changed your workflow?

None that I know of, since I work from inner visions and that makes workflow chaotic and non repetitive. But I would like to absolutely thank the person who invented headphone holder stand.

 

Challenges

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

How to make a track interesting without forced surprises? How to find the perfect kick and snare for the occasion? How to find good instruments balance in the mix?

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

I'm inspired even by the smallest things and motivation is usually not a problem. I try to make music every day, even if it's only 15 minutes. When tracks start to sound similar I'll change the instrument I start writing with — it's amazing how different (virtual) instruments and sounds bring different ideas with them. For example nyckelharpa makes me think differently than viola etc.

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

It's difficult to love them besides that fact that they provide basic access to your work. People ask “are you in this or that big platform?” — unfortunately yes, people probably wouldn't listen if I wasn't conveniently available. I'm also on platforms which promise to stay away from AI, like Bandcamp and Subvert, I wish listeners would use those more.

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?

AI, especially generative AI is a piece of tech for which usage humanity is not emotionally and psychologically ready (same like modern weaponry). AI usage brings us completely absurd problems nobody asked for, like copyright fails for your own songs. Behind every single developing decision and creative steal is usually a very greedy and entitled human — tech don't do anything on its own. Here are many ethical problems. Generative AI's one stated narrative is that “music and art are soo hard to make...” Countless things are hard to make. Maybe people shouldn't imagine themselves as “a creative” through “prompt engineering” which is plainly logic to communicate with machines?

Never gen AI in my tracks and visuals.

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?

Many functions in EQs and compressors get labeled as AI, but they're just slightly more advanced presets with predictive programming. This is fine, since VSTs are stored on the hard drive and won't actively waste world's drinking water. I'm a huge believer in positive stress — that is when a task needs some extra effort and is achievable with a manageable push, which also makes human stronger/smarter in the end. How come we were perfectly able to reach the same creative goals 5-7 years ago and today we have suddenly dropped 50 points of IQ? Gen AI tax on nature is too high and our musical skills get increasingly lost, but return in interesting, touching, original music is missing.

There's a lack of corporate will to shut gen AI down anytime soon, although it's already proven to be unsustainable business.

What are you currently working on?

An old idea is calling to be finished. Possibly thousand of other ideas were trashed since, but this one is very persistent. I try to release a new track in every few months or so, but can't say which one will be next, this is always a race between the old and new ideas.

What advice would you give to new ambient artists?

Never stop wondering, it's closely tied to inspiration.

 

The sound of Gostrail