The Russian artist Pavel Khvaleev lands on Beatfreak Recordings for the first time with a great remix for the beautiful track from the masterminds D-Formation & Matan Caspi called ‘Arc Of Dreams’ that was released back in May 2021. The Pavel Khvaleev interpretation has his typical character of groovy & danceable Progressive combined with the hypnotic melodies & vocals that the original track contains. D-Formation is a very well-known veteran in the electronic music industry, the man behind the prestigious label Beatfreak Recordings, and the producer of hundreds of tracks that reached top positions in the world charts for electronic music. He is the half mind behind the original production ‘Arc Of Dreams’. Matan Caspi is considered one of the most refreshing electronic music producers coming out from the Israeli underground scene. His productions always shine with cosmic melodies and much originality. He is the other half mind behind the collaboration ‘Arc Of Dreams’.

WWD: Hi Pavel, nice to talk to you today! How are you and where do we find you in this moment?

Hi, I’m in Germany right now. Just a week ago I moved here with my family. It’s a big step for us and we’ve been preparing for it for about a year. A new moment with a lot of new possibilities and opportunities

WWD: At the end of 2021, within 1 month, you released 2 albums on the legendary Tiësto’s imprint Black Hole Recordings. In the second one, you present your new alias ‘PARAFRAME’. Can you tell us more about the project? How did you get inspired to create it?

PARAFRAME is created to give me more musical freedom as an artist. I wanted to separate my progressive/melodic club side and present my more experimental electronic side. The reason is to avoid listeners getting confused with the energy level of the productions that are different. After brainstorming with my manager and friends, we came up with this name.

PARAFRAME has several meanings which all relate to me as a person and my musical preference. One of the meanings is the layering of different energies, styles, and moments, creating a pervasive harmony.  The other meaning has to do with my other addiction, which is filmmaking. Both elements are part of the project and provide me the possibility to create music combined with visuals without any limits,  pure freedom of creativity!

WWD: Some people might know you for your work with visual productions. How did you find this passion? Do you produce all the visual effects of your music videos?

It all started with the need for a music video when I released my first tracks about 15 years ago when I was part of the Moonbeam Project. Sometimes I find it easier to do it myself than to delegate this task to someone else. I can visualize the whole concept in my mind and I’m not always able to express what I want. Another important aspect is while shooting, an unexpected influence can appear which can create an extraordinary momentum. This is in a note shell how it started and since then I’m the creator of my own music videos and even sometimes create a full-length movie.

Regarding the ‘Exhale / Inhale’ show, this was a challenge! As the world was in lockdown and we weren’t able to record live with the singers we had to come up with a solution. The idea was to create holograms that would appear during my performance which I would do in a raw industrial environment.  So I asked all singers to record themselves in front of a green screen. For this, I had to learn a lot of new technologies, based on GPU rendering and embergen program. Luckily my experience as a film director came in handy for creating the show and the emotion captured in it. As you can imagine I’m super proud of the end result.

WWD: We are premiering today your remix ‘Arc Of Dreams’ for the Spanish label Beatfreak Recordings and for his owner D-Formation in collaboration with Matan Caspi. How did this idea come up? What was the main inspiration for the track?

I’m a big fan of D-Formation for a very long time and was supporting many of his tracks. When the request came, I felt honored to do a remix for him.  I normally start to play around with different melody lines which creates a pervasive harmony. After this process, I add my drums and start re-arranging to create the story which overlaps the emotion which I want to present in the song. Press play, lean back, or dance on my remix of ‘Arc Of Dreams’.

WWD: Actually you have got a lot of remix projects done. What are the most important elements that you look for considering a remix?

I mostly focused and hooked by the vocal parts. They are always a unique part of each track and mostly the main recognizable part of the song. If I don’t feel the sound of the voice, the melody, or the lyrics then it will be very hard to create something around for me. Without vocals, I focus on the main melody and try to bring in a new dimension to it.

WWD: Do you have any favorite artists that you are following both Russians or worldwide?

Without a doubt for me, this would be Miss Monique from the Ukraine, as well as Marius Drescher from Germany. I support both artists a lot in my mixes. From Russia, I like the work of ‘Cadillac Express’ from St. Petersburg.

WWD: And any favorite track or tracks that you always enjoy playing?

Back in the 90s, I used to be a big fan of Underworld, Aphex Twin, and Bjork. Later I discovered James Holden’s ‘The Idiots Are Winning’, Lulu Rouge’s ‘Bless You’ and Royksopp’s ‘Melody A.M.’. All these artists influenced my perception of music and me on a personal level. Later on, I discover new artists, such as HVOB ‘Silk’, Maceo Plex ‘Solar’, and Tale of Us ‘Endless’. All of them are not afraid to experiment and search for borders within their musical preference, which pushes me to do the same!

WWD: What are your next projects and what your fans can expect from you in the near future?

Right now I’m working on new singles for Pavel Khvaleev, will be releasing new music in March, and working on some nice collaborations. Besides I’m creating ideas for the PARAFRAME project. It’s a slow process, as working on vocal tracks always takes more time and a lot of emails and communications with the collaborating artists. But don’t worry I will be presenting new stuff very soon….

WWD: Where are your next shows where your followers can catch you playing?

At the moment I have several shows planned around Europe/Russia and looking into a tour for South America.  But like all artists because of the restrictions due to the pandemic, I had to postpone all of them. I really hope that soon I will be able to tour again. And moving to Germany made it a lot easier for shows in Europe, so let’s see what that will bring to me!

WWD: Thank you for joining us today, Pavel. We hope to see you soon in Canada!

It was a pleasure to do this interview and look forward to playing in Canada. I never have been there, let’s hope we can party soon together! Thank you so much.