Instrumental Humans creates music that feels like stepping into a vivid inner world where creativity, imagination, and emotion collide. His sound lives in that fascinating space between the organic and the digital, where virtual instruments become the tools of a composer who refuses to let limitations stop him from building something bold. His pieces carry the fingerprints of classical structure, the unpredictability of avant-garde experimentation, and the raw honesty of someone following ideas wherever they lead.
What draws me to his work is the sheer range of colors he brings into it. You hear it in the way a composition can drift into atmospheric calm and then snap into something crunchy and angular, or in the way jazz, punk, metal, and old video-game nostalgia quietly glow beneath the surface. There’s a kind of curiosity running through everything he makes and a drive to explore new textures, new emotions, new worlds.
Another part of his artistry that stands out is his work on psychedelic visuals. His videos feel like stepping into an animated hallucination, where shapes melt, colors pulse, and movement becomes a story of its own. They pair with his music in a way that deepens the experience, transforming each track into a kind of audiovisual journey. It’s rare to find someone who can build both the soundscape and the world around it with such cohesion and imagination.
You can explore Instrumental Humans’ music here:
To better understand the world behind his sound, I asked him to share more about his process, his influences, and the moments that shaped his artistic path.
How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?
My music is mostly created using notation software and “performed” by virtual instruments. Though the goal has always been to someday move on to actually recording with real instruments, I still just don’t have the space or the means to do that, and I suppose that this virtual-instrument quality has sort of become a part of my sound at this point. As far as the style goes, I’m very influenced by classical, jazz, fusion, all kinds of avant-garde, progressive rock, punk, metal, old video games, film scores, ambient and atmospheric music… I think a lot of that comes through in general.
What track or project are you most proud of and why?
I suppose if I had to choose the one track that I’m proudest of, it would be one off of my self-titled EP and very first release entitled “A Billion and a Half Ants Marching Toward Their Own Demise.” The reason being that it was one of my very early compositions for what would become Instrumental Humans and probably the first one that I felt really good about. It marked the point at which I began to think that I might even be okay at this someday.
Which artists or genres have had the biggest influence on your sound?
I’ve been so hugely influenced by so many bands and artists of all of those genres I mentioned, as well as many others. To narrow it down as much as I can stand to, I think Mozart, Thelonious Monk, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Brand X, King Crimson (Robert Fripp especially), Pink Floyd, Rush, Black Sabbath, and Dead Kennedys are all among the heaviest influences on my sound. There is one other that I would say really stands out above all the rest though. Frank Zappa. My father listened to him all the time when I was very young and I loved his music even then. Years later I rediscovered it and began delving into it much more as a young adult. Listening to his music almost obsessively at that time was a big part of what shaped my entire concept of what I wanted my own music to sound like. Not that I ever really want to try to emulate his or anyone else’s sound for that matter. Maybe it’s always been more that I’m trying to crack the code for creating sounds that inspire the kinds of feelings and state of mind that his music and the music of all those other influences inspire for me when I listen to them. I’m not sure that I’ve succeeded in that or that I ever will, but however my music does make people feel, that’s why.
Was there a defining moment that made you say, “I want to make music”?
I wanted to make music almost as far back as my memory goes. I knew I wanted to play guitar by the age of five or six, and I think I just knew deep down that’s what I wanted to do for whatever reason. I was trying to start bands from the age of twelve, formed several successfully over the years, but they always fell apart. Frank Zappa was the influence that led to me realizing I wanted to be a composer at about the age of nineteen. His son, Dweezil, is the reason I finally decided to actually do it years later. I got to meet him briefly after a Zappa Plays Zappa show I attended. Basically, I shook his hand and spoke to him for about a minute. Nothing earth-shattering… and yet it was. Something about that one degree of separation, so to speak, and that one degree of separation being the son of the man himself, not to mention, Dweezil is an incredible guitarist, maybe one of the best alive… It felt sort of like the Olympic Torch being passed down, as absolutely silly as that may sound. It was just a really huge deal to me and left a deep impression. I knew that I couldn’t waste any more time not making music and not long after, I began teaching myself to use that notation software the same way I learned everything else. The cheap way. By ear, because I couldn’t afford lessons.
If your sound were a place, color, or emotion, what would it be?
When I’m working on a composition and I’m really into it, that is truly my happy place. That’s where I like to be. I would never leave if I had a choice. My sound is just a mirror on the wall between that happy place and the real world. It’s a reflection of all of the feelings and all of the colors.
Do you have a ritual or habit that helps you get into a creative zone?
Coffee. Must have coffee… Aside from that, I suppose each time I get started writing something, I just set things up for a new composition, select the instruments, and then I sit and sort of listen to the silence for a moment. Just kind of searching for something or maybe letting it come to me. After a while I begin hearing something and once I do, I build upon it. That usually gets a sort of momentum going and the more I build, the more stuff keeps coming to me.
What’s something surprising people don’t usually know about you as an artist?
Probably that despite most of my music that anyone is familiar with being created with software, I am also an experienced guitarist, bassist, and drummer.
Do you have any surprising musical tastes outside your main genre?
I’m not sure if it would surprise many people that I know currently, but I can say with absolute certainty that my younger self, back when I was in my late teens and early twenties, would have been very surprised to learn that my future self would be quite fond of a lot of music from bands like Joy Division, The Smiths, and Cocteau Twins. Like really surprised. Flabbergasted might be a word one would use to describe the level of surprise.
How do you handle creative blocks?
I guess I just write something anyway more often than not. If it doesn’t end up being to my satisfaction, I may come back to it and change a bunch of things later. Sometimes it’s good to just step away from it altogether for a while though. Doing something physical can be very mentally stimulating. Getting into the habit of that can perhaps recharge your creative battery. Any kind of exercise—riding a bike, lifting some weights, or just taking a walk… I find that doing creative things requires you to delve into your own mind, whereas doing physical activities allows you to connect with things outside of yourself. It’s two very different states of mind. I think that finding a healthy balance of both is ideal.
Describe your music in three words that aren’t music-related.
Cheesy, crunchy, chewy
Instrumental Humans creates from a place of deep curiosity, weaving together decades of influences, personal history, and a drive to understand what sound can communicate. His compositions, to me, feel like small universes: playful, introspective, and full of unexpected textures. It’s the kind of work that rewards listeners who love detail, emotion, and a touch of creative fearlessness.
Thank you, Instrumental Humans, for taking part in this interview and sharing your creative journey with such openness.
Follow Instrumental Humans on Instagram here.
— Spacey Panda
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