Mercury-nominated artist Ghostpoet appeared at 2016’s HowTheLightGetsIn festival opening party, performing his off-kilter, loopy electronic ditties blessed with delightfully rambling musings on modern life.

Here he speaks to the IAI about strange song titles, the trouble with studios, and why simplicity is the most important thing in life.

The theme for HowTheLightGetsIn 2016 was ‘The Known the Strange and the New’. We were looking at phenomena or ideas that elude our current explanations or defy our expectations. Do you think this could describe your own music?

Often what I do involves a juxtaposition so that the music goes one way and the lyrics go another way. Some people may find that strange. But it’s all subjective with music and art. They can be whatever you want them to be. I use odd time signatures from time to time and I enjoy immersing my music in strange sounds. But I don’t really see my music as strange.

You’ve said before that you never want to be pigeon-holed as a rapper. Could you explain your resistance to such genre labels?