THIS MUSICIAN USES CYCLING TO MAKE HIS SONGS COME TO LIFE

Eric Anest stops pedalling, pulls out his iPhone, and presses pause.

- THEO KAHLER

The musician and recording producer opens his email app and drafts a new message to himself. He quickly types out a few notes about a song on an album he’s working on. “The vocals need to come up and there are too many effects,” he writes, before hitting send and clipping back in.

The industrial, ethereal alternative sound of his band, Collide, resumes in his ears. His bandmate, KaRIN, sings, “Are you better now? Are you feeling on overload?” Anest is enjoying his ride – he loves being out in the hills, where he might go for kilometres on his Scott Foil road bike without seeing anyone – but he’s also hard at work.

A nest is l i s ten ing intent ly for inconsistencies , imba la nces a nd imperfections in the track. Back in the studio, he constantly tweaks and improves the songs, a mad scientist with an entire laboratory of levers and knobs at his disposal. But when he’s on his bike, he can’t resort to any of his usual tricks. All he can do is listen and reflect. “After a ride,” he says, “it’s super-easy to change the things that need changing.”

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