A man grounded in rituals, but open to the unknown. SOLOMUN's musical journey brings deeper emotions to dancefloors

Among the glowing temples of modern nightlife, from Tulum&rsquo;s jungle-draped clubs to the iconic main room of Pacha, Ibiza, few DJs captivate quite like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/solomun/">Solomun</a>. He has managed to transcend the role of mere entertainer to become something rarer, an emotional conductor who has harnessed the ability to sculpt sound into shared experience, building invisible threads of connection between himself and the crowd.
Despite commanding one of the most magnetic presences behind the decks, Solomun can appear ambivalent about the attention that comes with the territory. He conveys the quiet conviction of someone who never set out to be seen, only heard and can come across as seeming not entirely at ease in the spotlight. For all his command of the booth, <a href="https://linkin.bio/solomun/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadZOKfGaEWucwLZarU1uWoqMAScUGPbr8BjV19ceIphT77wIlkrs0_H4ynUGw_aem_RLiTlZIQZnMvjyAz1I8XOg">Solomun</a> sometimes appears to be adjusting to being seen, truly seen. &ldquo;I had to learn to deal with it,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;When I started out, it was never about fame or standing in front of thousands of people. I was just this kid who loved records.

Sweatshirt, NEIL BARRETT; pants, COMME DES GARÇONS.

Suddenly, people were watching me perform, and I didn&rsquo;t know what to do with that. I&rsquo;d get self-conscious. If I looked too serious, would they think I wasn&rsquo;t enjoying myself? But the truth was, I was always enjoying it, I just didn&rsquo;t show it in the way people expected.&rdquo;
With time, Solomun taught himself to let go of that pressure and lean into the moment. But even now, the additional attention still sits slightly heavily on his shoulders. &ldquo;I try to relax more these days, to have fun and dance with the crowd. But attention... It&rsquo;s still not really my thing. I&rsquo;m not the type to crave the centre stage. When people come up to me after a show, smiling, wanting a photo, saying something kind - it&rsquo;s beautiful and humbling and I feel incredibly grateful, but I still get a bit shocked. Like, &lsquo;Really? Me?&rdquo; Ask him whether he would consider himself an introvert and he pushes back gently. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m introverted, not exactly. I love people, I love connection. But I don&rsquo;t seek the spotlight, either. I&rsquo;m happiest when the music is doing the talking, when there&rsquo;s this connection between me and the crowd.&nbsp;

Suit, MSGM. OPENING PAGES—Sweatshirt, NEIL BARRETT; pants, COMME DES GARÇONS.

Suit, MSGM. 

I don&rsquo;t need everyone looking at me. I just need to feel that they&rsquo;re with me.&rdquo; That need for closeness is no metaphor, it&rsquo;s literal. He recalls a recent night in Tulum where a barrier separated him from the audience. &ldquo;They put a two-metre gap in front of the booth, and it completely broke the energy. It felt like I was playing at people instead of with them. That might sound small, but for me, those details matter. I need that connection. I need to see the faces and feel the heat of the crowd.&rdquo;
That sensitivity, to space, to sound, to people, isn&rsquo;t new. It goes back to his earliest musical experiences. Growing up in a somewhat tough neighbourhood, music became a sanctuary of sorts. And hip hop, in particular, opened the door. &ldquo;My cousin used to bring me mixtapes, stuff you couldn&rsquo;t hear on the radio back then, raw, gritty, full of stories. That was my first real love. We had this youth centre with a disco night once a week and one of the social workers saw how curious I was. He gave me a chance to DJ and a small budget to buy records. That&rsquo;s how it started. I was just 14 or 15, but I got to shape the sound of the room every week. I loved it. When 30 or 40 people danced, I was so happy. That joy, that spark - it&rsquo;s still what I chase.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a feeling he never forgot and every now and then, when the moment feels right, he sneaks those early influences into his sets, sometimes to surprise, sometimes to stir nostalgia. &ldquo;A few years ago, I dropped Cypress Hill at Destino, and it just worked. Recently, I played an edit of the Beastie Boys&rsquo; &lsquo;Intergalactic&rsquo; in Bucharest and people went crazy. But I&rsquo;m careful, it can&rsquo;t feel forced. It has to feel organic, otherwise it&rsquo;s just a gimmick.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Solomun doesn&rsquo;t plan his sets too rigidly, but certain gigs demand more emotional preparation, like playing in Sarajevo. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s home for me. The crowd knows me so well. It&rsquo;s very intense. I cannot play there too often, because it drains me emotionally. I get excited for months before, it builds up in my chest and I can&rsquo;t relax. There&rsquo;s so much pressure to give everything. But once I&rsquo;m there, once it starts, I love it. I cry inside with every track.&nbsp;
The first time I played there, I looked out and it felt like I was staring at endless different versions of myself. It was almost too much.&rdquo;
Solomun&rsquo;s fascination with emotional narrative and atmosphere extends beyond music into his love of film. Before music took over, he worked in the industry for a while, and that cinematic instinct still shapes the way he builds a set. He speaks knowledgeably and with reverence about directors such as David Lynch, whose dreamlike, emotionally loaded style left a lasting mark.&nbsp;

&laquo;I WAS JUST 14 OR 15, BUT I LOVED IT. WHEN 30 OR 40 PEOPLE DANCED, I WAS SO HAPPY. THAT JOY, THAT SPARK - IT&rsquo;S STILL WHAT I CHASE.&raquo;

Overall, PTRCRS; Sneakers, LACOSTE.

&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been obsessed with cinema, especially art-house films,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;David Lynch especially... he paints with pictures. Sometimes there&rsquo;s no clear logic, just emotion and atmosphere. A good set is like a film. It has a beginning, conflict and a resolution. It needs tension and release. Lynch taught me that a feeling doesn&rsquo;t always need an explanation. I try to bring that into the music, strange textures, unexpected turns. I want people to feel something, even if they don&rsquo;t know why. It&rsquo;s like telling a story without words, where the crowd feels caught between reality and dream.&rdquo;
To survive the emotional and physical rigours of global touring, Solomun relies on structure and ritual. One of the more unexpected pillars of his routine is tennis.&nbsp; &ldquo;It sounds funny to some people, tennis on tour? But it&rsquo;s essential for me. I play as often as I can, even on the road. I look for coaches in different cities and schedule sessions. I travel with my racket. I also bring two pillows, my coffee machine, my favourite coffee and a special candle. It&rsquo;s part of my spiritual practice. I&rsquo;m Catholic, and lighting that candle gives me peace. It&rsquo;s something small, but it grounds me. Touring can be brutal. You lose your rhythm, your sleep, your sense of place, so I have these rituals: the candle, the coffee and a sauna, almost every day if I can. Not because of hangovers, but to wash away the energy of the weekend, to reset and start again.&rdquo; But even with this level of self-care, the life of a global DJ has its shadows. &ldquo;It can feel very bipolar. You&rsquo;re on a high every weekend, surrounded by noise and adrenaline,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Then Monday hits and it&rsquo;s silence. Then it all starts again. It messes with your system. But I started late [as a full-time touring DJ], I was 27, so I had some life behind me. And my closest friends help to keep me sane. Without them, I don&rsquo;t know where I&rsquo;d be.&rdquo;
He&rsquo;s dedicated to sharing his experiences and knowledge in order to nurture the next generation of talent. His label, Diynamic, turns 20 next year, an impressive milestone that few independent imprints reach. He still listens to new demos weekly. &ldquo;We get about 20,000 submissions a year. One of the best decisions I ever made was hiring my close friend as my assistant for the label, he organises everything. Every week, I get a folder with the top picks and I go through them carefully. It keeps me connected to new voices. We used to release something every six weeks. Now it&rsquo;s weekly. I often ask myself, &lsquo;Is this too much?&rsquo; But I&rsquo;m very proud. We put our hearts into every release.&rdquo;
On stage, he resists overwhelming visuals, and his sets tend to be stripped back and intimate. &ldquo;Pacha was a bit of a challenge at first. It had this glamorous, sexy image, and I wanted to add a bit of warehouse energy, make it deeper, rawer. Over time, we found that sweet spot and now it feels like home.&rdquo; His residency, Solomun+1, is a masterclass in simplicity. One guest. One journey. &ldquo;The guest plays until 2.30am. Then I take over. From 5am to 7am, we go back-to-back, one track each. It&rsquo;s rare now for big-name DJs to warm up, but they love it. It brings them back to their roots. With someone like Kieran [Hebden aka Four Tet], who plays everything from house to drum and bass to hip hop, I have to prepare more. But that&rsquo;s the beauty of it. It keeps you sharp. You never know where the night will go.&rdquo;
And maybe that&rsquo;s the essence of Solomun: a man grounded in rituals, but open to the unknown - a superstar who never asked to be one. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t take myself too seriously,&rdquo; he says, with a quiet smile. &ldquo;But I take the music seriously. And the people. That connection, that&rsquo;s everything.&rdquo;

&laquo;I LOVE PEOPLE, I LOVE CONNECTION.&nbsp;BUT I DON'T SEEK THE SPOTLIGHT EITHER. I'M HAPPIEST WHEN THE MUSIC IS DOING THE TALKING. I DON'T NEED&nbsp;EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME. I JUST NEED TO FEEL THAT THEY'RE WITH ME.&raquo;

Credits:&nbsp;
PHOTOGRAPHY: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/simonecossettini/?hl=de">Simone Cossettini&nbsp;</a>
STYLING: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ilaria_norsa/?hl=de">Ilaria Norsa </a>
ART DIRECTION: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andreamasullo/?hl=de">Andrea Masullo</a>&nbsp;
HAIR: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gianluigi.gargaro/?hl=de">Gialnuigi Gargaro</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theagencyaldocoppola/?hl=de">@Coppola The Agency. </a>
MAKE UP: Corina Smith <a href="https://www.instagram.com/smack_ibiza/?hl=de">@Smack Ibiza.</a>
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/adamings/?hl=de">Adam Ings.</a>
 STYLIST ASSISTANT: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gaiafusarini/?hl=de">Gaia Fusarini. </a>
PRODUCTION: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/danielanatale/?hl=de">Daniela Natale.</a>

The Quiet Architect of Dancefloor Alchemy

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