cloud collecting #26: Amparo
on nostalgia, inspirational jumping points + noticing details
I’m excited to share my conversation with Sweden-based, Arizona-born Lela Amparo. Her freshly released full-length debut, Keep Your Soul Young on Past Inside the Present (a label I am also part of) is an electronic album that beautifully showcases her many sides. Plus, her instantly recognizable artwork graces the cover, making it even more special. Thanks for reading and as always support artists when and where you can!
Lela Amparo is a multidisciplinary artist and ambient music producer whose work explores the intersection of memory, place, and the surreal. Using machine learning, she transforms photography from her travels into otherworldly landscapes—blending familiar terrain with the unknown. Raised in Tucson, Arizona, and now based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Amparo’s art bridges the distance between these two worlds, capturing the melancholy of movement and the dreamlike quality of displacement.
Her music follows the same philosophy. With over 11 million streams, Amparo’s ambient compositions evoke vast, cinematic spaces, complementing the ethereal nature of her visual work. By merging sound and imagery, she creates immersive, multi-sensory experiences that transport audiences beyond the ordinary.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, collected by high-end patrons, and featured in public installations—including at Frameless. She is represented by MTArt.
1. Your upbringing in the American Southwest and experiences living internationally seem to have influenced your music deeply. How do these life experiences manifest in the sound and emotion behind your debut album via Past Inside the Present, Keep Your Soul Young?
Growing up, I spent quite a bit of time following my parents around, which meant hopping from coast to coast and constantly being introduced to new things… whether it was cultural norms, accents, cuisines – this constant exposure to something different silently prepped me for moving abroad. When I began writing this album, quite quickly a lot of the memories of those various places began to surface and serve as a brief for what emotion or message I wanted to convey. In specific, “Rose & Honey” was a call back to my time in Tokyo where I could already sense the nostalgia of missing that place seep in from the first moment I arrived.
Due to my upbringing and also living in a timezone 9 hours ahead of my family in Arizona, I often feel like I live in some type of duality. A feeling of being stuck in a moment where my attention and energy can drift at unexpected moments. I’d like to think my lyrics also capture this feeling given how quickly they can change focus yet maintain the overarching message throughout.
2. You’ve managed to fuse multiple genres, from ambient and IDM to trip-hop and orchestral music. Are there any specific artists or albums that have inspired this genre-blending approach?
Ohhh this is a fun question because it’s always been a blend of genres that left an impression on me but around the time of writing this album, I was hooked on the following songs/releases:
For me the cinematic strings and tension happening between them and the drums, it always warranted an active listening session for me. Just when you think the track is over, we’re introduced to his vocals and the incredibly catchy bassline, it’s such a payoff of a track.
I’m a long term fan of DJ Koze and how he has a signature style and sound. “Pick Up” has a warm, nostalgic saddness to it that I don’t often come across and when I do, I instantly become glued. On the surface it sounds like a great club hit when in reality, this is the epitome of a break up song to me.
After any trip or time intensive journey I’ve had, I always decompress to this song. It’s so beautifully sweet and short, but carries this somewhat hopeless feeling (or at least to me.) I can highly recommend listening to this on loop with the fading sun in the distance while you zone out and collect your thoughts.
If you’ve made it this far, I think the bits and pieces such as the strings, ambient piano chords and melancholic beats help paint a better picture to my listening and inspirational jumping points. What I consume tends to be things that can serve as an anchoring point for a memory in the making, and I can only hope my music does the same for someone else out there.
3. How do you cloud collect (connect to childlike wonder) in your creativity?
Ever since my daughter was born two years ago, she has helped challenge my approach to cloud collecting, and in specific surfacing memories from my own childhood. For example, I try to find excitement and enthusiam in the every day things with her, such as watching the garbage man collect our trash or bird watching from across the street. Forcing myself to notice small details and movements in things I’d otherwise ignore has helped my ability to zone in, and hyper focus on the details – music production especially. Finding joy and happiness in the unexpected has been a rewarding feeling and I’d like to think it’s brought a new dynamic to the way in which I produce.
The best online place to find Lela is her website: www.amparo.fm