There’s something magical about meeting an artist at the exact moment they’re stepping into a new chapter. We sat down with Jordi van Achthoven, widely known as one half of Tinlicker, to talk about a project that feels like a breath of fresh air — raw, personal, unexpected. Under his new alias They Call Me Steve, Jordi opens the door to a different side of himself: less polished, more instinctive, and deeply human. With his upcoming album Escapism on Be Yourself Music, Steve isn’t just introducing a new sound — he’s inviting us into an entirely new emotional world.
Interview With Jordi Van Achthoven:
Hey Jordi! What inspired you to create a new alias beyond Tinlicker, and how does Steve allow you to express yourself differently?
Hi guys! I don’t think Steve actually, or me, expresses myself differently. I think artists express themselves in a creative way. And in my case, this has been music most of my life. I started trying to make music when I was fourteen years old. I was very young, just on a computer. Now I’m forty-two, so that’s quite a while. I don’t like having boundaries in the artistry of music. I could also be a painter or anything, but I’d rather use the skills I have for making music and just make music. That’s the only boundary I have. Making the same music would be very boring. Eventually, I need different outlets.
I’d been making ambient music already, and then I chose to finish a couple of songs. And those songs actually created a whole album. And then, you know, this new alias came alive all of a sudden. So yeah, I think I just needed something else to get inspired again, for making music as Tinlicker and as They Call Me Steve.
Escapism is a striking title. What does it personally mean to you, and why was it the right theme for this project?
The way I see it is that most people are very frightened to be alone, and they need things in order to escape from reality. And I don’t think reality is bad at all.
For me, making music is this form of complete escapism. When I’m making music, I get so obsessed that I forget everything. I forget time, I forget to eat. Time goes by really, really fast.
It’s sort of like a virtual world I’m creating in my head. It’s not my life, but at the same time it is. I use music as a mirror for my life. So the album is some sort of mirror as well.
I see certain tracks like scenes from a movie I’m trying to make the soundtrack for. But in general, escapism is something everybody does. If you go to the cinema, have drinks, go to a club – it’s not a bad thing. People like to escape. Music is my escape.
How did working as Steve differ from your process with Tinlicker? Did you discover new methods, sounds, or approaches?
I actually started the whole project in a more sample-based way. I think I started off with an old R&B song by Aaliyah, Rock The Boat. I sampled that, used the vocals, made beats from it.
Then I thought maybe I should use more samples, because it instantly sounded organic. And I needed that organic feeling. It fed me in a way. I was really enjoying it.
Tinlicker’s music is much more synth-based, with a lot of synthesizers and arpeggiators. I wanted to do something else. So I basically copied a lot of old MP3s from my youth’s R&B music, and I assembled a lot of sounds from that and changed it into Steve.
Which part of the album feels the most intimate or personal to you, and why?
In general, the whole album has a lot of recordings which I recorded on my iPhone using voice notes. But I think Lara the song is a voice of my daughter that I recorded long time ago and I just thought it would be interesting to make a song that feels like being four years old, like being a little kid. And that’s quite intimate, to be honest — so Lara.
How would you describe the album’s sound if it were a feeling?
Chilled. Mostly chilled. Light.
There might be one heavier song on it, but if you don’t know the background, no one would really notice.
How do you see the current electronic music landscape?
Well, I’m not going to lie that I’ve not been listening to any electronic music or album at all for the last year. When I’m creating music, I don’t want to get inspired by electronic music. And also, I ve been making music for a quite a while now and especially eletronic music so when I am listen to electronic music mostly my perception is that I dont hear anything new. Everything has been recycled all over and over again. And I’m not against that at all, but it doesn’t really inspire me as well. So you know, it’s like I’m actually listening to electronic music with a certain filter on it. Like I’m going to search for that one sample that I already know or I’m going to think like — oh, this is totally inspired on Apex Twin or on Floating points or another artist who is making music that Fred again has been making. So I’m not interested in that at all, to be fair.
I do listen to music, but mostly ambient music and Radiohead. My Spotify Wrapped was basically ambient and Radiohead.
How have Tinlicker fans reacted to your new alias and project? Did anything surprise you?
I have a couple fans who actually started to listen to a new project. Nothing really suprised me except for that some people like it, some people don’t. But you know, music is about taste and experience. It’s easy to judge a song when you hear it once on your phone in your living room like “Oh, new music from They call me Steve, let´s listen to that” and on that day you’re not feeling it.
I think people really need to experience music live to get the full idea of an album and the story behind it. But yeah, I did get quite some followers from the Tinlicker fanbase, and that’s great.
Looking back at this project, how has They Call Me Steve changed you as a musician and as a person?
What definitely changed for me was the way of working. It was quite a while since I was actually making music completely solo. And I found out I can work really, really fast. I actually surprised myself.
Some of the songs on this album were made in just a couple of hours. Not to brag, because the inspiration was very pure at that point. It just came, and I could translate it into music immediately. So I learned to trust myself more. Everyone has their own way of creating — music, art, or you know paitings, films, books. But you have to find what is the best for you. And that’s what I did.
If Escapism could leave one message for your audience, what would you want them to take away from it?
I think Escapism is music between listening to it and dancing on it. It works well in the background in your living room. But it could be also this song that you want to pump up the volume a little bit more and eventually you’re you might going to actually want to see it live, and listen to it live. Seeing it live would just be me playing keyboards — honestly, not that interesting to watch. But hopefully, if you listen to the album as a whole, that’s the message. Listen to the album as a whole and then judge about, then you are able to judge about it. Don’t skip it. Don’t skip the music.
