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MANS O
Mans O is a multidisciplinary artist focused on rhythmic experimentation through movement and sound. His creative journey centers on exploring rhythms and sounds in electronic music production. Beyond music, his practice extends to design, dance, and visual reflection. Mans O flourishes through collaborations with fellow creators, organizations, and collectives in the global art scene. Based in Barcelona, he ventures into new multilingual and multidirectional universes, drawing constant inspiration from music and remaining creatively engaged amidst the diverse projects he undertakes.
Mans O is the artistic pseudonym of Roman Daniel. From a very young age, Mans O has balanced his various facets, and now he combines everything into a single creative collision in his shows and personal projects. Based in Barcelona, he identifies as ‘musically restless’ beyond genres, utilizing intuition and improvisation as primary engines of creation.
How would you define your style? What are your main influences?
My main research/goal in music is rhythm. When creating something, I am always looking for new rhythmic and textural patterns. On a technical level, dub has influenced me a lot since it was the first form of electronic music in the studio. It was the first time that the studio was used as an instrument.
What universes, sensations, or emotions are you looking to recreate?
In my practice I seek to get closer to the presence and attention of the direct experience and thus increase/make the most of the potential of the present moment. Through rhythm I feel that I can communicate directly with other people’s brains beyond intellect, generating new neural connections.
Who is MANS O?
My name is Román Daniel and my umbrella project and musical alias is Mans O. With it I try to follow my intuition through music as a central axis, connected to all the disciplines and creative experiences in which I interact. The project was born around 2013 and since then I have been nurturing it without too many limits in terms of format and scale. Nowadays I balance that design freedom with production for other artists like Ikram Bouloum or Adelaida, or with creative sound design commissions from Lavern.co, together with my two partners, Kevin and Lucas. That allows me to maintain the time I need for Mans O, without pretensions imposed by the music or artistic industry.
The digital age has transformed...
Most importantly, it has essentially made me value the diverse and local independent spaces as the most real social network, such as Foc and Pumarejo. And although it may seem counterproductive, it has helped me a lot to deny the serialization of my pieces, that is, not repeating too many forms or framing myself as a brand or figure in entertainment. That has kept me close to my vision and intention at the level of thought and action. I think the best thing you can do is to not believe too much in what consumer dynamics require from creators, but rather to align yourself as much as possible with your intuition.
You've defined yourself as “musically restless”. Why?
My intention is to be with and in music as much as possible and relate to it in all the ways that appear and occur to me. During my career I have received highly diverse proposals and assignments and that made me very flexible and kept me stimulated.. I think it is important to get out of the monoculture in a world as boxed in as the professional, at least in artistic and creative practice. Working with different generations, groups, institutions, spaces, artists, designers, engineers, and musicians makes you understand that disciplines and formats are just tools and that the creative act is something visceral, which is amplified through complementarity and understanding between people.