Safari Room operates in the space between intention and instinct. Guided by songwriter and producer Alec Koukol, the project leans into restraint, atmosphere, and emotional clarity without over-polishing the edges. Across this conversation, Koukol opens up about melody as a starting point, silence as a creative tool, and the importance of community over competition. It’s a reflection on craft, growth, and the slow confidence that comes from trusting your own voice, even when doubt is part of the process.
SNQLX: When you begin shaping a new track, what’s the first structural element you reach for?
SR: It really runs the gamut and has changed over the years, but I always try and find a melody or lyric that catches my ear and interests me. Something worth pursuing, something I find compelling and in need of a deep-dive.
SNQLX: Your songs often feel like they exist in their own emotional climate. How do you decide the temperature or tone of a track?
SR: There’s a feeling a song exudes when writing it, and I listen to that. But at the end of the day, songs can wear many clothes so as long as the song is good, the temperature can always change!
SNQLX: What kinds of real or imagined spaces influence the sonic worlds you build?
SR: Music has always been a form of escape for me so it really runs the gamut on imagined spaces, but there’s definitely something to being “in the zone” when creating/playing this music.
SNQLX: How do you decide when to leave space in a song instead of filling it, and what does that choice unlock for you creatively?
SR: It’s a hard balance, but I try and remind myself of something I’ve learned over the years “notes you don’t play are just as important as the ones you do.” Restraint is crucial and knowing when the story has been told or the mood has been conveyed.
SNQLX: When you take these layered recordings to the stage, what parts of the songs tend to open up or transform the most?
SR: I am adamant that, when we play live, we cover as much sonic ground as 4-5 people can. I don’t want to play with tracks and get every single sound that’s on the record. I like that the record sound and live sound exist in different spaces.
SNQLX: What has kept the center of Safari Room steady through different creative phases and personal growth?
SR: Music is just something I can’t help but doing. I can’t help having songs bounce around my head that need to be written down or recorded. It’s inherent to my being, and I have an ambition to pursue this music until the wheels come off. And the music helps guide and mark seasons of life, helping me learn more about myself. It all sorta weaves together.
SNQLX: What forms of non-musical art—film, architecture, photography, design—shape your aesthetic the most?
SR: I like movies/film/tv a lot. I’m not sure it’s always influencing the music, but I do like horror movies a lot. And I think something that music does similarly to horror movies is tension and release. Build ups and payoffs, etc. And movies in general, all art, is made to make you feel things.
SNQLX: Being part of Nashville’s dense creative community, what’s a mindset or lesson that has stuck with you the most?
SR: Rising tides raise all ships. There’s no famine of listeners out there, and folks with that mindset burnout fast. Music is about community, and engaging with the community, being a good person and good hang is just as important as if the music is great or not.
SNQLX: Without giving too much away, what’s the next sonic or thematic shift you can feel starting to form?
SR: The next shift in music will be shaped by me not overthinking. I’ve learned so much throughout the last 4+ albums I’ve created. On this next phase of Safari Room, I aim to be intentional but not precious, be discerning but not overthink things. I’m going to try and engineer and produce on my own and see how that goes. I think it’s gonna be pretty liberating.
SNQLX: When someone discovers Safari Room for the first time, what is the reaction that matters to you most?
SR: If they feel lyrically or emotionally connected. The lyrics and meaning of the songs is paramount to me, and it’s how I’ve felt connected to music through my life. I hope folks discovering Safari Room have the same experience.
SNQLX: When you’re writing, what’s the moment you find most difficult to confront—an emotion you’re resisting, a truth you’re circling, or a version of yourself you’re trying to understand?
SR: I’d say the most difficult part about writing is shutting out all the external voices, fears and pressures. I try my best not to think about what others will think or try and tailor my music a certain way to appease outside parties. I aim to make the music for myself, something I haven’t heard before and down the road I hope listeners experience something they enjoy, too.
SNQLX: Every artist has a quiet fear that shapes the work whether they admit it or not. What’s the tension or uncertainty that pushes Safari Room forward rather than holding it back?
SR: I think my quiet fear would have to be “not being good enough,” and the way that shapes the music is for me to keep pushing myself, learning, digging deeper and trying to understand my craft and art better.
At its core, Safari Room is about staying present with the work — listening closely, leaving room for space, and continuing forward even when certainty is elusive. Koukol’s reflections reveal an artist committed not to perfection, but to honesty, curiosity, and forward motion. As Safari Room enters its next phase with a lighter grip and fewer external voices, the throughline remains clear: music as connection, tension as momentum, and the belief that beginning is always better than standing still.
- A sound you’re obsessed with right now? Honestly, silence. It’s an anti-answer, but when I’m deep in the music creating (and especially mixing process), my ears are so fatigued. Silence gives me a chance to let my ears breathe. And it often lets my brain start chewing on new sounds.
- First instrument you ever fell in love with? Guitar.
- A habit that fuels creativity? Jotting down every idea because you never know what it’ll lead to, whether it’s THAT idea or something that idea sparks.
- A lyric you’ve been sitting on? “What if it all just falls apart; I think it’s better to begin than never start.”
I don’t think I have the right phrasing, and it’s a little clunky, but the message is powerful to me. It’s about knowing every start has an end, in all facets of life, but pursuing things with confidence all the same.
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