In January 2024, the Suite Studios team visited athlete Torstein Horgmo at his home in Colorado to get the scoop on his creative process as a music producer & full-time professional snowboarder. Watch the full video right here >>

Standing over his kitchen island at home in Silverthorne, Colorado, professional snowboarder, musician, videographer, and content creator, Torstein Horgmo offers up a cup of herbal tea. In the next room, an assortment of bongos, synthesizers, harmonicas, odd-shaped shakers, a guitar, a bass, a mouth-harp and an eclectic mix of other worldly musical instruments provide the decoration. The swish-swoosh sound his Gore-Tex snow pants make when he walks are the mark of someone who spent all morning riding in the mountains. This particular afternoon though, like most spent at home, was reserved for stepping into a different creative mindset—making music.

Horgmo’s pursuit of the flow state over the last 15 years has enabled a lifestyle that circuitously inspires—from filming to music to snowboarding, creativity cycles. The 37-year-old Norwegian native is one of the most celebrated individuals in the snowboarding scene; as an athlete, he’s sponsored by a collection of the most coveted brands in the outdoor and action sports business, namely Rockstar Energy, GoPro, Oakley, Capita, Norrona & others; and he’s won just about every big-name snowboarding competition possible. Outside of the competition circuit, his creative pursuits behind the lens led him to establish one of snowboarding’s premiere production companies, ShredBots, which has helped him earn global acclaim. All the while, though, Horgmo has always quietly returned home—and reverted back into the flow state by making using under his downtempo house moniker, EddiBell.

Horgmo discovered snowboarding as a child and began making beats in his teens, at first just messing around on his Mac laptop. Growing up, snowboarding films released annually on VHS were the greatest source of inspiration for his style on and off the mountains; recognizing his knack for creativity, Horgmo’s mother even gifted him a handheld camcorder so he could start making his own movies. “Filming has always been a part of me,” he reflects. “I would snowboard & film during the day… then make music at night. Getting lost in music has always been an anchor for me.”

Back in his living room, in front of the Suite's cameras, Horgmo loops a beat on his computer and records a wispy synthesizer over it. He takes a moment to refine its sound with a few knobs on the device, then hits record again to capture another synth sound at a lower frequency. With those two layers now swirling alongside the beat, he takes two small bongos from the corner of the room to patch-in another element. Finally, he meshes the sound of a harmonica into the rest. In a matter of moments, the soundscape takes on a bigger form—the foundation of a song.

Seeking out the nuanced connections that exist between music, film, and snowboarding, Horgmo has developed a keen perspective on his various crafts & the processes behind them. Inside his home studio in Silverthorne, it’s about letting the music emerge from him naturally, instead of trying to put constraints on it; just the same as when he’s seeking out the smoothest, most stylish way to ride in the mountains. “The entire process is about getting out of my own way,” Horgmo notes. “That's where the magic happens—learning how to quiet the mind at the right times.”

In the mountains, planning, preparation, and learned skill help athletes like Horgmo react to the environment in which they’re riding; consistently at the whim of Mother Nature, it’s common to pivot a plan or reevaluate a route depending on snow conditions, avalanche danger, etc. In the music studio, he’s learned to adopt the same mindset. “As soon as you have an agenda, you can get disappointed. It’s all about learning to take a moment and see what's actually there.”

This expertise and extra patient philosophy, however, didn’t manifest overnight. For Horgmo, releasing “vlog style” content while competing on the global pro circuit was a regular occurrence that later evolved into making larger, more ambitious video projects. These videos helped Horgmo reach viral status online; unlike “wow-factor” content simply designed to draw eyeballs, he offered a genuine glimpse into the life of professional action sports athlete with a uniquely creative mind. It’s an echo of what inspired him most as a kid—the “bonus content” on his favorite DVDs. “Those clips had way more personality,” he recalls. “I wanted to do the same; I wasn't intimidated by showing more of ‘me’ in front of the camera. As soon as I did that, I got instant, positive feedback from the community.”

In 2022, Horgmo released the “FLYT” (pronounced fleet) video series on the ShredBots YouTube channel, letting his audience see more behind the veil. In the first episode—which caught the attention of the team at Suite,—Horgmo discusses the process of composing the original soundtrack for the Shredbots’ annual movie; for his curious audience, it’s a further exploration into Horgmo’s meticulous mindset, where snowboarding, video editing, and music production come together in full-form. “FLYT has been a huge part of my growth,” he notes. “Touching on human subjects highly influences the way I make music. It's a process that’s always changing and evolving; some days you might feel like making a house track, other days you might just have some emotions that you need to flush out.”

In order to express oneself fully, it’s imperative to first understand the tools through which your creativity flows—as a painter must understand the nuances of color, brush & canvas, a filmmaker or a musician must know the instruments, recording equipment & software employed during the creative process. “It’s all about learning; learning the equipment, learning the tools,” Horgmo notes. “Just like snowboarding, landing a trick for the first time doesn’t mean it’s ready to be filmed; you have to stick with it & figure out your own tweak. The same thing goes for camera-work. It takes time to try to perfect the craft.”

At this point in his life—nearly 20 years down the path—seeking out the flow state seems to come naturally for Horgmo, whose life is pointedly dedicated to snowboarding, music, traveling and various creative pursuits. Years spent riding the world’s most spectacular mountains, self-producing video content & discovering new inspirations have manifested into a career that facilities itself freely. With every hum of the harmonica, tap-tap of the bongo drum, and stroke of the synthesizer key, Horgmo furthers his exploration into the creative mindset & through this process of growth has also learned self-awareness & discovered an individual style that resonates deeply with his community. But his most important realization is that sharing your art can be just as powerful as creating it.  “Whatever makes you tick… it’s worth sharing,” he says. “It can be tough to go through the creative process, cross the threshold and release something, but even if it reaches just a couple people, that can mean everything.”

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