Los Angeles-based songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Robbie Gennet has built a career around following ideas wherever they lead. From turning a casual Facebook comment into a song about insomnia to envisioning a space-rock opera inspired by the scale of human exploration, Gennet approaches songwriting with curiosity, instinct, and an expansive musical vocabulary. His work moves between piano-driven rock, chamber pop, funk, and orchestral arrangements, reflecting his ability to write, perform, and produce across multiple instruments.

Currently working through an ambitious five-album orchestrated rock cycle developed over eight years, Gennet continues to explore the relationship between musical experimentation, storytelling, and the creative process. In this interview, he discusses the unexpected origins of his songs, the inspiration behind his visual concepts, why he deliberately changes his songwriting approach, and what happens when an initial idea grows into something much larger.

“Insomnia” began because someone casually suggested on Facebook that Diane Ward write a song about insomnia. Why did that throwaway idea stay with you?

No idea is a throwaway. Some ideas may seem small but lead to much larger questions and ideas. You never know where inspiration will hit, which is why my antenna is always up. Instead of just thinking about not being able to sleep, I wanted to dig into why. Moreso, I wanted to suggest that the reasons for ones insomnia often go deep into places it’s uncomfortable to question or deal with. The line in the song is “Insomnia; you can’t afford to meddle in the reasons why you cannot fall asleep”. So many people are unable or unwilling to self-reflect, which let’s things fester and rot, following you around in the night with no relief. 

You turned that suggestion into a demo within a week. What happened between hearing the idea and actually sitting down to write?

A week is actually a long time. It may have been faster than that. Songs come pretty quickly to me, as I chase the muse as soon as it hits. This song is unique because it technically only has one verse. When I demo songs, I’m all set up in my home studio to record so the process goes rather quickly. Being fluid on multiple instruments makes the performance go quickly, so I can have a song written and demoed same day if needed or if I can’t stop myself, which is all too often the case.

The video turns insomnia into a physical creature. Did you see that character in your head while writing the song?

No I didn’t but as soon as I conceptualized insomnia as a corporeal monster following me around in the night, I had to follow it through to its fullest realization.

“Pretty Ugly” plays with the contradiction between beauty and darkness. What was the emotional starting point for that song?

I had started a songwriting challenge with a friend of mine and one of the challenges was to write a song called Pretty Ugly, which is kind of a dichotomy of terms. Sometimes a title is all you need to open up a story and build characters and scenes.

“Alpha Mission” feels enormous in scale. Did the music come first, or were you already thinking about space, exploration and human ambition?

I was conceptualizing a one-song space rock opera with sections instead of traditional verses and choruses, which is what I wrote. Space Oddity by David Bowie will always be a touchstone for songs about going in to space and in this case, never coming back. I love an epic journey amongst the pop and rock tunes!

What tends to arrive first for you: a lyric, a melody, a keyboard part, a rhythm or an image?

I try to vary the way I scratch into creating. And I never ever use AI tools to do so. I might start from a lyric idea, or a bass line or a drum loop I create, I change it up often to keep the creative process fresh. Usually I get a wider variety of songs that way too.

Do you approach songwriting differently when you know you are ultimately going to arrange every instrument yourself?

Only in that my own parts are part of the direction of creation. I am open and actively searching for new and interesting paths. If I do create something that I can’t perform~ a horn part, string orchestrations or a drum track I programmed that sounds too stiff- I hire talented people to do it. But that’s after the fact of creation.

Which song on this record surprised you most once you heard the finished version?

Nothing is a surprise because I composed it all ahead of time but I really love the way Without a Trace came out. The strings really worked great with the way the drums propel the song.