Mick Pedaja’s face breaks into a cheeky grin as a man nearby loudly proclaims that he needs to use the toilet.

“Can you send me the audio file for that? I want to sample it,” he asks earnestly.

This is the way that Pedaja creates his music, buy drawing inspiration from sounds around him.

Often these sounds become a part of the music itself through recording and sampling.

“I’m often going out and recording in a field or in the city. It’s really interesting because everywhere has different sounds,” he said.

One of Pedaja’s recent songs included the sound of a credit card being swiped throughout the track.

Like a lot of Estonian musicians, Pedaja began his musical journey as a member of a choir and studying music in his hometown of Rapla.

In five years he had four different guitar teachers but that didn’t disturb him, rather he felt the varied tutelage gave him more a more rounded education.

“They changed all the time but it was good because they each gave me something different,” he said.

Pedaja started making his own music about five years ago. Initially the tracks had lyrics but eventually a desire to create more outside the box lead him to create more experimental electrical music.

His previous released EP ‘Ärgake’ (Awakening) features this experimental sound heavily.

“It’s quite ambient and peaceful, if you listen to it at night it can help you sleep!” he said.

Pedaja’s Eesti Laul entry ‘Seis’ maintains his trademark ethereal aesthetic while returning to music with lyrics.

The lyrics did not initially come easy to Pedaja as they only came forward the day before the song submission deadline.

“I didn’t have the lyrics but one morning I woke up and I recognised what I wanted to write about,” he said.

The meaning of Seis has deliberately been left vague with Pedaja wanting to leave the song up to the listener’s interpretation.

“For me the song is talking about fears, but the song means something different for anyone who hears it,” he said.

Pedaja spoke of his support for the other competing artists in the competition especially considering how small the Estonian music industry is, but confessed that he especially liked I Wear* Experiment’s ‘Patience’ and Púr Múdd’s ‘Meet Halfway’.

After the contest Pedaja plans to release his next album entitled ‘Hingagke’ (Breathe) which along with Ärgake and a yet unnamed third release are intended to be part of a musical trilogy. But for now he is trying to take an approach as calm as his music to the contest.

“This is something very new for me and participating in Eesti Laul is a challenge,” he said.

“But I am just trying to be me, and go with the flow.”

Mick Pedaja will perform in the Eesti Laul first semi-final on Saturday 13 February.