Name: Jason Gould
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, actor
Nationality: American  
Current release: Jason Gould 's "Sacred Days" EP is out via Backwards Dog.
Recommendations: Because of the times we are living in I would like to recommend two documentaries - Navalny and Beyond Utopia.

If you enjoyed this Jason Gould interview and would like to keep up to date with his work and music, visit him on Instagram, and Facebook.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Both. I have experienced that: almost like an inner kaleidoscope of waves, forms and colors.

Sometimes when I’m trying to write lyrics I like to close my eyes and allow ideas and words to form without judging them. I often find words and ideas that way.

Entering new worlds and escapism through music have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

The divine ... I like to tap in to the unknown, call it what you will: God, source, the unconscious. I become sort of a channel. I don’t take it for granted. If I’m lucky, I find it comes through me.

It is not an intellectual exercise. It’s a surrender to the unknown ...

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

I was a kid who would sit at the piano and make up melodies, but I never understood how to write a song. I thought it was something very clever people did.

Not until I really got to know myself and started meditating was I able to discover how it works for me.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

I’ve always loved music. I was discovering what I liked I suppose at that age. I had a walkman I remember. Listening to The Police, Queen, The Psychedelic Furs, ABC …

I no longer have a walkman ...

How would you describe your own relationship with your instrument, tools or equipment?

I guess my instrument I most depend on in creating music is my voice.

I don’t read or write music. I sing it, hum it.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I need to create - it’s just a necessary part of what well-being looks like for me. Sometimes that means painting, making pottery, music, or making a soup.

I’m also kinda handy around the house and in the garden. I like to grow things.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you couldn't or wouldn't in your daily life? If so, which are these? What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music?

Courage. Freedom. Feeling. Flow. The joy of creating music for me is collaboration and giving myself and my collaborator the freedom to throw out any idea musically or lyrically without judgement.

You can’t judge yourself and be open to the creative impulses at the same time. I don’t think that’s pleasurable and I’m not sure good music comes from that.

If music is a language, what can we communicate with it? How do you deal with misunderstandings?

I think it’s important to be honest but not controlling.

It’s a delicate thing when you are co-creating something. Requires a lot of patience, kindness and respect from both parties.

Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and about discovery. How do you retain a sense of playfulness and how do you still draw surprises from tools, approaches and musical forms you may be very familiar with?

Making music is play for me. That’s what I like to call it.

When I get together with someone I never say “let’s try and write a song”. That’s too much pressure. I say "let’s play.”

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

The human heartbeat is one of the great ones for sure!

I like dissonant sounds. Chords that rub together in an unexpected way can evoke something profound for me.

The juxtaposition of one chord to another can tell a story, can start a dialogue, can inspire a song ...

What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

I suppose there is something mathematical about it. Repetition of ideas, sounds and rhythms.

But it is feeling really that is being communicated. And there is nothing cold and robotic about feeling.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Yes. I think making music is a sacred and spiritual experience. It requires humility at the deepest level. I need to be very relaxed, very open, very surrendered, so that it flows organically through me.

I can’t pre-conceive what a song should be, I have to be humble enough to allow the song be what it wants to be, and honor that.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

If you really listen, there is never silence. The sound of our own heartbeat, the rain, the wind, the creaks in the floor, our own breath. ..

I never hear actual silence. Do you?

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Vulnerability mostly. Coffee does not require vulnerability.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

Music is a language that transcends religion, politics, and social and cultural differences. My wish for the future is a greater and deeper respect for each other despite our differences. And yet music is a reflection of the culture and times we are living in.

So until we can live together in peace, I suppose songwriters and artist will have to keep on creating art.