Name: Chris Dahlgren
Nationality: American
Occupation: Composer, bassist, viola da gamba player, improviser
Current release: Chris Dahlgren (on viola da gamba) teams up with Claudio Puntin (clarinet, contra alto clarinet, bass clarinet) and Jim Hart (vibraphone, marimba) for Soft Landing Option, out now via unit.  

If you enjoyed this Chris Dahlgren interview and would like to stay up to date with his music and current live dates, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



There can be many different kinds of emotions in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

I’m not drawn to any particular kinds of emotions in music, all of which I might experience; I’m rather drawn to a feeling of transcendence that comes after the experience of an emotion or emotions.

I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song or composition, does it tend to fill you with the same emotions – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

“Paradoxical“ emotions can (and probably should) happen in all good music, art, film, etc.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of emotions?

If there are words in or attached to a piece of music, then they are of primary importance to me. Words are forever. Even great playing, production and cleverness can’t redeem a bad text.

And of course, the quality and uniqueness of the human voice is what might draw me in or repel me from a song. For this reason I’m repelled and saddened by all the pitch correction in so much popular music today.

When it comes to experiencing emotions as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing them? [Where do you feel them, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

I experience emotion as welling up in me from my mid-section and rising to my head.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture emotions best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

This can go one way or the other- there’s no formula for this.

How much of the emotions of your own music, would you say, are already part of the composition, how much is the result of the recording process? For your current release, Soft Landing Option, what kind of emotions were you looking to get across?

For ‘Soft Landing Option’ we were looking for particular harmonic palate that would blend our instruments together.

Within this palate there are a range of different emotions.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the emotional impact of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

The beauty of performance is that it’s an exchange between performers and audience; of course this is a fluid system, always changing.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

It seems to have a generally soothing and uplifting effect, so far.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the emotions or do you surrender to them and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

I’m not interested in controlling my emotions or anyone else’s. I’d rather say paying attention to emotions that arise and dissipate is important to me.

The emotions that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this power to bring about change in the world?

I hope that artists will think about the unity of all life on our planet (not just humans) and encourage a feeling of gratitude for this existence in all its complexity, beauty and suffering.