Name: Dustin O'Halloran
Nationality: American
Occupation: Composer, producer, pianist
Current release: Dustin O’Halloran's new album 1 0 0 1 is out now via Deutsche Grammophon.

If you enjoyed these insights by Dustin O'Halloran, and would like to know more, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.  

You can also read our in-depth Dustin O'Halloran interview as part of the 15 Questions series; or our conversation with him about his creative process.



The‭ term consciousness comes up quite a lot in the press release to‬ 1‭ 0 0 1‬.‭ IO thought that intriguing - do you think‬‭that the desire to create‬ ‭consciousness is the actual motivation in the search for AI? Do you have‬ ‭any ideas as to what motivates this desire?‬

I think that at some point in the process of trying to create intelligence,‬ ‭consciousness will inevitably come up. Is creative thinking just synapses fring, or is‬ there‭ something more metaphysical to it?

The record is really exploring these ideas of‬ ‭what is the mind-body connection and how it relates to an artifcial mind. It really goes‬ back‭ to Descartes, and we really have not studied consciousness enough to fully‬ ‭understand it, even though we are trying to create it.‬

The‭ public release of ChatGPT has become, for many, a seminal moment.‬ What‭ were your first thoughts when you saw ChatGPT (or a similarly‬ ‭advanced design AI) in action for the first time and possibly started working‬ ‭with it?‬

I think everything is in a sort of playful, curious place right now; nothing like this‬ ‭has ever existed, almost like a new life form being born.

I am fascinated by it for sure,‬ ‭and I think how quickly it's being used in the arts is really putting a light onto our own‬ ‭work and what makes it meaningful and connecting.‬

Large‭ language models have proven remarkably adept at working with‬ human‭ language. I always thought they were surprisingly much more‬ ‭successful at this than coming up with music. What's your perspective on‬ ‭this and why do you think there seems to be a difference between the two?‬

Even though there are a lot of impressive things with LLMs, I feel it still has a‬ ‭long way to go. And ultimately, it's really making us look at our human history as it's‬ learning‭ from what we have archived, which does not always paint the full picture.

As for‬ ‭music, I have not heard anything really that impressive, but maybe when it's pushed too‬ ‭far and makes something that seems like a mistake it could get interesting. Perhaps it's‬ ‭like when guitars frst discovered distortion. It's always the faws and imperfections that‬ ‭can be used in interesting ways.

So much goes into creating music, from composing to‬ ‭how you perform it and how you record it, I have a hard time seeing that develop into‬ anything‭ close to what we have now. It's so much in the physical realm.

But maybe pop‬ ‭music will have to develop more - the same chords have been used for ages.‬

How‭ do you see the relationship between technology and composing in‬ your‭ work in general and for this album in particular?‬

I use technology every day, but this is also why I love the piano so much. It's‬ immediate,‭ it doesn't need electricity or updating, and it's the closest I ever get to music,‬ ‭which is so much about feel, the tactile nature of it, the improvisational moments.

With‬ 1‭ 0 0 1, I wanted to explore more electronic soundscapes, but I was fairly dogmatic‬ ‭about approaching it from an analogue perspective. With the ideas and nature of this‬ record,‭ I wanted everything to be handmade, with a human touch, my stake in the‬ ‭ground that we create art to connect to other people.‬

1‭ 0 0 1 ‬is‭ a work which juxtaposes elements of the‬‭classical canon with‬ contemporary‭ sounds and processes. How do you see the relationship‬ ‭between progress and tradition?‬

I wanted this record to feel like a journey; my hope is that people will listen to the‬ whole‭ record from start to finish. And in this way, I really wanted it to start in a really‬ ‭organic place, full of humanity, and end in a place completely devoid of it.

I wanted the‬ record‭ to be an experience of how we are transforming, what we lose from detaching‬ ‭ourselves from nature, and ultimately, if we will be excluded from this new intelligence.‬

When‭ it comes to AI, how do you see the role of art in the debate? What‬ are‭ the limits of science?‬

I think we are in such early stages of it, and already we have seen how deeply it‬ ‭will divide art. It's already made an impact, but it's also created an argument for‬ human‭-made art.

Even if you're doing digital art or generative art, which I fnd pretty‬ interesting,‭ you're coming at it with a personal view and history, and it can have so many‬ ‭diverse infuences coming in, a flm you saw, a book you read, a conversation you had at‬ ‭a meal, how can all this be quantifed?‬

‭The press release mentions how early debates with Fukiko Takase‬ ‭revolved around‬‭The Ghost in the Shell‬‭and topics‬‭such as the interaction‬ between‭ man and machine as well as spirit and body. Why did that movie‬ ‭provide such a good point of departure and what did you and Fukiko talk‬ ‭about?‬

Fukiko frst brought up this idea, and I loved it. She was interested in the‬ concepts‭ of the flm, this relationship between the mind-body connection and‬ ‭technology, and what it means to be a spirit in a new body that could potentially be‬ inorganic‭. All of this, from a dance perspective, is really interesting to explore, and I‬ ‭thought there was a lot to get into musically.

We had a lot of thought-provoking‬ conversations‭ about it, which was really inspiring. And I thought it was a great‬ ‭opportunity to delve into a more philosophical way of writing.‬

‭The way I understand it,‬‭ 1 0 0 1‬‭ was originally conceived‬‭as a score for a‬ ‭choreography. How did the involvement of the human body influence the‬ writing‭ and what did it add in conceptual terms for a work dealing with deep‬ ‭metaphysical topics?‬

This all started as a concept for a dance piece with Fukiko Takase, whom I had‬ gotten‭ to know during the time A Winged Victory was composing music for UK‬ ‭choreographer Wayne McGregor for his dance piece Atomos.



It was there I realized how‬ incredible‭ the connection between dance and music can be and how powerful it can be.‬ ‭

[Read our A Winged Victory for the Sullen interview]

While I was writing music, Fukiko would send me clips of her dancing, and it was really‬ inspiring;‭ she has this incredible way to articulate a feeling into movement.

Ultimately,‬ art‭ needs to work on a subconscious level and feel visceral, even though the concepts‬ are‭ heady. I think we both wanted people to feel emotionally connected and that it had a‬ ‭directness you could feel even if you didn't know the concepts. Dance and music have‬ ‭this incredible power relationship‬.

I‭ personally find ‬1‭ 0 0 1 ‬quite‭ breathtakingly beautiful, a powerful statement‬ outside‭ of any conceptual considerations. Of course, with the underlying‬ ‭themes, the question is what beauty actually is. Do you think aesthetics‬ ‭and human sentiments can ever fully be grasped by numbers?‬

I think I am always searching for the beauty of things; the aesthetics are always‬ important‭ to me, to create a world where a piece of music feels like a fully realized world‬ you‭ can be inside.

There is a mathematical element to music, but I think it's also why‬ some‭ of the greatest instrumentalists are challenged to write music. There is something‬ mystical‭ about why we feel more connected to some music than others, and I think this‬ is‭ where we really get into the idea of consciousness again.

Is the spirit of music living‬ outside‭ of the body, and are we only channeling it? I don't think we ever really own music‬ ourselves;‭ we are only just lucky to tune into its frequency and translate it through our‬ ‭perspective.‬

‭The “loss of human speech” is mentioned in the press release and‬‭ 1 0 0 1‬ ‭makes no use of lyrics. Why?‬

These were just some of the ideas I was thinking about when I was working on‬ ‭the last part, 'Transfgural Syntax Eclipse,' the idea that language is the cornerstone of‬ ‭humanity and what happens when we lose that, when there is a new life form with its‬ ‭own language completely foreign to ours.‬

The last chapter of 1 0 0 1 was really trying to explore a place that‬ ‭was devoid of‬.

‭Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility with electronic music‬ ‭to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want‬ ‭to limit themselves?” Is AI just another tool to expand this philosophy to the‬ ‭compositional realm? If so, why should we limit ourselves in using it?‬

I agree that we should never limit ourselves, and electronic music opens up so‬ ‭many new possibilities. And I’m sure there will be interesting ways to use AI as a tool to‬ create. It's just the beginning, so I am very curious about how it will evolve.

For this‬ project,‭ I really didn't want to use any of this technology as I wanted it to be all‬ ‭handmade and be an example of human-made art that looks at something conceptually‬‭‬.

‭Paul Corley was responsible for electronics on the album. Was the‬ ‭overarching topic something you discussed a lot during the making? What‬ ‭did he do to and add to the music?‬

Paul and I have worked on a few flm projects together, and he has an incredible‬ ‭sensibility for sound design and electronic music, so I really wanted someone who‬ could‭ help me go deeper into the process.

We did a lot of sound processing together,‬ but‭ with specifc ideas in mind, like what the syntax of a new language would sound like,‬ how‭ we could make this sound unidentifable.

We worked on some percussion ideas‬ that‭ were really a frst for me, but I wanted there to be a sense of chaotic interruption, a‬ ‭glitch in the matrix. Experimenting with randomized patterns that could create a sense‬ ‭of feeling overwhelmed digitally.‬

What does the term‬ ‭composing mean in the era of AI, do you feel?‬

All art is an expression of our perspective, and it's about connection and feeling‬ ‭that connection to others. Music has always been the most direct way for me to do that,‬ ‭and I love to get into all the details of it.

Using AI would probably take away the parts I‬ ‭love to do. But that's just me; I’m sure there will be some interesting stuff coming out‬ ‭where people will fnd ways to create new sounds.

I think people crave human‬ connection‭ even more in this age of hyper-connectivity, and I want to make sure I’m‬ ‭always present in the work I do.‬