Name: Evgueni Galperine

Nationality: French-Russian
Occupation: Composer
Current release: Evgueni Galperine's Theory of Becoming is out via ECM's New Series.

If you enjoyed this interview with Evgueni Galperine and would like to find out more about his work, visit the official website he shares with his brother Sacha Galperine. He is also on Soundcloud.



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?

As a child I spent a few months a year in a hospital because of asthma. Finding myself in places I didn’t want to be - I was trying to escape by reading books and inventing stories in my head.

Still today the impulse to create music is coming from the need to make parallel worlds where I can go when I feel the need to escape reality or to escape from myself. Some other time it can be just a desire to create some places people have never seen before and to invite listeners to visit these places like one invites friends to visit his country house.

But most of the time it stays a form of communication, a language to express emotions, to tell a story, to share something very intimate.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I start with a feeling, an idea, an emotion or a sound but never with a plan. I can find an interesting sound, and start to play with it, and then the sound will take my hand and will take me somewhere I didn’t expect to go. Or there is an emotion I want to express so first I will find out what are the right instruments to resonate with this emotion then I will start to write the music itself, to seek for a dramaturgy.

Sometimes the starting point could be also a kind of «visualisation», an idea I see or hear in my mind and want to materialize.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

The only thing I can call a preparation phase is when I accumulate feelings, impressions, ideas, inspirations. Once I feel «full» or should I say «late term pregnant» I start to look into the sounds, doing sketches, to improvise.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

First a cup of black tee, then a cup of black coffee. Boring isn’t it? There is no other ritual for me - if I have an obsessive idea or a feeling I want to get rid of it because it’s powerful and disturbs me - I better stick to my keyboard and work.

«Soudain, le vide» a piece from my album Theory of Becoming was written after a close friend of mine died in a very sudden way. I remember coming back home after the burial ceremony with a feeling of a total emptiness that was striving me from inside.



I didn’t know what to do but to put myself in front of the keyboard, and I left it only when I could find a way to express my feelings with the music.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I’m trying to get rid of the pressure of the first note, trying to let it go, to let my fingers move on the keyboard. I like to improvise, do some quick sketches without asking myself too many questions, then to let them rest.

A day or two later, I will listen to them again and this time I will try to see if there is any potential or not.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

First it’s important to be sure there is a worthy idea. Then to find a sound identity for this idea.

The last step is the dramaturgy: the form of the piece and its duration … and this is by far the most difficult part for me.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I think that the legend saying that an artist needs to suffer to be good is partially coming from the fact that when we are suffering, especially when we don’t like ourselves - our ego is getting veeeeery small.

And when it gets small it loses control over what we are doing, it lets us work in peace without judging every step, without wondering what the others will say, what is it worth, etc. I think it allows us to work in a much more liberated way, to let our unconsciousness express itself and this process can give beautiful fruits. So I think that the process of creation is a mix of both: a part you need to let go and to see where it leads you, then a part you need to control because it needs reflection and elaboration.

The best example in my work I can give would be the piece «11 cycles of E» from the Loveless soundtrack.



It was created in a very difficult moment for me and I remember this feeling of being not conscious at all of what I was doing. For a while I felt my fingers were just playing and recording one voice after another. Then I was shaping a bit the result and continuing to record the following part in exactly same way.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Absolutely. I think that to create we need to be connected very deeply with ourselves. I believe that this kind of connection is only possible when we are connected to everything around us, when we feel a part of the whole thing.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

My father Youli Galperine who was a great classical composer taught me that to progress as a composer I absolutely need to finish a piece of music I’m working on because otherwise I will never know what it is worth.

To have the necessary distance to judge our work we need to finish it even if it’s just a stage, even if it’s just a kind of strategy to come back to it later to improve it.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

Like I was saying before I think that the first step to know if you are satisfied with your work is to consider it’s done. It’s always great to let some time pass and to come back to it later and see if something is missing. Sometimes the answer is coming after a while.

For example for «Oumumua, Space Wanderings» which has a very complex construction, I needed almost three years until I could achieve it.



I thought I «finished» it at least three times during the creation process then each time I came back to this piece I felt something was still wrong.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

I’m very involved with the mixing process because I consider it a very important stage, and I know that my music can gain or lose according to the direction taken by the sound engineer.

So my method is very simple: first I let the sound engineer work to find his own interpretation of the music, then I listen to it and if I like the direction we will finalize it together and if I don’t - we will get back closer to the initial idea of the mix.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

It’s a feeling of liberation mixed with a feeling of emptiness.

It’s a strange state of mind and soul which makes me think of a greyhound who after an exhausting chase ends up catching and killing the rabbit, then puts it on the ground and stays still without knowing what to do next. The dog was trained to catch but has no idea of the final purpose of his mission.

After the release of the album I feel very light, transparent, a bit lost… and curious about what would be the next road I will take.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing 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?

To be honest I don’t feel I could express myself through a cup of coffee. The only replacement to music I could imagine is being surrounded by Nature, hiking in the forest or in the mountains, sailing the seas.

I think that making music or doing any creative or artistic activity, it helps you to see the beauty in life, teaches you to be able to see how multiple separate elements are able to create together something much bigger than themselves.

For this kind of experience a cup of coffee can help … but it’s certainly not enough. ;)