Part 2

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

I think the same way we should deal with any misunderstandings - with kindness and grace.

I recently made some music I was really unhappy with and it had already been signed and I couldn’t go back on it. It was not made with any of my usual processes in mind and I don’t really know what happened. Knowing that it was due to be released started to eat me alive!

I had to take a step back and really just see it as a learning opportunity. It’s all part of creating. We are not perfect humans and we all make mistakes. It’s the intent that matters.

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?  

I try to always remain playful even if it’s laughing at myself for making something awful. I am still in the early stages and I am still figuring out my sound. Like I mentioned I recently made some awful music and now it’s out in the world and when I hear someone play it I cringe ... I think wow this is so not me and why did I make this.

I want to always discover new ways and processes and to be honest if I make something shit then so be it. We can’t get it right every time and learning is part of the fun.

I also use a sketchbook to document ideas and ways I could explore new methods. Using a sketchbook gives me the tool to be playful and I draw little feelings and write poetry and song lyrics there. I even try to make sure I use different colours and leave myself notes so I can add to that playfulness.

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”?

A few years ago I went on a trip to Costa Rica. I had dreamed of going there since I was young as I had heard it was one of the happiest places on earth.

After waking up on something like the 2nd morning, I heard the most magical sounds. We had travelled right out into the depths of nature and we stayed high up in the treetops. It felt like I was hearing the sounds of the earth without human interference for the first time. The synergy of all the non-human life was pulsating as one of the most  beautiful sounds I had ever heard and it hit me in the chest just the way music does.

It was truly life changing and yes it was most definitely musical!

There seems to be an increasing trend to capture music in algorithms, and data. But already at the time of Plato, arithmetic, geometry, and music were considered closely connected. How do you see that connection yourself? What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

Well full transparency on this one. I am neurodivergent and have very bad dyscalculia!

Of course I know music is mathematical but I don’t focus on that too much. I do stick to some rules but I also am inspired by off beat music such as J dilla and Jungle music and I love improvisation and jammin. I love learning from those that see music as maths or science but for me I’ve always been more emotionally intelligent rather than academically and I experience music as a feeling.  

In terms of algorithms or tiktok and fast paced music, I struggle to connect with that.

My brother said something interesting the other day when we were having a conversation about a particular artist that was getting slammed online for their use of a horse mask. Some old school underground music heads and curators are getting increasingly angry at the TikTok culture and about forcing an identity to gain followers. My brother put it nicely and said something along the lines of ‘it doesn’t have to be for one person but it can still exist for others’. I really liked this as I think we just need to worry about our output and not worry about others.

We are in a constantly evolving world and being angry at trends is a waste of time. People who want what you are offering will follow and find you even if that takes a little bit longer. You don’t need to change who you are just to be seen or heard but you can also change who you are to be seen and heard!

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?

Definitely. So at the moment I still have to work 5 day weeks and I have had to  drop nearly all of my entire social life just to get to the production level I am at now. I have to find pockets of time to create and I’m put on the spot a lot of the time.

So I suppose the way I have to live my life also reflects how I make music. I have to be disciplined and I have to use my time well. I feel rushed sometimes but I have got used to the late nights and to my new introverted ways. Even though I feel rushed, making music has also allowed me to slow down in life. The learning process has allowed me to feel as if I have started again.

I’ve spent a lot of time in dark places and I have made such bad use of my time (especially during my 20s). Finally it’s now that I am doing what I have always wanted to do (production), I am sort of learning how to live again.

So in answer to that question - absolutely yes we can learn lessons about life by understanding the value in our creative outlets.

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?

I grew up in a busy house with a loud family and have lived mostly in busy areas. I can’t sleep without sound and thinking about it, silence makes me feel very uneasy!

Sometimes when I choose not to listen to music it’s only because I want to listen to the world around me. I need sound and it is definitely the ultimate delight. :)

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?

Music is everything to me however coffee to someone else might be everything to them. Expression is subjective but I know that even with things I deem mundane I try to give my all each and every time. I’m a tea drinker myself and if I make a bad cup of tea then I will feel disappointed.

I try to create things with love. If I put love into my cup of tea then I know it will be a good cuppa - the same with a piece of music.

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

I would love to see more diversity across the electronic music scene. Ideally there would be more people from marginalised backgrounds behind the scenes, running labels and at the forefront of the music industry. I really wish the percentage of people from working class backgrounds would rise and that would then filter into high calibre music returning to smaller grassroots venues across London.

London’s nightlife culture is dying fast and I would love to see it return to its glory. Wouldn’t it be amazing to walk around London and start hearing the streets alive with sound again!