Part 2

Can you talk about a breakthrough work, event or performance in your career? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

In 2015, I wrote a piece called ‘Togetherness’ for my ensemble Decibel. It’s a substantial and slowly unfolding 30-minute work which took me a long time to put together. At that point, I had been working with my ensemble for 10 years or more and I really felt we had shaped the band into something very specific, distinctive and special, this work was the culmination of everything we had done up to that point. ‘Togtherness’ was a complex work to put together (paradoxically!) but we managed to record and release it and later tour it. Many of the techniques I developed in that piece have found their way into much of my work since.

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?

For me to be well rested and calm is the best. It’s taken me years to realise this but if I can achieve this state fairly consistently I can make steady progress with plenty of time to reflect and refine what I’m making. I prefer this to the white heat kind of speed composing I used to do when I started out. I was never super happy with the results when I did that but now the consistency somehow gives me a bit more confidence in what I’m doing and I enjoy the process more. The support comes from routine, running, meditating but also having good people around you who are supportive both professionally and personally.

Music and sounds can heal, but they can also hurt. Do you personally have experiences with either or both of these? Where do you personally see the biggest need and potential for music as a tool for healing?

Personally, I believe that music changed my life for the better. It helped me find some purpose and made me part of a wider community with other creative folks. Community is extremely important and music can give you that. During the troubles in Northern Ireland music definitely brought people from different communities together and helped people transcend divisions, this certainly is a kind of healing and perhaps more credit should be given to the role and power of the arts in the this kind of context.

There is a fine line between cultural exchange and appropriation. What are your thoughts on the limits of copying, using cultural signs and symbols and the cultural/social/gender specificity of art?

I’m not sure. Everyone is doing their best as far as I can see. I just try to make work drawn from my experience.

Our sense of hearing shares intriguing connections to other senses. From your experience, what are some of the most inspiring overlaps between different senses - and what do they tell us about the way our senses work?

Sound and vision have a big connection in music of course. People often talk of music conjuring up imagery and there have of course been many amazing collaborations between all sorts of musicians and choreographers, film makers, visual artists etc where the visual and the sonic are closely  interlinked. I think touch is not talked about so much, perhaps feeling is a better way of thinking about it. Music can have such a visceral, felt quality where you feel it in your gut be it on a vibrational or emotional level. The connection between a performer and their instrument is also important, the touch can change everything about a sound.

Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?

That’s a big question. Artists might make work which is abstract or contains some explicit meaning or function and I think one can make work which brings attention to important social, political or environmental issues for example. But what is most important for an artist or indeed any person is how you live your life day to day, how you treat others, how you can be kind and generous, listen and stand up for what you believe in.

What can music express about life and death which words alone may not?

I firmly believe that music can bring us to a transcendent place, where we forget about our problems or think differently about the world, even if just for a moment. It can help us be in the moment and can certainly take us to the unknown.