Part 1
Name: Twinsleep
Members: John Hayes, Maxy Dutcher
Interviewee: John Hayes
Nationality: American
Current release: Twinsleep's self-titled debut album is out via Nettwerk.
Recommendation: Lawrence English’s A Young Person’s Guide To Hustling (In Music And The Arts); Chihei Hatakeyama’s discography; Parallels: Shellac Reworks by Christian Loffler. That whole album is incredibly beautiful and inspiring.
[Read our Lawrence English interview]
If you enjoyed this Twinsleep interview and would like to stay up to date with the duo and their music, visit the band on Instagram. Also, head over to our interview with Maxy Dutcher for his views on the same questions.
When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you’re listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?
I’ve heard of that before, synesthesia I think? It sounds like quite the listening experience!
When I listen to music though, I must admit, it’s very hard for me to turn off my ‘analytical’ brain. Most of the time, I’m listening to little details of the song and wondering to myself “how did they do that?” “how could I expand on that idea?” or “what sonic palette did they use?” It’s almost an exercise in itself to get that part of my brain to turn off when I am listening to music these days.
On the off chance that I do quiet down the ‘analytical brain’ I do find it very relaxing to listen with my eyes closed and drift off into the little world that the artist has created. I find this a lot easier to do with music that I am both really familiar with and deeply fond of. It creates this real sense of comfort and presents the ability to totally immerse myself in the music.
What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?
I first started playing the piano around 8 or 9, I can’t remember exactly … I do remember though that it wasn’t something I was keen on at all. When I was younger I would have much rather preferred to be outside playing catch with my brother or running around with my friends getting into trouble. We had a pretty strict routine during the week, grab an after school snack and then straight to the piano to practice.
I wound up getting enrolled in lessons with the same woman who taught my mom to play piano growing up. She was a great teacher but extremely strict. I’d get in all sorts of trouble with her during my lessons and for a valid reason. Most of the time, when I should have been practicing the material that was assigned to me for the week, I’d be trying to learn a song I heard on a movie / TV show or trying to write my own little tunes. I’d show her during the lesson but she wasn’t too impressed …
After progressing quite a bit through formal lessons and training, I decided that the traditional route wasn’t for me and I quit my lessons altogether. I took some time off from music during college, still dabbling here and there, but nothing close to serious. It wasn’t until the passing of my best friend when we were 23 that I decided to go all in with my music. I completely dedicated myself to it and started releasing my first songs.
They say that comparison is the killer of creativity, but sometimes I think it’s good to compare yourself to your first steps. I find it really motivating to even look back a year to see how far I’ve come. Each piece of music I release is like a musical snapshot of time in my mind. It’s a great story book to look back on and see ‘this is where I was at at X point in my life’.
According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music meant to you at that age and what’s changed since then?
It’s hard to say what it meant to me at that age. I think looking back, to be honest, I took it for granted a bit just because I had been around music for most of my life.
I started playing tenor saxophone in the school band around that age as well and was into a lot of punk rock, hip-hop and rap. For my own playing and development, it felt like more of an activity than a real passion. I was always really on the lookout to find new music to listen to though, and would get really excited when I found something that resonated.
I think I’ve kept that curiosity through the years and it’s something I’m grateful for. When I find something that is new to me now, it’s still massively inspiring and I’ll go down all sorts of rabbit holes trying to uncover how they did the things I like in the song and try to take that learning into my own music.
Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?
Well first and foremost it would have to be the piano. It’s just something I’ve been around my whole life.
For being an instrument that has been explored so much already, you can still find ways to express your own sound through it. My favorite pianists have all found this magic where after only hearing the first few notes of the piece, you know exactly who it is. That is something I am very much striving for in my music as well.
I think starting to play the saxophone in school was a huge development for me as well. Since it was so foreign to me, I really had to learn discipline with my practicing and that is something I believe has stuck with me moving forward.
Around junior or senior year of high school, I got GarageBand and that really opened up the doors for making music electronically.
What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?
I think it’s always trying to convey some type of emotion for me. How do I feel when I play this or listen back? Does it excite me in the same way as when I discover some new music? What experience in my life made me feel this way? I think these are a lot of things that are going through my head when I’m in the studio whether it’s consciously or not.
When I experience, hear, read or watch things that are emotive for me, I try to be really present to that emotion and bring it into the studio. Trying to capture those feelings and experiences are really core drivers for me.
It can be a fairly difficult process at times. I’m pretty good at finishing music that I start, but the early stages where I’m searching for that feeling or something that excites me, that’s where the real work is done.
Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What’s your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?
Going back to my previous answer, a lot of what I am trying to do is take those emotions and experiences and put them into a space. When it comes to sound, I want to create a little atmosphere or world that these things can exist in.
When it comes to my own sound, I spent a lot of time experimenting, tweaking recording chains for my piano, creating reverb chains that can create this atmosphere I’m looking for.
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”?
I love being out in nature when I’m not in the studio. One of the most moving things you can experience when you are in the woods / mountains is the sound of complete silence.
I remember when I first moved to Denver, I was on a hike in the woods, it wasn’t windy at all which can be pretty rare here. I remember walking and thinking “it’s completely silent right now.” The only thing I could hear really was me walking. I actually took my phone out and recorded it which makes me laugh a bit thinking about the idea of wanting to record absolute silence.
It seems like in the city and in most of our lives in general there's this low hum going on in the background constantly. We’ve grown so accustomed to it, that we probably don’t even notice it at all. When you hear absolute silence, especially out in nature, it can be a really powerful and moving experience.
