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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?

For me it was nunu, a piece I originally was commissioned to write for a project with the Natural History Museum in Geneva, which then expanded to a piece for the London Sinfonietta, that eventually toured the world. In its original form, the orchestra performs the sonic signatures of insects, and the wasps, play the melody supported by a chorus of closely mixed menagerie of bugs. They all perform together live on stage, which I mix with pre-recorded insects, I thought someone would try to stop me putting 300 plus crickets on stage at the Royal Festival Hall, but nobody did - and that piece seemed to capture the public’s imagination. The week it premiered, I did hundreds of interviews from all over the world BBC, CNN, TF1… you name it, the response was so overwhelmingly curious and unexpected, and in the end, very inspiring for me as an artist. It emboldened me to keep taking chances and risks. To ask for what I wanted, to stay true to my ideas.

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?

Escapism. The desire to escape and build whatever you can imagine, that’s what being in the studio allows. The distractions are mundane, things that tie you to your body, like finding food or those societal obligations, like paying bills or replying to emails. I’m pretty good at shutting the world out. The consequences are awful but shutting the world out at times is essential for really immersing yourself in the work, in the making of… I focus more on the new world I want to live in, rather than the one I really do.

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?

Years ago, I remember going to an event by the band WIRE, they were using a sonic weapon used by the military, one that makes you empty your bowels, they had placed a dozen or so portal loos at the entrance. An interesting evening, but not pleasant. On the other hand, I think music heals on both a personal level, the songs we play over and over to soothe us in times of trouble or collectively, the songs of freedom and hope. Music has a way of living inside us, we can walk down a street and hear a song in our head, from memory, we can carry it with us always.

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?

As a human, let alone an artist, respect for others is essential always. In more generalised terms I am all for cross-pollination, I think for the most part it breaks down barriers and brings people together. Our influences can be far and wide, our personal upbringing and culture may not be apparent to a casual bystander. Cultural identities come from somewhere specific, have often complex histories, but like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation. Who we are is informed by our journeys and all our experiences, that is 21st century living, that is evolution. Music and the arts have played a huge part in making the world a smaller place and I really do think that’s a good thing. Because people have a tendency to be fearful of the foreign of otherness, the more we exchange and return on an equal footing, the closer I think we come to appreciating and respecting one another. My new album is dedicated to the citizens of nowhere, it’s a reference to a speech made by the UK former PM Theresa May - she said if you are a citizen of the world you are a citizen of nowhere. I disagree with every fibre of my being. Art, like love, has no borders.

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?

I am to some degree synaesthetic, which means my sense of hearing and seeing, particularly in regards to colour are connected or jumbled up. For some people, this wiring is really strong, the association between a sound and colour or word can be pretty extreme. For people like me, it's more like a mist or veil. It’s certainly an overlap of the audio and visual senses that we still really don’t know that much about, and to what extent we all experience some level of it.

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?

Art is life and life, even just the right to life is political. These things are connected, whether you choose to connect them, is a personal choice. On absent origin my political views are front and centre. In other works of mine, the connection is more discreet. Those who know me, know I am never without an opinion on the unsettled state of the world.

What can music express about life and death which other forms of art may not?

That is a big, big question. Kandinsky said ‘“With few exceptions, music has been for some centuries the art which has devoted itself not to the reproduction of natural phenomena, but rather to the expression of the artist's soul, in musical sound.” But maybe the answer also lies somewhere in the means of production or rather musical reproduction and dissemination - when I’m long gone, with any luck, some radio DJ or just you on the train, can blast out my music and carry me with you always.


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