Name: Nico Georis
Occupation: Composer, producer
Nationality: American
Current release: Nico Georis's Cloud Suites is out June 9th 2023 via Leaving.
Recommendations: Ethiopiques Vol 21 - Piano Solo by Emahoy Guebrou; Wede Harer Guzo by Hailu Mergia and Dahlak Band

If you enjoyed this Nico Georis interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram.



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 envision music as geometric fields of vibrations and emotions interweaving across the fabric of the universe. My body and feelings react to it instantly whether I'm listening or not.

It's really special to listen with eyes closed. I've felt emotions come through music that I had no idea existed, and vibes that completely changed my life. I also love to dance and move and let music guide me into a sensual realm.

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 discovered singing when I was about 4 years old. I would sit alone by a tree and sing melodies to birds. I didn't even know what music was - yet singing melodies became a little game that I played. When I started pushing down piano keys it also felt like a game of sound.

As naive as I was this childlike approach was, and still is the center-point from which I make music. It is still a game I play with sound, and a way to connect with the world and the "birds" around me.

The years have brought me experience, craft, along with certain things I must unlearn and deprogram from, yet I know that if I lose track of the child singing under the tree then I have lost the very heart of why I am a musician.

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?

I don't particularly agree with this scientific analysis. Each era of life has brought me stunning new layers of musical revelation.

When I was 13-16 I had a purity and over-confidence afforded me by being one of the best musicians in a small town. Music meant the world to me but I still didn't know much about it. It wasn't until after high school when I moved to New York City that I was first exposed to deep human culture and music on a whole other level. Nothing was the same after that.

The further I go into the world and into music the more grateful I am to be a musician. I also understand what it really takes to live a life of music. Music is more meaningful to me now than ever.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?

My dad was a keyboard player in the 1960s-70s. I grew up playing his vintage keyboards, recording at home on his tape machines, and working without the use of screens and digital software.

My childhood fascination with analog tools has had a big influence on my sound. We musicians should be able to make good music using anything. The beauty is in making what you can with the tools that you have.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

I see music as a form of nourishment. Just as our bodies need food, our souls need music.

I was born a musician, and I've never felt like it was a choice or a hobby. I feel it is my duty and honor to be a source of musical nourishment for my community.

Musically, my drive comes from a need to make personal exotic musical fantasies come true. If nobody else has made what I want to hear, then I must be the person who is meant to make it.

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?

I believe music either feels good or not. It only takes about a split second to know that. When you eat food, from the moment it enters your mouth you know if you like it or not. You don't have to be a chef to know if something tastes good or not.

From this perspective I think Paul Simon is wise to dumb his self judgment down to a first impression of overall sound.

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”?

One time I had a very moving conversation hooting with some Owls in the forest. We kept hooting back and forth for a long time. I was very high.  

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I don't like extremes for extremes' sake. I don't like innovation for innovation's sake. I don't like progress for progress's sake.

Evolution in nature uses experimentation to produce options, yet substantial innovations only take hold because they have a purpose or function. I think new genres of music take hold when they resonate with a cultural movement or lifestyle.

I could care less if music is loud, quiet, fast, slow, simple or complex - as long as it is serving a purpose. Music has a very important and real function for society. In ancient cultures people had work songs, wedding songs, songs for medicine journeys, songs to honor the spirits, dance songs etc.

They had no "artists" and "audiences". Music and dance were a huge part of life for every member of society. We are not that different from those ancient cultures.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

I try not to use my brain too much. I start from a place of just allowing music that feels good. I keep thoughts away as much as possible, especially any inner voices that are trying to be good enough, or that are trying to prove anything. I allow the music to come through me and try to get myself out of the way.

I've found that I have to live an alternative lifestyle in the desert to be able to accomplish this.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

When I first heard Terry Riley's piece A Rainbow In Curved Air I thought it sounded like a bunch of casino slot machines.



Many years later I decided to attempt this slot machine idea. I gathered about 60 vintage slot machine sound effects from all over the internet, assigned them to different sample pads and began learning to make music from them. It was absolute chaos. I would go to bed at night with the maddening echoes of slot machines in my head.

After about 10 days of trying I began arriving at what sounded somewhat like music. Finally, I discovered slowing the slot machine samples down to half speed and suddenly lush marimbas and otherworldly synth loops emerged.

I had no idea what I was even trying to do but I followed this slot machine music adventure into some strange exotic realms of ambient casino music that can be heard now as the songs "Hot Slots" and "777".



Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I have spent years experimenting with plant-generated music - that is, working with a technology that translates the electrical biodata in plants into MIDI data, allowing a strange type of non-human ambient synthesizer music to occur.

Plant music is a convergence of music, science, and biology. It has been a strange and breathtaking musical encounter with plants which has been deeply moving.

I am actually preparing to release an ambient record of psilocybin mushroom recordings later this year.

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?

Music comes from life. Music is how I survive life and stay sane. Music is how I heal myself and take care of others.

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?

It is exactly like making coffee, haha ...

First you hunt the coffee in an invisible jungle. Then you extract it into a 5 dimensional beverage that you infuse into people's bodies and minds while they stare at you like you're naked.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

I know what you are saying yes. “Begin The Beguine” by Carlos Barbosa-Lima is such a track for me.



For some reason it makes me feel like a new life is just beginning, full of hope, and the nostalgia goes through the roof.

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

I wish that music returns to the people. I wish to escape this dynamic of artist and audience so that humans will again share music and dance together simply for fun ... many times a week!