Name: Oliver Marson
Nationality: British
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current release: Oliver Marson's Why Did I Choose This? is out now.
Recommendations: I would check out Thomas Pynchon - V. reading that book opened mind in a way more so than taking any recreational drugs could. There are so many ideas in that book and its worth exploring. It is chaotic and hard to follow. But, wouldn’t life be boring if we all know what was going on all the time.
I would recommend watching Peter Greenaway’s Zed and Two Noughts if you are looking for unique and inventive imagery.

If you enjoyed this Oliver Marson interview and would like to stay up to date with his music and projects, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.



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 think I associate certain sounds with different colours. I don’t know if that is Synesthesia. Certain albums evoke different colours, like for some reason I strongly associate MGMT with the colour blue. Or even certain tastes. For some reason, listening to the White album I associate with eating a big chocolate cake. I think maybe that’s associated with memory.



I can always associate John Maus with the cold winter and snow. The synth sounds are icy cold, but I was listening to his albums during a cold trip to Berlin.



What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

My first steps in music involved convincing my mother to buy me a 5 quid nylon acoustic at a car boot sale. She thought I would get bored of it like everything I decide to. But I’ve never put down the guitar and I haven’t looked back.

It took me a while to have the confidence to play live in bands and perform as a solo artist and I am always developing. I think I would very much consider myself a student of music. Life and experience are one giant ladder with many rungs to it. All we can do is try and climb.

There is no end point, but we just have to try and keep climbing. It’s all we can do.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

I think that period was the time where music had its greatest effect on me. I can remember my English Teacher showing me David Bowie for the first time and feeling the hairs on my neck stand up when ‘Space Oddity’ played.



I can remember seeing Metallica on MTV for the first time and it was like lightning or electricity going off on in my brain. It is a similar experience to when you experience your first orgasm. I think nothing is ever as good as the first time.



What’s changed is that nothing is ever as good as the first time and perhaps now it is just trying to chase that feeling and high you experienced at a young age. The excitement.

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

I’d say melody is pretty important. It’s trying to recreate those feelings you felt when you first discovered music. The excitement, the hairs on the back of your neck or the lightning going off in your brain. Music that makes you want to throw a chair through a window and start rebelling. If it doesn’t do that I am not interested.

As I get older, I think lyrics, meaning and sincerity become more important. It’s perhaps less immediate. But when I mouth the words to ‘Dancing in the Dark’ I cry.



Perhaps as you get older you experience more pain, heartbreak and disappointment so it hits you harder. I think some kind of combination of these two is what I am trying to create and what motivates me to keep going.

I wouldn’t say I am creating it for anyone else. I just make music that I’d like to hear.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I would say you have discovered the idea; I think it is all a journey of discovery. Ideas come from all sorts of places. When you’re half asleep, in conversations, when you’re playing the guitar or the piano. It’s up to you to have the confidence and self-belief to actually act on the idea.

I think most people struggle with the self-belief aspect. There are people that are far more talented than I am that don’t act on their ideas, and I think that’s a really sad thing. I think whatever the idea, I’ll tend to act on it mostly for personal reasons. To see things to fruition is important for self-preservation and for growth.

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?

Paul Simon is a genius. I think everyone is different. For some people the lyrics are so important. I think personally, the sound is very important. If I hear something that I haven’t heard before then it excites me. And If I don’t understand it then even better.

I don’t think anyone listens to music and is thinking about what chords they're playing. I mean what fun is that? You should listen to music to enjoy it and feel something. That is the main thing. A hit is a hit.

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”?

Living in the city is brash and chaotic. It’s the sound of a police siren, the screaming of the tube, or the sound of a pneumatic drill. I would describe these sounds as very musical and I find it moving in so far as it resembles the chaos of everyday life.

I tried to incorporate this in my music by making my guitar sound like the sound of a train coming off the tracks at the end of my song blue dreams.

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 like change. I like music to be like a well written novel. There should be moments of absurdity, sadness and hilarity. You should go on a journey. A beginning, middle and an end. It should change. Whether that be a key change.

I like a verse, a chorus and a middle 8. I like composition in a classical sense. And definitely the juxtaposition between loud and quiet. I know they’re considered kind of lame, but U2 are a band that did this very well. Quiet verses then huge anthemic choruses.



I would say I am drawn to things that people consider extremely lame. I am not someone who likes something because it is “trendy”. There is something fun in finding value in styles that are considered total rubbish. Everything is rubbish, and all rubbish is good in my opinion.

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?

I think being deconstructive is fun.

Taking something that is formed in isolation and taking it to a collaborator who might interpret it differently. Or taking a song that is written on the piano and using different soundscapes to make something unique. Or using your guitar to try and make sounds that you would normally make on the synthesiser. That way you can make something unique.

Putting these kinds of limits and restrictions on yourself tends to create something new and exciting.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I wouldn’t say my music is particularly scientific at all. If I was gonna push the boat out maybe I might try a different time signature when making a tune. But that’s about it.

There is a lot of throwing shit against the wall and seeing what sticks.

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?

My life and music are about making something out of the chaos. Finding meaning in the chaos. And I think we can learn a lot from art about life on a deeper level for sure.

I think for me the journey of music is learning that a lot of things are out of our hands and about letting go.

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?

I’d say it’s actually very similar to cooking or making food. I love cooking and making coffee. I find it very therapeutic in the same way making music is.

For me, music is often best when it’s a couple of simple things done very well. Dark Side of the Moon is an album, which is totally bonkers musically and deals with some interesting themes. But actually the message is very clear and the music is quite simple. But its powerful and one of the most successful albums of all time.



I think like cooking, its best to keep it simple. It’s about finding some sort of order in the chaos.

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?

Didier Marouani’s "Space Opera III" is an obscure piece of music, which is kind of similar to Tangelos. It’s kind of a kitsch version of it. Weirdly, he was very popular in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Soviet Union during the 80s.



And I can hear why, it sounds otherworldly and kind of soviet for want of a better word. There are no words. I actually discovered this music through a meme about the Bogdanoff brothers.

There is a joke conspiracy theory that these two guys their prominent cheekbones and chins due to plastic surgery actually rule and control the world. When they died someone made a meme as tribute to them with that music and I found it very moving.

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

I’d like to see music and venues more accessible for people from working class backgrounds. Creating an environment and culture around this. I think it really doesn’t exist at the moment and is more and more under threat. The only things that have been in place are grass roots venues, which are struggling and the funding that exists is incredibly hard to get on to unless you really know what you are doing.

Where is the funding from the government? They often like to take pride in the fact the creative industries is very productive and is growing but what do they do to help it? A general election is around the corner and I hope that this is addressed.