Part 2

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”?

We have six senses: and for me, the critical sense is probably hearing. Our world is rooted in sound, yes? And my own little ecosphere is so founded as well. From the delight of my children’s laughter to the quacking of the ducks in my front yard pond to the rhythms of my daily StairMaster session.

Electronic Dance Music clearly manifests the mechanical sounds occurring all around us. If Kraftwerk had not invented themselves, someone else would have. But the naturally occurring sounds that we hear in nature also can be heard in EDM, from the synthetic swooshes of sound that ape the sound of ocean waves to the staccato chirps emulating wild birds, EDM is strangely replete with the sounds of nature.

Most sound IS music: but all music IS sound (or its absence).

There seems to be an increasing trend to capture music in numbers, from waveforms via recommendation algorithms up to deciphering the code of hit songs. What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

You know, we are definitely in a technology-driven age.

Regardless of whether such development can be deemed beneficial and desirable, outside of live unamplified performance, there today is almost nothing in the creation-to-performance spectrum where music is not transformed into digital 1s and 0s. So frankly, there is very little occurring in the contemporary music landscape that is not, at one point or another, reduced to electronic bytes.

But the essential sights and sounds of live performance are still difficult to artificially emulate, much less recreate. There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is looming and approaching freight train, but there is still no substitute for being able to wonder at Post Malone or Diana Krall or YoYo Ma in a live setting.



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?

As I think about it, my music making seems in fact to echo and mirror the way in which I live my life. While my formal creative process is fairly structured, my daily inspirations are generally impromptu and sporadic. The descriptor scheduled chaos probably applies to both my music as well as my day-to-day living.

Yet while music can have a number of effects on listeners – music soothes and heals and entertains and even inspires -- I am not one of those persons who preach that we can learn life lessons through music. Indeed, we learn about life by living it: and then some of us sometimes actually write about what we have lived and maybe learned.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold? What role do headphones play for you in this regard?

I can probably best answer that question by saying that there is almost always music going on wherever I roam. In my home or car -- I live in Dallas, where everyone drives their cars everywhere -- there is always music. It is omnipresent. However, I'm not sure that you can understand sound unless you also understand silence -- and I have considerable amount of purposeful silence in my week.

While I had never heard that quote from Gould before, my reflex is to push back hard on the thought of continuous sound as the ultimate delight. Music is great – but compared to the love of a child? Or the comforts and passions of your lover? Please.

But you can probably conform and unify those two viewpoints in a scenario where you put the kids to bed with a bedtime story, followed by passionate Lights Out Sex with your soulmate as accompanied by great music.

Now we’re talkin’ about ULTIMATE, Mister Gould.

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?

For starters, I’d venture that taking a cup of coffee doesn't often vault the barista at Starbucks through an extended range of emotions. So we are really focused here upon expression as the critical differentiating component.

Through instrumentation and vocalization – but like all forms of art -- music allows for the fullest expression of human emotion: which, when you think about it, is probably one of the two or three fundamental pillars of artistic creation.

But do not be fooled into thinking that the overwhelming majority of contemporary musical creation is not driven by processes. There is only one Ed Sheeran, unbound by conventional creative limitations.

And l also appreciate that there are always going to be moments where even my biggest fans will enjoy the fruits of the barista’s labor more than my own.

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 which don't appear to have any emotional connotation. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a seemingly counterintuitive way – and what, do you think, is happening here?

Whenever I hear “Forbidden Colours” by the late great Riuichi Sakamoto – whether as sung by David Sylvain or, even more so, recorded in a live instrumental setting -- I find that it knocks the breath out me by its auditory gorgeousness and its emotive inspiration.



There is a clip on YouTube that I recommend of a dying Sakamoto, aware that he has only months to live due to terminal cancer, which is visually captured in gorgeous grey tones as he is seated solo and unaccompanied at a grand piano.

Particularly in this stripped-down version of “Forbidden Colours,” one understands the bone-deep sadness and longing underpinning that composition I find myself so overwhelmed by the brilliance of the song’s emotional depth and rendering such that those five minutes actually inspire me towards creating works which have comparable emotional resonance. And while I am pretty sure that I will never equal Sakanoto’s expression, it absolutely makes me want to try.



But within my own limited discography, there are songs which have counterintuitive effects -- even on me. For example, the song “What I Do” is based upon a real life incident between myself and the love of my life.



If you read the lyrics, you'll understand that the song emerges from sad circumstances – but when I perform the song live, I have an almost-triumphant air as I am able to look back and realize that love – and not bitterness -- wins

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

I'd love to see music become less divisive and more purposefully unifying.

I am so frickin’ sick of the divisions in our society and Identity Politics: and would love to believe that music can help people to remember that we all are all God's Children. We are all flesh, bones & blood, all breathing and striving and hoping for a better world – let’s recognize that reality.

We need more humanity, not less. ZERO doubt.