Part 2
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?
"Death is pure objectivity" was written in December 2006, but the perception of it appeared in my mind about 3 months earlier.
Completely unrelated to what I was doing prior, I froze under the impression of a sensation around the top of my head of what I interpreted as the colour Electric Blue, no sound, just colour. On Christmas day 2006, I had the feeling in my heart that ‘now’ was the time, synthesized a patch in a few minutes, gathered a few sounds I had prepared earlier and wrote the piece, more or less instantly.
Its original format was a very bass heavy, ethereal synth/vocal piece with an aggressive polyrhythmic drum pattern. After listening to it over the course of time, I realised it was actually two separate pieces of music that were interlocked in such a way that it gave the impression of being one piece. So I separated them and the track you now have access to is one half of that whole.
I was going to add the other half in a live context of the album, but eventually decided to go for a piano and altered string quartet configuration for live shows, so it never happened, maybe it will someday, who knows
Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?
If I’m totally honest here, story the earth was written after a series of experiences that might be difficult for a person to believe.
Whilst working at a day centre for young people with learning difficulties, I was astounded by the level of creativity that was displayed by the teens. They were all so ‘out of the box’, it touched some deep part of me, that could relate to this form of expression as a part of my truth. Around this time, I was also attending weekly meetings, where a specific line of conversation was conveyed by a particular person, on the non-dual nature of reality.
I’ve been interested in the true nature of reality since my childhood, and have, more or less, investigated many different avenues of thought and experience, most of which lead nowhere. It turned out that this particular line of investigation did in fact lead to an absolute ‘nowhere’ – a very distinct experience of the abyss of being, which is difficult to put into words.
Now, the Buddhist ideal of enlightenment could take 1000 lifetimes to achieve. From my experience, I’ve found out that a fleeting, or lasting experience can generally be attained within 5-10 minutes and can last for a few moments, up to a week, or even a month and that this experience is only really the beginning, but that’s another story.
And, so it was that ‘I’ experienced one month of what is generally termed as enlightenment, which may be of no more importance than having a good, or bad cup of coffee and I’m reminded of the story of the monk, who questioned his student ‘why do you seek enlightenment? How do you know you’d like it?’
The important part of this story, is that during this time, I distinctly remember the feeling of having no creative limits and when it came to creating something, the only conceivable answer for me was to create something that would reach out to a very particular type of person, who was having a very particular type of experience, of suffering. and also to express the very core of our being in the process.
It needed a mirror to be effective, and so I knew I had to place myself within the creation, as it’s point of reference, as the voice that could exist inside anyone’s head at certain moments. Once the intention was set, I mean, literally those pieces just flowed, like water. I wrote 6 out of the 9 pieces, whilst in this state of absolute trust and love. I just pressed record and did them in one take and overdubbed the vocals in the same way, all in one take.
‘I Gave you Power' and 'Reserve’ were written years later, but in exactly the same way, by returning to that same place, in my heart, I realised I could recreate the conditions that made this type of expression possible.
I found it interesting that story the earth was released in January 2020, the year the whole world went into lockdown.
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?
I recently saw this question answered by Herbie Hancock:
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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?
If you’re doing it for someone else, love can produce the most meaningful expression in that moment, in whatever form it takes.
Do you remember that scene at the end of Man in the moon? He took his audience for milk and cookies. I imagine a few of those people may have struck up long lasting relationships after that moment, or at least been left with special memories. The music playing in the background could have helped set the atmosphere, but at the end of the day, all of those elements were acting together to form that event and the uniting of those people was the aim.
Andy Kaufman looks to have realised this towards the end of his life, after many creative attempts at playing with the nature of things and provoking the absurdity of the underlying, conditioned assumptions that people had of the implications of his actions, actions which had no meaning, at all. Hakuna Matata.
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?
Erm, I’ve had a few experiences with music that took me to different levels of perception, but I just enjoyed the experience and didn’t feel the need to explain anything.
If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?
The raw, wild, uncompromised being, unconcerned with how it is being perceived, virtuosic, visionary, yet still controlled, enlivening the molecules in the room.
All who witness are never the same again and all accounts to recreate or reproduce it fall short. You were either there, or you weren’t.
