Name: Jim Fairchild aka Small Isles
Occupation: Songwriter, producer, composer, guitarist
Current Release: Small Isles' Everything on Memory EP is out via Modern Recordings.
Sound Recommendations: Watch the forest for a day.

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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?

Hmmm, it is physical. And multi-sensory somehow. I suppose it’s often called synaesthetic now. But it isn’t specifically colors and shapes or objects for me.

I scored a movie called Common Ground recently and there are some wonderful animations depicting mycological networks in the movie. That’s kinda how music has always felt in my body. Somewhat physical and visual combined.



And I think my eyes are open usually, but I’m not looking at anything specific most of the time.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

The top end is always louder in headphones. And with actual headphones, I’m usually concentrating more, it’s less passive than speakers might be.

But passive listening can be rad too.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

I love the sound of the Rick Rubin Slayer albums.



I love Good Kid, Maad City sonically.



And Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Orphee.



Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

Yes, a beautifully recorded acoustic guitar feels like a physical place I could comfortably sink into. Moss and soft wood relaxation vibes.

Muted bell / Celeste sounds with a low-pass filter at around 1K feel like rainy forest in the cold, just above freezing, like maybe 41• and that feels wonderful and transports me there instantly.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

Bad distorted synth and improperly eq’d high hats drive me crazy in a bad way. I feel like some of the uninspired Skrillex-ripoffs dubstep-adjacent stuff from the early 10s was guilty of both. He was great though.

Listen to for hours would be nice piano. Max Richter for example.

[Read our Max Richter interview]
[Read our feature on Max Richter's New Four Seasons]

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

Skateboard wheels on concrete the way 90s video cameras compressed that sound is beautiful. The sound of a well-manufactured car door shutting. My feet running on forest floor, preferably with a not-too-strong wind moving the trees above.

My son letting out a breath of contentment when he hits deep sleep. It’s the same since he’s a baby and it fills my body with joy.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

Caves are obviously crazy sounding, that’s a good one to point out.

Modest Mouse used to practice in Isaac’s attic at basically our live volume. Low, eved ceilings. That sounded insane.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

I love New Monkey Studios in Van Nuys. And my little room in Ojai where I score and write Small Isles music.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

100%, yes.

Every detail is dependent on every other one. There are no small decisions in performance or recording.

How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

We’re too inundated by sound made by humans or created by human endeavor and it’s bad for us.

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?

Our dog was sick a couple of years ago. She’s a little older now and it was scary. We live up a mountain in Ojai and I had to take her for a walk around 3 in the morning during this time.

There were two owls it seems like 100 feet away from us on either side and they were calling and responding to each other, maybe to us as well, in the pitch black. It was gentle. It was beautiful and gave me hope that our dog Hilda would pull through and heal up. She did.

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?  

I communicate with animals on my runs in the mountains all the time.

But I don’t assume they need it as much as I do. I respect their need for distance and know their egos are different than mine.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

I didn’t forever. I have tinnitus. Above 15k is gone for me, which is common for my age group.

Somehow my hearing loss overall is also not as severe as most of my age group.

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?

Silence is essential. To music and sanity.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

I think looks can often accompany snap judgments. Which are generally bunk and make it difficult to meet people where they are. Which is our only real job as citizens interacting with others.

And we continue to have some real distance to travel in order to meet people where they are.