Name: Jimmy Peggie
Nationality: Scottish-Estonian, USA-based
Occupation: Sound artist, multimedia artist, composer
Current release: Jimmy Peggie has two new albums out: Poetry of Corrosion and One Ancient Place. Both are available directly from his bandcamp store.
Recommendations on the topic of sound: I grew up in the era of the great UK music press such as the NME, Sounds and Melody Maker. These weekly papers were a large part of my life and since then I’ve always enjoyed reading about things related to music and sound.
I would recommend anything that appeals to you. The words of Pauline Oliveros, books about John Cage, books by David Toop came to mind and are all great places to start in my opinion.
Along with reading about the topic what I also recommend focusing on is self realization and identifying who you really are and why you participate with sound/music as an artist. Personally I keep a daily journal of all I do relating to sound. This helps me to keep focused and helps me to understand my motivations for what I am doing. We all change over time so I like to have a record of where I am and where I am potentially heading.  

[Read our Pauline Oliveros interview]
[Read our David Toop interview]

If you enjoyed this Jimmy Peggie interview and would like to know more about his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and bandcamp.



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?

When I listen intently it’s with my eyes closed. I don’t visualize while listening.

When I was young I noticed that I got pleasurable feelings on my skin from certain types of sound. Things like droning engines, machinery etc gave my body a good feeling. It was many years later that found out about ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). I suppose I just assumed it was the same for everyone.

This feeling has influenced all that I do with sound - up to the present day.

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

Listening with headphones helps to cancel out the background noises.

Though you could say that external sounds are part of ones whole sonic experience.

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

When I was growing up I spent a lot of time in record shops listening - and also enjoying the whole cultural experience of the times.

One thing I would be on the lookout for was used Velvet Underground records as I loved their sound - later learning they relied heavily on droning instruments.



I suppose it made my body feel good - though some of the lyrics were a bit over my head at that young age - lyrics about whips and shiny boots of leather.

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, environmental sounds appeal greatly to me - whether natural or man made. I’m very much into atmosphere and experiencing the general vibes of spaces.  I also like lo-fi grittiness and graininess.

We are all different and things such as imperfection and decay appeal to me not only sonically, but also in the field of still and moving visual art. 



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?

I’m not so keen on uplifting music. I prefer things to be more on the melancholy side of things. So happy pop songs have never appealed to me - and I don’t care for ‘beats’ either.

I would much rather sit and listen to the wind blow across a desolate landscape, or hear the drone of traffic on a freeway.



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

I enjoy solitude, and as mentioned, environmental sound both natural and man-made have always intrigued me. Whether a desert landscape or disused building, there is always something interesting to experience.

When I listen to sounds such as these I love to experiment by moving position to see how it alters the sound. Also by turning your head slightly sounds can change.

If I lie in bed awake at night I experiment in this way listening to objects such as fans and the nearby freeway. 



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

Only in caves and places such as underpasses. I enjoy how sound travels around a space and how it reverberates and echoes off different surfaces.

I have a personal aversion to man-made ‘spacial sound’ as to me it often seems in some way false … much like overworking a photo in Photoshop.

I have the same aversion for Dolby Atmos at the cinema. My preference is to work in mono and discover how the room reacts to sound. I’m also not so keen on performing outdoors as you tend to lose a lot of these interesting things.

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

I make location recordings outdoors as well as indoors in spaces I find interesting.

For performance I prefer somewhere on the smaller side so that the sound does not get lost and dissipate. From a ‘sound art’ point of view galleries and art spaces are preferable to music concert halls.

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

Absolutely. When I work on recordings, and also playing live, for me it’s very similar to sculpting - adding and taking sounds away until the finished piece materializes.

I’m very process driven and sculpting sound is a major part of what I do.

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?

I work with sound daily and its very important to me and my lifestyle.

As far as social and environmental acoustic health is concerned - everything in life is constantly changing. Mankind continually evolves and currently things appear to be getting noisier. Whether this is healthy or not I think depends on ones outlook. I personally enjoy quiet, but also enjoy listening in more chaotic and noisy situations.

I suppose the fact that noise cancelling headphones are a big deal says a lot about many people's feelings on the matter.

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?

I enjoy all types of non-human sounds.

When I was young the only sonic entertainment in our house was an old wireless radio. I loved the sound of searching around on the various wavebands - mostly for the atmosphere and ambiguity of the sound.

I also have a thing for ancient places and spaces and the sounds, vibrations and memories that exist there. I tend to identify with a range of sounds from small granular sounds to large expansive atmospheres.  
 


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 love animals and I detest animal abuse and so it breaks my heart to hear a sad animal or ones in pain. Yes, there is absolutely interspecies communication and I assume ever pet owner is aware of this.

Any sound can be used in a creative way. It's up to the individual artist on how to use these sounds if they so wish. The possibilities are endless.

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?

Oh … I’ve been to so many loud shows over the years that have impacted my hearing.

When I came of age during the UK punk era, there was no such thing as hearing protection and so you would be regularly deafened for a few days after a show. It was part of the deal and we never thought anything of it.

I just live with it but these days I would always recommend people take care of their hearing.

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?

Sound is all around us constantly. We can blank it out when we are preoccupied with other things - or actively listen. That is how we are as humans.

I’m not sure that silence really exists on our planet as even the workings of our bodies makes sound. So quiet times would be a better way of describing it - and something I think that is important to many people, especially those that get overwhelmed by a cacophony or loud sounds.

When I do other things such as running or reading I prefer quiet as opposed to having music playing.



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?

Well, the art galleries would be more fun!!

But we are a very visually oriented race and so I don’t think things will be changing - its how we evolved and prospered over time. I think sound as an artistic form has been growing over the past 50 years - but still could do with more representation in art centers and galleries.



There are some cool ‘radio art’ platforms these days and are great to be involved with.