Part 1

Name: JWPaton
Nationality: Yuin-Australian
Occupation: Sound artist, field recorder, composer, performer
Current release: JWPaton's Structures is out December 1st 2023 via Room40.
Recommendations: This is a compilation released to raise funds for Médecins Sans Frontières who currently have doctors and staff on the ground in Gaza. Donate what you can, demand a cease fire from your government.
From the river to the sea, always was and always will be. New record from the homie Tahlia. Huge intense longform pieces that demand to be played as loud as possible.

[Read our Amby Downs interview]

If you enjoyed this JWPaton interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I’m more of a fan than an artist in most ways. Making music is a way I can get closer to something that I really love doing, which is listening to music. For me, I think that’s where the impulse comes from.

There’s also this element of never quite being satisfied. Always feeling like I’m trying to get “better” or accomplish some yet to be identified goal. Recording interesting sounds, trying different production techniques. There’s a joy in the process that’s kind of addictive and making a whole lot of noise can also be very cathartic as well.

The other things mentioned - relationships, politics - these are reasons for me not to stop, to keep going and keep on creating. I’ve had the privilege to meet some personal heroes of mine. And also befriend some local legends and other people I admire through music.

Including, answering these 15 Questions - I’ve read quite a few interviews on this website, thanks for having me!

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Usually I’ll have certain things I’d like to explore, but nothing concrete in any way. I feel a lot of the planning has been dictated by the tools I have available. And maybe my (lack of) knowledge of these tools allows for happy accidents to occur through improvisation.

I guess the planning side is all about creating situations for chance to occur. Different conceptual ideas and topics I’m interested in at the time I think inform some of my choices as well. My practice of doing field recordings on my shitty phone at 64kbs for example, reflects some ideas I have around technology and its place in the natural world.

I have worked on a few projects directly reacting to works of visual art. Last year I worked with Chuck Johnson to create a piece in dialogue with Sol Lewitt’s wall drawing ‘Loopy Doopy Red and Purple’. We were both inspired by the scale of the work and it’s disorientating effects. This was the starting point, and I can’t speak for Chuck but I had no idea what that was going to actually sound like until it was finished.



Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Yeah definitely. On psychological level I need everything set up and ready to go. I’ve got to make it as easy for myself as possible, otherwise I’ll use it as an excuse to not make anything. “Can’t do any writing today, have to plug a synth in”.

In a way it’s lucky I’m still very laptop based, so I sometimes don’t even need to go into the studio. Often that means I’ll use writing music as a means of procrastination from my day job. Ableton is just a click away.

I am constantly finding new films to watch, new musical genres to explore. I’m not sure if this is needed before I start on a new project, it’s just what I do. All the time. And it ends up being a kind of ongoing research. And I don’t really delete anything, so there’s always multiple early versions. My preferred way of working is to take a current sketch or rough arrangement and mix it with an older session(s). It takes me a while to build up a backlog of projects to work in this way, but I love the unpredictability.

There’s material on the new record that’s probably 4 or 5 years old. It would sound completely different now though as its been processed and had layers added / deleted over the years.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Not really. As mentioned above I do have a day job, and music has to fit around that at the moment. When I do have time to get in the studio I’ve got to make it count. Which can be difficult, sometimes I probably put too much pressure on myself. Especially if it’s a project that has a deadline, I’m just squeezing in time wherever and whenever I can.

On a good day, where I have nothing else planned, if possible, having something good to eat before hand is best. A hot cup of coffee. Maybe some Alice Coltrane or Sade to get hyped. Then get to work.

I think trying to do anything - creative or not - everyone should strive to find the things that make them healthy and happy. For me that’s music, coffee and food.



What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

The first note, the first sound isn’t difficult for me. But it will most certainly be garbage. It’s part of the process and I’ve come to embrace it. It’s important that I let the first sounds be what they want to be.

I’ll usually start with the modular, which means coming up with a patch. The patch will come together fairly intuitively. Sometimes it can take a while to land on something I’d like to improvise with and record. Sometimes I make noise for hours and get nothing.

I’m able to send other instruments and recordings into the modular to process and manipulate if I want. So I’ll do various long take improvisations and the patch will evolve along the way.

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 had no idea how to answer this, so in true millennial fashion I googled old mate and tried to find out how this question was originally answered. And I discovered big Bruce’s website which belongs in a museum. Our dude has not updated it since the 90’s. Complete with html coded colours, repeating tiled textured backgrounds, bright flashing gifs. No shade on Bruce but this thing was basically impossible to navigate by 2023 standards.

Found the interview with Iannis Xenakis where big Bruce asks the big question. It’s a great interview. Xenakis says he discovers the idea each time. And what’s good for Xenakis is good for me.

From your experience, are there things you're doing differently than most or many other artists when it comes to writing music?

I don’t think so. I’m not that interested in doing anything “different” than other artists. I’m drawn to the idea of being part of a lineage. To be considered a part of a lineage - on any of the many branches of music - that would be the ultimate compliment for me.

There’s a spoken word intro to Westside Gunn’s ‘HWH 10’ where AA Rashid says “I hope that we divorce ourselves from this concept, that by being unique is anything but you trying to draw distinction from yourself from what is great”. Obviously there can only be one Flygod, but we’re all just trying to create engaging, beautiful art.