Part 2

Thanks to sampling and digital synthesis, there are endless possibilities for sculpting the sounds and overall sound design of a piece or album. What are your considerations in this regard?

Depending on the music I think that using digital tools can be super effective. But I just don’t find it as fun as tinkering with a tape machine, recording a reverb in an actual room or preparing a piano or experimenting with weird bow techniques or any extended techniques on any instrument.

I think I just enjoy the element of surprise and the physical interaction with tools when looking to sculpt a sound. Something more playful, unpredictable and tactile often is more enjoyable for me. I like to see what’s going on.

Would you say that you approach your creative tools with a minimalist mindset? Or do you need a wide choice of instruments and tools to make music?

I don’t need many instruments to start the writing process. A piano or the double bass and singing is as good as any musical tool for me to find something that intrigues me. Many ideas have just come from going for a walk and humming/imagining a piece of music.

In fact, most of the best ideas come like this. Rather than noodling on an instrument which has all the notes in front of me, which can be distracting sometimes. Instead I like to walk and sing and try to pick out the ‘right’ note and see if a melody or sequence can hook me. So I guess this is quite a minimalist approach, in terms of creative tools at least.

That said sometimes noodling can surprise me, but I think the former method has served me better.

What were some of the most important pieces of gear or instruments for Sierra Tracks?

My double bass was pretty important, as like the first record many of the ideas started from this instrument, just by playing rhythms or rooting the harmony on top of which I would sing melodies.

But otherwise using the scoring software Sibelius was very important. I know this might not sound that exciting, but it was crucial in helping me in the scoring process. It meant that when I went into the studio with a chamber string orchestra in Warsaw or other musicians in London, with limited studio time, I knew exactly what the plan was and the musicians knew exactly what their job was.

99% of all musical decisions had already been made and so it was just about focusing on getting the best recording we could.

Reducing one's options and techniques often implies a different way of working with the materials. Tell me about yours, please.

On the first record there were definitely some major limitations; only two main parts, recording in a huge reverberant church, limited time, minimal overdub options as we didn’t record to click.

But not recording with any drums, click or percussion was actually quite liberating. For example, we didn’t have to necessarily stick to a rigid pulse, we could speed up and slow down, hold pauses and just generally flow more organically and free style. It felt more like being the wind or water. All we had to do was listen and look at each other every now again for visual cues.

This actually steered the music much more towards classical aspects of phrasing and playing off of each other and added a more unpredictable nature which I think draws the listener in.

French producer Guillaume Duchastel told me: “Minimalism is about more than owning fewer things. It’s about focusing on what truly matters.“ What are some of your strategies for separating what matters from that which doesn't?

I practice this all the time in the mixing part of production: I mute and unmute tracks. This is standard practice for many musicians, producers and engineers.

But this is linked to the question asked earlier; is it about adding or subtracting?

In the process of muting tracks you're seeing if the energy is enhanced with less parts, and this is really important. I have a quote from Brian Eno on a post-it on my wall which often helps me with this:

“the path of least resistance for anyone with a lot of sound-making tools is to keep making more sounds. The path of discipline is to say: Let’s see how few we can get away with”.

With so much incredible music instantly available, are you finding that you want to take it all in – or that you need to be more selective? How do you pick the music you really want to invest in?

I don’t have this thirst for constant new music like some people, and so I’m not really actively searching that often. Also I find streaming platforms quite overwhelming. I’m more content with listening to online or broadcast radio.

But I’m also quite content with the few records I do own. I find I can listen to the same tunes or records over and over and really get inside them and find it's like a new experience each time. I also like that I own something that the artist has made, it feels more personal and connected.

I think perhaps I genuinely appreciate this more than others because as well as a consumer of records and CDs I am also a  musician who is working on the other side of producing the artefact.

Would you say that minimalism extends into other parts of your life as well?

I wish it could. I have two kids in flat and there is so much stuff and clutter. But a messy house is a house lived in and that’s more important to me.

But yeah, trying to have less stuff and only keeping the really meaningful things is a good way to live I believe.

Even if AI will not entirely replace human composition, it looks set to have a significant impact on it. What are your thoughts on this?

I think the situation of AI in music and all the arts is really quite scary, and we need to do something about it now, and two things need to happen:

1) Musicians need to get smart on this and get organised and say unless AI music is banned from the same streaming platforms as human musicians then there will be a boycott and all artist will cease to let streaming platforms host their music. This would completely cripple the big streamers and the ridiculously profiteering CEOs and stakeholders and they will be forced to listen and to act.

2) The system of how musicians get paid for their work is insane. I believe people would be willing to pay more for the music they enjoy rather than having a library of limitless music of which 95% they don’t listen to. We need to find a better system, more like that of how iTunes used to function.
Musicians need to get paid fairly for their work and time and not be at the mercy of the scraps they are currently paid for streaming their music.

This is a serious situation, and it is no exaggeration to say that amongst many art forms, the future of music is at stake.