NICKY HIND…Space Music !

1. Hello Nicky, introduce us to your world. Let us know about how did you start your music career till now.

Thanks, it’s really a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you all at Skylight! I’m originally from Scotland, but have lived in California since 1993. I have been composing music for about 30 years now (doesn’t time fly!). I come from a very musical family (both my parents were classically trained pianists), and grew up around music-making. Emulating my father, I tried to compose my first few notes on manuscript paper when I was barely out of short trousers! But the classical background was something I kind of rebelled against in my teens. At that time I was more interested in playing electric guitar and forming a band, than say playing the same tired classical favourites at orchestral practice (where I played the violin). So I went on a journey of musical discovery, which lasted into my early 20s, exploring minimalism, European jazz musicians (such as Jan Garbarek and John Surman), and various world musics. This culminated in the album Hindsight, which was first released in 1987 (and recently re-released by Listen to the Wind). Up to that point, my rejection of conventional ‘classical’ approaches had caused me to shy away from studying music formally. But in my mid 20s, almost to my surprise, I found myself enrolling at Glasgow University to study composition. Approaching musical studies with a slightly more mature mind (than say those that do it straight out of high school) was quite a blessing, as I was able to get a lot of depth of perspective. I took quite a serious interest in electronic music, and in 1991 I attended the summer workshop in computer music at Stanford University. Again, almost to my surprise, I ended up coming back to Stanford a couple of years later to further my knowledge in the music technology field by studying at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (the acronym, CCRMA, is affectionately pronounced as ‘karma’). By the end of my four years there (I graduated with a doctorate in composition in 1997), I had embarked on a serious project that I am still working on to this day. It’s a computer-based system for performing electronic music live that harnesses the computer keyboard as a musical instrument, and brings the spontaneous art of the DJ into the creative realms of the composer. During this entire time, I mean from the mid 1980s onwards, I have been composing acoustic and electronic pieces – both on my own, and in collaboration with artists from different media (such as choreographers, filmmakers etc.).

2. You have a great album, let us know about the process of recording it and of course the feelings that this Cd includes.

Well thanks very much! ‘Seven Visions’ is actually the fruit of 10 years of composing. Some of the tracks had been previously released on other CDs. For example, both “Ripples” and “Crossings” have been released on CDs by the respective guitarists, Stefan Grasse (Germany), and Cem Duruoz (USA/Turkey). So it was great to have the opportunity to collect them together on one CD, and be released by Listen to the Wind (www.listentothewind.net). There were many processes involved in recording the tracks, ranging from using MIDI synthesizers/sequencer, to live performance (in the case of “Cosmos”) to acoustic recordings with electronic support (“Ripples”, “Crossings”, and “Reshuffles”). A common thread through the album, and indeed through all of my work, is that of trying to capture an emotion or feeling or image of something and express it in music. The pieces don’t set a context, or tell a story, they just exist in their own space and time, and impart the musical vibrations that were crystallized when I composed them. They are like spells in a way. They conjure up feelings, and take the listener through a little emotional experience, almost like a dream.

3. How would you describe your music, what kind of influences do you have?

Quite honestly I find it a bit difficult to describe my music. I’m not a great believer in musical categories or genres (but I know these concepts have role to play). I could describe the musical language and vocabulary I use, but it wouldn’t really convey what the music actually sounds like. A respected friend, a Scottish poet, recently heard a performance of Ripples, and asked me what I thought of the term “holy minimalism”. I hadn’t heard the term before, but I gather it is used to describe the music of people like Arvo Pärt. I do agree that there is a kind of stillness and luminescence in my music that is definitely present in Pärt’s music. So I guess I could live with that. “New Age” of course is another big term for certain types of music. But much of what I’ve heard in that area lacks a certain intensity – it’s “ambient” (another term), and doesn’t try to grab your attention. My music is attention-grabbing (or so I’d like to think), but in a subtle way. It doesn’t demand the attention in an excitable way, but tries to compel listening attention by just being compelling. But when I looked up the term “new age” on wikipedia, I had to admit that I do share many of the basic precepts: I am definitely open to a wide range of alternatives, and have a very non-conventional outlook… So I don’t dismiss any of these terms; rather I continue trying to be myself, allowing what has resonated inside to have an outlet for expression.

4. Are you in the mood of playing your music live?

I’ve spent a lot of time creating my own system for live electronic music performance, so I am definitely ‘in the mood’ for it. It’s born out of a desire to make the performance of electronic music more analogous to acoustic music, and one of the fundamental principles is that it never comes out exactly the same twice, and it allows physical gestures to control musical expression. Often when we hear electronic music – and here I use the term in as wide a sense as possible, from electronic dance music heard in a club, to some high-brow “state of the art” stuff at a place like IRCAM (in Paris) – it is all pre-programmed right down to the last detail. The complexity itself requires the programming. But as composers and creators, it is incumbent on us to also make the music sound human. And one of the ways to do that – from a technical standpoint – is to allow a margin of expressive variation that be controlled in the moment of performance, allowing the music to become more of a response to particular place and time.

5. Do you think that instrumental music can provide the composer’s feelings easily at the public?

Instrumental music is a very powerful art form. It is capable of expressing such a wide range of human feeling and experience, and is the closest thing that we have to a universal language.

6. What kind of equipment have you used for this recording?

I use a variety of synthesizers. I don’t have a huge collection, but the ones I have are carefully selected. These days it is also possible to do a lot with software instruments, but I love rolling up my sleeves and working with physical pieces of hardware. Often I like to push an instrument into places where it is on the borderline between stability and chaos. Hardware instruments usually allow a bit more tolerance in this area. Also, since I am using the computer as a controller, it would be over-worked if it was also producing the sounds. I have, what I consider to be, some of the best instruments available in each main category of synthesis: analog (Oberheim OB-Mx), ‘virtual’ analog (Roland JP-8080), FM (frequency modulation; Yamaha TG77), and sampling (Akai S6000). From these sources I can get a very wide range of interesting/usable sounds, and I am very familiar with instruments and their underlying synthesis methods. I go to great trouble working on each and every sound when I compose. The spectral vibration has to be just right; not sort of the right kind of sound; but exactly this way… I have also just bought a Vermona DRM1 MkIII drum synthesizer, and will be working out some subtle electronic beats on that.

7. What kind of difficulties do you face as an independent musician?

I don’t really face any difficulties. I love being independent. It doesn’t bother me that my music is not yet as widely disseminated as it might be if I were signed to a major label. I don’t care to have my name become a house-hold word. Those that do enjoy that level of success often pay a heavy price for it; in my humble opinion ☺

I am quite happy to be patient, and just let things take their course. So often it seems that the path to success is non-linear, and that key steps along the way happen quite by chance. I push myself hard on the creative side, but on the career side I am happy to just let things roll on as they happen. I hope and strive for longevity, and imagine that as time goes on more and more people will hear my music, and that it will increasingly take on a life of its own; I’ve seen that happen already on a small scale…

8. What’s the feedback from fans and media till now?

Without wishing to blow my own (electronic) trumpet, I generally get very favourable reactions to my work. And I say that in regard to people from a wide diversity of musical tastes, cultures, and levels of maturity.

9. What are your goals as a musician and as a human?

Presently I’m working on a new album. I had hoped it would be ready this year, but I see now it will be 2008 before it is out. It will be all electronic music. The closest thing on ‘Seven Visions’ would be the track “Cosmos”. In fact “Cosmos” will be on the new album too: in a new recording and featuring parts 1 and 2 of the composition. I recently completed music for a performance project in Germany based around the Edgar Allan Poe tale, “The Fall of the House of Usher”. It will be performed in a few weeks in Germany, and is a collaboration between myself, guitarist Robert Lampis, and poet/narrator Gerd Berghofer, who reads the text in a very spellbinding way (in German translation). In fact I can let your listeners hear a little preview of this work (see attached MP3 file). I’m also planning to do a CD of all pieces for guitar+electronics – featuring new recordings of “Ripples” and “Crossings” as well as two other pieces not on ‘Seven Visions’, including one called “Reflections”, which will be premiered in Barcelona in February 2008 by Spanish guitarist, Jose Luis Bieito. Beyond that, and on a more general level, I am very passionately concerned about social issues, and would like to express that more directly in my music.

10. Please send a message to all our viewers…

As one of my musical heroes, Bob Marley, said “One Love…”. We are all one people, all from one race (the human race). Let’s come together and realize that what we have in common is far more significant than what we may perceive to be our differences. So let’s embrace the oppressed people of the world, and do our bit to drive out tyranny wherever we may find it. I have never been to Greece, but have known a number of Greek people, whom I’ve often found very sensitive and refined. I hope to have the opportunity one day to come and play my music in your country. Until then I embrace you in the name of Bob!