www.listentothewind.net<\/a>). There were many processes involved in recording the tracks, ranging from using MIDI synthesizers\/sequencer, to live performance (in the case of \u201cCosmos\u201d) to acoustic recordings with electronic support (\u201cRipples\u201d, \u201cCrossings\u201d, and \u201cReshuffles\u201d). 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n3. How would you describe your music, what kind of influences do you have?<\/p>\n
Quite honestly I find it a bit difficult to describe my music. I\u2019m 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\u2019t 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 \u201choly minimalism\u201d. I hadn\u2019t heard the term before, but I gather it is used to describe the music of people like Arvo P\u00e4rt. I do agree that there is a kind of stillness and luminescence in my music that is definitely present in P\u00e4rt\u2019s music. So I guess I could live with that. \u201cNew Age\u201d of course is another big term for certain types of music. But much of what I\u2019ve heard in that area lacks a certain intensity \u2013 it\u2019s \u201cambient\u201d (another term), and doesn\u2019t try to grab your attention. My music is attention-grabbing (or so I\u2019d like to think), but in a subtle way. It doesn\u2019t demand the attention in an excitable way, but tries to compel listening attention by just being compelling. But when I looked up the term \u201cnew age\u201d 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\u2026 So I don\u2019t dismiss any of these terms; rather I continue trying to be myself, allowing what has resonated inside to have an outlet for expression.<\/p>\n
4. Are you in the mood of playing your music live?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spent a lot of time creating my own system for live electronic music performance, so I am definitely \u2018in the mood\u2019 for it. It\u2019s 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 \u2013 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 \u201cstate of the art\u201d stuff at a place like IRCAM (in Paris) \u2013 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 \u2013 from a technical standpoint \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
5. Do you think that instrumental music can provide the composer’s feelings easily at the public?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
6. What kind of equipment have you used for this recording?<\/p>\n
I use a variety of synthesizers. I don\u2019t 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), \u2018virtual\u2019 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\u2026 I have also just bought a Vermona DRM1 MkIII drum synthesizer, and will be working out some subtle electronic beats on that.<\/p>\n
7. What kind of difficulties do you face as an independent musician?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t really face any difficulties. I love being independent. It doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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 \u263a<\/p>\n
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\u2019ve seen that happen already on a small scale\u2026<\/p>\n
8. What’s the feedback from fans and media till now?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
9. What are your goals as a musician and as a human?<\/p>\n
Presently I\u2019m 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 \u2018Seven Visions\u2019 would be the track \u201cCosmos\u201d. In fact \u201cCosmos\u201d 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, \u201cThe Fall of the House of Usher\u201d. 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\u2019m also planning to do a CD of all pieces for guitar+electronics \u2013 featuring new recordings of \u201cRipples\u201d and \u201cCrossings\u201d as well as two other pieces not on \u2018Seven Visions\u2019, including one called \u201cReflections\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n
10. Please send a message to all our viewers…<\/p>\n
As one of my musical heroes, Bob Marley, said \u201cOne Love\u2026\u201d. We are all one people, all from one race (the human race). Let\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019ve 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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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