How’s your lockdown been?

Urgh, intense. There are good days and bad days, like anything. Of course it is definitely a thing financially but I am in a very creative space right now.

What has COVID-19 changed about your process or practice?

It’s changed things for the better. I have always believed that pressure makes the diamond. That’s what’s been happening for me. In a way, I welcome it. That’s what’s shaping the diamond.

Has it changed the way you listen to music?

I listen a lot more these days, but then there are days I need the silence of the environment. I hear differently every time I create something, which is a very good sign. I think that means growth.

The evolution of your ear… could you speak a bit more on that?

You’re not going to wake up one day and hear Philip Glass and be able to create it like Philip Glass. You train your ears like you train your body. It becomes a muscle memory. I think the same goes for hearing when it comes to composition. You become mature in your hearing. It’s not just about reaching perfection because you’ll never reach it. That’s not what it’s for.

Tell me more.

Competing with yourself, I’ve learned to stop doing that. The moment you put competition in a creative space, you have limited the creativity because your ego is in the way. So when it comes to hearing, you have to allow yourself and not rush the process, allow yourself those writers blocks. Every day is not going to be a good day. That’s called balance. You have to take the good with the bad.

You recently wrote for chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound. What was the process?

I wrote it, and sent it to them. When they approved it, I sent the stems and they started arranging. I’ve had situations where an engineer contacts me and says ‘I’m lost, I don’t even know where to start with this’ so I always tell them: arrange however you want. If you want to start in the middle of the song and work your way out, I don’t care how you do it. When I give it to you, it’s yours. You may feel it completely different and that’s not for me to dictate. I just wrote it.

So where does improvisation and the ability to evolve a sound sit in your work generally?

Improvising is always heavily in my work. Improvising is crucial. Innovating is crucial. I love unpredictability. I operate in unpredictability. CPU: Clean, precise and unpredictable, that’s my thing.

Clean is the word. I wanted to ask about the clarity you get in your sounds…

This probably isn’t going to be inspirational at all… [laughs] To get that clarity, it doesn’t happen overnight. You have to be authentically yourself when you’re creating.

Is there a limit to what the technology can do if you haven’t done the work on the inside?

You can get an engineer, you can get the master sounding beautiful for sure but I don’t think that’s the clarity a composer is looking for. You have to get through you first. You can’t skip the internal to get to the external.

So that’s the broader philosophical approach. I also wanted to ask about the sonic clarity of your music, like with the score you composed for Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor for Autobiography . Do you have a favourite way to manipulate sound?

My music is layered. Sometimes when I do something it can be very abrasive, like ‘The Abyss of Doubt’. Something like ‘Blue i’, it’s not abrasive but the strength is still there. It’s the choice of the instrument then it’s how you want the instrument – do you want it to contract or expand? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I love Sheila E for saying that. You have to know when you want a big thrust and when you want it pretty or subtle, maybe a subtle scream or a very loud scream. It’s a matter of feel. I’m a very intuitive composer. I’m not ‘put it on this db or that db’. I don’t have that kind of blueprint. It’s about how I feel and I can tell it by when I hear it.

How do composers know when they hear it?

I love that in Igor Stravinsky’s rehearsals, he took the time to listen to every single instrument before rehearsal started. He test-ran every instrument so that rehearsal would be 12 hours, probably more. That’s love. Beyoncé did the same in her Netflix series [Homecoming]. She was telling everybody, from the dancers to the band. We’re there but we’re not there. I need to feel every stomp, every clap. I need to feel it, I need to hear it. That’s love. You know what something should sound like and you have to draw it out. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s an in love moment.

You just mentioned Sheila E, and drums. Who was it that called you the drum doctor and why is that a good name for you?

I have no idea who that was. It was just on my Soundcloud page , in the comments. It was the nicest compliment I ever received. I love percussion. The original drum is the heartbeat, the drum is the pulse, without the pulse, you dead.

What’s your approach from a making point of view: in the box, out of the box?

I love out of the box. I love to surprise myself. I love those unexpected twists and turns. Those are really important. There’s nothing worse to me than when I expect the drop and it actually comes. I’ve lost interest. The drop is coming, here’s the build up, 3,2… damn it actually happened.

Tell me about something recent you’ve done. What are you using?

I am surrounded by these Genelec 8020s, my speakers. I use my Native Instruments Komplete 6, that’s what I’m using now, I also have the Fireface UCX which I really use it when I’m doing something percussive. My Ableton Push 2. I had an MPC Midi Controller and I gave it to a friend because he makes beats. What I really want to get is the MPC One by Akai. I think I’m going to give that to myself for my birthday. It’s standalone, it’s touch – I lose my mind.

What’s your workspace like?

I don’t like a lot of stuff on my desk. Wires… I get very anxious. I like a clean workspace.

Composer Cassie Kinoshi has some beautiful plants around her workspace…

My partner has got me into plants so I have succulents all round the house. I have heirloom tomato outside, a succulent in here, a mother in law’s tongue out there.

I can feel the chlorophyll from here. Let’s talk about the music you made for video game, Songs For The Lost. What was your starting point?

Paloma [Dawkins, award-winning games designer] and I met in Chicago. She let me in on what she was looking for. There was one track I’d done and she was like, can I use this? That was our starting point. I studied the vision board then I’d send her a minute of what I’m working on. This is what I do, I send the person a minute then they approve yay or nay, then I’ll go ’til I finish and I’ll send the final piece. That’s the easiest way to work for me.

What’s your relationship with video gaming and music?

Paloma told me, I don’t want this to be typical video game music. I want it to be different. I was like 'are you sure you want me to do this?’ I studied her vision board, I went through my sounds, like Omnisphere, ElectraX Tone2. It was kind of the same with Wayne McGregor. You get a person’s best work when you give them that room to manoeuvre.

What are the kind of problems you come up with in a big project like that.

One big one that scares me every time. With Autobiography, my music triggers the lights. That is rough because if something glitches, it’s not like we can start over. I always have to make sure I put my computer in the shop before we do a live show. I make sure it’s at it’s top best level of running because it’s crucial. I’m in the orchestra pit by myself and it’s quite [laughs]….You’re by yourself. The whole thing! That’s my performance life [cackles].

I’m getting a feel of what that means.

Imagine what that feels like!

One thing that intrigued me was the relationship between the dancers and the music and how they compose for each other…

They do.

I wanted to get your reflections on composing for dancers as with Autobiography…

When it comes to movement in general, it’s like math and music; they’re one and the same. The dance and the music are one and the same.

I heard Steve Paxton, one of the innovators of contemporary dance say that in dance you always have mutants and you have ‘evolvers’ and he’d been both.

Right… I have found myself being part of both, absolutely. Sometimes you’re evolving in what you started. It’s easy to be on both sides. But can you stay there, can you adapt to whatever space you fall in? I’m trying to create music for a dance piece or a ballet, then I’m gonna create music for a street performance, then create music for a fashion show… the adapting, that’s what’s important. Can you be both? Can you do them simultaneously? I was working on my album and Autobiography at the same time. Having to think double-sided.

Before we finish up, I wanted to ask about film work…

I would love to make music for 'Black Panther’. I think I would be a good fit.

Can you tell me about a good idea you came across?

I am learning to be more patient with myself and that’s rough. I’m allowing myself to develop. Things don’t happen overnight. Not musically – I got that. With my personal self. Not comparing myself to other people.

How?

Just something as simple as a workout. I’m learning to be more patient. Trusting life’s process especially what’s happening now with COVID. People say they understand balance - until balance hits them. Honestly, the last seven years, overall, I been perfectly fine until right now. That is the balance in life. I’m learning to be more patient, for sure.

What’s your relationship with mixing and mastering?

We fight a lot [laughs]. I’ve mastered my music and other people’s music as well but I just don’t have time. It’ll take me two days, two days I don’t have, when I can give it to my sound guy Daniel Rejmer. I can do both, it’s just a pain.

Photos by: Timothy Saccenti⁠