I sense a freedom in
the music you create which transcends existing formats. There are many elements
in music, such as melody, rhythm, beat, and narrative, but what do you see as
the essence of music when you create?
For me, music is
something open, dynamic, flowing. I’m fascinated by the fact that music has
only one dimension: time. That makes music
per se very abstract. Music is invisible and at the same time very effective.
People use music for all kinds of things: for dancing, work,
exercise, for relaxation, for love, celebration,
mourning... I want to make music for listening. It’s hard, as in fluid physics there are many well-known laws, but, as in meteorology, the totality of the effect on human beings remains somewhat unpredictable.
Your music is
distinct from typical dance music, yet I still feel the grooves in your music.
What does “groove” mean to you?
I think music
appears lifeless when it is very static, very steady, very uniform. I always
need at least a minimal movement in a piece. Sometimes just a slow pulse,
sometimes a “groove”. Like many terms that describe music,
“groove” is interpreted and perceived differently by each person. For
me, “groove” is a variable combination of timing, dynamics and sound
in a variable pattern. Because that works with all sounds, and the patterns
are infinite, it’s a great playground. You can create wonderfully exciting or
very hypnotic things if you find the right balance and a convincing pattern.
As your profile
states, you have been exploring the possibilities of exchange between visual
and music since the beginning of your career, and you also released an
audiovisual work, “EXP” in 2010. Please tell us about the personal
insights you have gained through this exploration, the tools and devices you
currently use for this purpose, and what you are attempting to do with them.
I was simply
fascinated by the film-sound experiments that Walter Ruttmann or Oskar Fischinger, for example, had already made 100 years ago. The possibility of adding a visual dimension to
music. If it is done well, it can lead to synaesthesia. But because hearing is only our second
most important sense and our visual sense is by far more prominent, it is
important to find the right level between audio and video, just like the balance in synchronising the visual elements. Less is often more.