Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland but spent most of my life in South Africa, only emigrating back to the UK in 2021. When I was young father used to play music in the house all the time, and my earliest memories are of LP’s by Tangerine Dream, Bach, Schubert, Vangelis and Genesis played loudly over a hi-fi – a real musical mix. From the age of 5 I was already pestering my father to study music, and I took up classical guitar lessons at the age of six when we moved to South Africa
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: Wow, that is a tricky question; I tend to obsess about artists, consuming things on repeat (to the entire family’s annoyance) and then moving on. The last year has seen endless repetitions of Anna Meredith, Clark (particularly ‘Playground in a Lake’), Max Richter, Son Lux, Rafiq Bhatia and most recently running Black Midi as loud as I am allowed to!
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences?
A: I don’t know that there is a specific artist but have always loved music that has a sense of scale and sonic shape: When I was younger, I became addicted scale in orchestral music, which to my ears sat comfortably with of similar depth and scale, from the aforementioned Tangerine Dream to Vangelis, Mike Oldfield – being swept away in their compositional ecstasy.
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘Bounce’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Bounce is inspired jointly by the band Battles and Anna Meredith as well as my lifelong love for the minimalist composers. This single and the shortly following album continue my long association with two South African’s, bassist Carlo Mombelli (www.carlomombelli.co.za) and drummer Jonno Sweetman. The album was recorded at Flame Studios in Johannesburg in April of 2022 and these studios are extremely special as they are built into the very jail cells that held Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi under apartheid and are situated inside the Constitution Hill complex. Although I am based in Liverpool the sense of connection with South Africa is strong in the work, and although the track has a math rock slant the pocket of the groove is definitively from the global south.
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: Yes! The album ‘Inhale’ will be out on the 18th of November on streaming services with vinyl available from my website. Also, if you are near Merseyside in the UK you can catch the launch at the Tung Auditorium on the 2nd of December and a performance in Southwell, Nottinghamshire on the 3rd. Mombelli and Sweetman will be joining me in these performances on their first UK performing visit.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: My works should take you on a journey, an emotive arc in each work and across each album. I am still in love with the longer form album, and my albums have been diverse, from chamber jazz to classical crossover, electro-acoustic works and even ambient journeys, but each one has an emotive arc that should be fulfilling if you spend the quietened time to listen. I guess the influence of long form orchestral and electronic works remains embedded.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: I have loved making music my whole life, I still love making it and performing it and count myself very grateful and fortunate to do so. Something more?….. maybe just to share it more widely.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: Improvisation is key for me, periods of complete silence, followed by improvisation until the first seeds of an idea can manifest.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: Hmmmm, another tricky one – I think in the past I chose colleagues ‘not so wisely’, in three specific instances to my detriment. In hindsight I wish I was wiser but a rear-view mirror doesn’t really help that much.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: This new single and album are really a high point, a musical ‘gathering together’ for me. The material is unapologetically poly-genre, it feels fresh and without the tensions of imitative impulses. I am really proud of these works and the all the players and contributors.
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