COLLIN THOMAS
Q: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your latest single, “The Gauze Eyed Gaze of Bracketed Air”?
In the span of roughly a month in 2021, my mother was places in an assisted living facility for dementia and my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. I lost both my parents in the following months. That time period, and specifically a 16-day time span that saw my whole life change, is where the piece came from.
Q: How did your personal experience with dementia shape the concept and composition of this track?
Caring for someone with dementia is incredibly taxing and I believe is what ultimately caused the death of my father. We were all so focused on my mother’s disease that we missed the signs of fatigue in my father.
When most people think of dementia they think of forgetfulness and brain fog, but it is so much more. The daily routine turns into constant repetition and anxiety. You never know how a day will go. You can’t predict anything. You work to keep things calm, normal, and familiar, but it can all change in an instance.
That unpredictable repetition is the over-arching thematic element of the entire piece. A singular line of music for piano repeats endlessly… until it doesn’t… and then comes back to repeating. Repetition, anxiety, repetition, change, repetition.
Q: Your music is known for its minimalistic and ambient qualities. What draws you to this style?
In the early 2000s, I performed the piece “The King Of Denmark” by Morton Feldman. I was also exposed to the thinking and sound works of John Cage around the same time. Within a couple years, I had discovered “lowercase” music like Richard Chartier and Taylor Deupree. I knew when I heard these slow, quiet works that it was something that spoke to me.
Q: Could you share more about the process of producing this piece in Kansas City? What was that experience like?
Producing this work acted as a respite from the grief of losing my parents and going through years of hell with my mother’s disease. As I composed and assembled the work it helped me put my emotions into something creative. It was the only thing that truly helped me heal.
Q: You’ve mentioned that the track is over four hours long. What challenges did you face while creating such an extensive work?
Listening to it! Ha. Feldman said that when you write music over an hour, you are analyzing its scale opposed to its form. This is especially true when you spend the time to create, modify, and perfect a work of this scale. Which is why I intentionally divided it into 16 chapters. It not only allowed the listener to experience the work in smaller chunks, it also helped me to focus on each piece in the grand scheme of the bigger picture.
Q: How do you hope listeners will engage with “The Gauze Eyed Gaze of Bracketed Air”?
This sounds cliché, but I hope they experience however they choose to. Art is meant to be handed off. I don’t want to dictate how anybody experiences my work. Though headphones give you the most immersive experience to hear all the intricate little sounds, I would also be extremely happy to hear people engaging it completely in the background, where is blend in with quotidian surroundings.
Q: How do you balance structure and randomness in your compositions?
This is truly the most important part of my work. It is a struggle that I grapple with every day. With this piece, I had a definitive structure to each piece, but many of the elements (pitch, tempo, timbre) were decided randomly within the outline. But that is rather tame compared to other works of mine, where the aleatoric nature is the primary attribute. Balance is good, but sometimes you can find the best sounds when you are out of balance.
Q: How do you approach sound design, especially when creating such a layered and complex track?
Many of the sounds were chosen and sculpted based on the theme of the work. I honestly don’t want to go too deep into specifics or technicalities.
Q: Can you share any specific moments during the creation of this track that were particularly meaningful to you?
The months following my parent’s deaths were almost as chaotic as the months before. As I was working on the piece, I would listen to each iteration of it with headphones on as I laid in bed before I went to sleep. I looked forward to it each night, as it was a moment of peace and respite from the chaos of my everyday life.
Q: How do you feel your music has evolved over the past 20 years?
I have worked for twenty years to find my sound. In my early experiments with sound and music, it was all about the SEARCH. I was always looking for something, though I was not sure what I was looking for. Over the years, I got more focused and starting centering in on what truly spoke to me, and that search will continue to evolve for years to come (I Hope!).
Q: What do you find most rewarding about creating experimental music?
There is nothing better than hearing something you have never heard before, whether that comes from your hands or someone else’s. We can never see progress in music unless we experiment with new sounds.
Q: How do you decide when a piece of music is finished, especially with something as expansive as this latest track?
It is actually kind of arbitrary for me. I have a tenancy to edit and modify ad nauseum, so there comes a point when you have to look in the mirror and say to yourself, “This is done.” Nothing specific ever causes that to happen. You just feel it, or you force it.
Q: Can you tell us more about your artistic process outside of music? How do your other artistic pursuits influence your music?
Honestly, it is the other way around. The music always comes first and influences the visual side. In this case, the visual aspects came from a logistical standpoint. 4 hours of music does not fit neatly on any physical medium, so I needed something for people to experience and hold. That is how the book came to be.
Q: What advice would you give to someone new to your music who might be unfamiliar with ambient or experimental genres?
LISTEN PATIENTLY. That is my tag-line and it is very true. Many people listen to a song and decide if they like it within the first 30 seconds. If you give my work (and the work of probably 95% of ambient artists) only 30 seconds, you are completely missing the point. Be patient, mindful and listen deeply.
Q: What are your thoughts on the current state of experimental music?
I have heard some of the most exciting music of my life in the last 5 years.
Q: What do you think is the most important quality for an experimental musician to have?
Perseverance. You won’t get famous. You won’t get rich. You won’t get much attention at all. You do this for the love of the art, so stick with it and have reasonable goals.
Q: Looking forward, do you have any upcoming projects or ideas that you’re excited about exploring?
I have focused a lot on my social media accounts lately, producing videos and musical pieces specifically made for the portrait format and around a minute long. Funny enough, I have a strong desire to produce short pieces. We shall see how long that lasts!
