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AV: Before we get down to questions about
Silver, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself and how
you got started creating the style of music that you do now?
TB: I developed an interest in electronic music in the mid 70s. I was
listening to Morton Sobotnik, Tomita, and the early styles of Tangerine Dream
and Klaus Schulze. Certain albums
really inspired me- Edgar Froese “Aqua”,
Terry Riley “Persian Surgery Dervishes”,
Klaus’s “Timewind”, among many others.
I self taught myself keyboard using a massive double manual, and very old
vacuum tube organ I bought for about $150.
We almost always had a piano in the house growing up, but I wanted the ability
to sustain sound- so I was always playing it with the sustain pedal down. All of this
taught me some basic harmonic relationships, but I would never proclaim to be a
great keyboardist. I was more
interested in synths, so by the time I was in college I purchased an Italian
made unit made by Crumar. It was
very cool- I wish I still had it. It
essentially had a monophonic synth built on top of a polyphonic organ. Later I
acquired a Roland system 101 module and sequencer and from there kept upgrading
until I had some decent knowledge, skill, and a couple of really good machines
to record my first album on.
I was studying film production inLos Angeles, like just about everyone else in
LA, but really found that I was thinking in terms of sound more and more. But it was a very visual sort of sound- all about
atmosphere. The word ambient didn’t
exist then outside of Eno's music, and the term new age was just starting to
pop up.
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In the early 80s I met Steve Roach and we would meet up almost
weekly for several years to follow.
Steve really taught me about the studio.
We have different approaches- I am very Zen.
Less is more when it comes to the
studio.
If I can get it all out of one or two boxes, that’s good.
I still work that way today with minimal synths and equipment.
Steve helped me assemble “Mountains”, my first release in
1987, on a cassette. It was recorded
on a 2 track stereo cassette deck in my bedroom, and later ended up on CD
through Rubicon Records inCanada,
and a phonogram subsidiary inFrance. Who would
have thought that at the time?
Over the years, maybe having to do with getting older, more
mature, my tastes became a bit more “ambient”, and my style went through a lot
of changes. I didn’t release much of
the music, because I never felt it was what I wanted to produce. I felt it was still evolving, and I didn’t want to
publish just for the sake of publishing. “Beneath Clouds” came out in 1986 on Amplexus
–Arya, and they also put out a mini CD “The Path Not Taken”, but for the years
between 87 and 2001, those 3 were the only solo recordings I released. I did work with Steve on 2 tracks for his album
“Western Spaces” in 87.
In 2001, after a move toSeattle, I began recording again and the
result was really a new direction, and the one that I have been on since. Very impressionistic, inspired largely by the
landscapes here. I kind of think of
each album now as a Coffee Table Book of landscape photos- but in music instead
of paper. This began with “Mist”
which did very well in 2001 and I found that I was very warmly welcomed back
into the ambient community after being gone so long.
AV:
Your latest
CD, Silver, was released not too long ago.
What was the inspiration for this project and when did you actually start work
on it?
TB: Silver began the same way most of my recent albums have –
starting with an image. The winters
here are stark, gray, and wet. The alder wood forests become skeletons and
there was a particular morning when I was driving out in the foothills, and the
combination of morning light, the skeletal forest, mist, and frost, - it
brought to mind the glistening sounds that I wanted for the next album. From there
I developed the timbres, and those usually inspire the melodic themes.
I began work on it in winter 2003, and finished it in winter
of 2004.
AV:
Once you get an
idea for a music project like Silver do you set aside the time to work on the
music and dedicate your full attention to the project or is it a little less
structured than that?
TB: Much less structured.
I will go through phases where I am really inspired and work for hours on end,
and I will go through phases where I stay out of the studio for days, maybe a
week or two. I need to take breaks
in order to hear it objectively.
AV:
Did beginning Silver bring to
mind echoes of your previous works and how do you let your new work be its own
creation without becoming too derivative of what you have created before?
TB: I really don’t make any decision at all in that regard. What happens, happens. If someone were to listen to all 9 albums, I
don’t think they would find too much similarity except that they all fall into
a category of impressionist ambient. I do try to work to keep the album tied
together. I start with an ensemble
of sounds that usually reappear throughout an album.
AV:
On a project like this do you isolate yourself during the creation process
or do you sometimes seek outside opinions as to how things are going?
TB: Mostly isolated – I may seek outside opinions towards the
end, so its heard as a single work, rather than isolated tracks.
AV:
Tell me about what you found satisfying
within Silver and is this feeling the same for all the music that
you create?
TB: That’s hard to quantify.
I think the most satisfying part is finishing it.
I don’t always find the creation process to be very enjoyable. In fact, my favorite tracks tend to be ones where
I recorded without much thought. I
spend a lot of time on the sound development side.
That’s the hardest part.
Once I get past that, and I start improvising with a set of
timbres, then it becomes more enjoyable.
But the best moment is when the finished product is done.
AV:
If someone were to pick up Silver what would they find there? Give me an idea of the feel of your latest
release as compared to some of your other work.
Would your regular listeners recognize it as your “style” or might they be
surprised?
TB: I think they would recognize it if they know my music. For me the
music has a sheen to it, like ice frozen over water.
Some past reviewers have referred to me as sounding like
Steve Roach. I don’t think they ever
listened to my
music. They saw his
name associated with my first 2 albums and made the conclusion that it must
sound like Steve. I have never
really gone for the ethnic element.
My music owes more to Debussy than to tribal culture.
I rarely use percussion sounds, and I never use acoustic instruments. I rarely use samples.
I would say a lot of it also has kind of an anthemic quality
to a certain degree.
AV:
When did you
know that Silver was done and that tweaking the mix would not make it any
better?
TB: That’s hard to determine.
I usually have reached a point where I can't listen to it anymore. Then I shelve it for a few weeks and listen again. That’s judgment day.
AV:
Do you ever
feel apprehensive when it comes time to take a project like Silver to the next
stage and release it to the public?
TB: Not too much. I
wouldn’t put it out if I didn’t like it, and if I end up being the only one who
does, so be it.
AV:
What kind of
feedback have you been getting since releasing Silver? How closely do you
follow reviews or the comments you receive from your listeners?
TB: Feedback has been very positive.
Some folks seem to feel it reminds them a bit of BENEATH CLOUDS, because a few
of the tracks have some soft sequencer rhythms happening.
I always like the feedback, but I don’t think it has any impact on what
direction I will go next. What
happens, happens.
AV:
When you
finish a project like Silver and it has had a little time to settle down after
the official release do you ever go back and take a critical look at the
project and think about things that might have been done differently or have
you already moved on in your mind to your next creation?
TB: Certainly. And
currently because my CD’s are done in short run batches and on demand, I can
change things if I choose to. The albums I issued in 2001 and 2002 were on
Mp3.com’s CD program. Quite
revolutionary for its time, but it had serious limitations on audio quality and
graphic design. When I formed
RainGarden Music I chose 3 new on demand publishers to create the CD’s, and
made full use of the superior design, audio…
Artwork was upgraded, tracks were returned to unedited
lengths…
I wouldn’t do it just for the sake of change, but if there
is an improvement that can be made, and it is important to the album, I will do
so at some point.
AV:
Being
intimately familiar with Silver what will listeners take away from this CD
after they have listened to it a few times? What are you own hopes for this
music when it leaves your hands and is given over to the listeners?
TB: Hopefully it brings a bit of nature into their minds. I really think most people are so disconnected
from the natural world they cant appreciate its beauty, its uniqueness, or its
connection with us.
AV:
When will
Silver be available and how can AV’s readers get a copy of their own?
TB: Silver is out now, and available from my website's store –
thombrennan.com
It will eventually be on the pay download sites like I-tunes
and Napster, and a few wholesalers will have it – probably Backroads Music and
Groove.
I believe it will be at Tower Records on line store also at
some point. But my distribution system is pretty set up
around my own website.
AV:
Is there
anything else about Silver that stood out in your mind that we haven’t
already covered that you would like to pass along the readers of Ambient
Visions as we close out this spotlight?
TB: A lot of music was recorded for the album. Well over 6 hours worth.
The process of putting it together involves extracting out the tracks that fit
together as an album. Sometimes this
leaves another CD in the wings. I
hope to have 2 more completed this year, each with a unique flavor. I am in that process now.
In addition, my website offers a streaming webcast of 6
hours of music, with a lot of tracks never released, some from past albums, and
some from upcoming albums. It’s a
good place for someone to get an idea of what I do.
AV:
Thanks Thom for talking to Ambient Visions about your latest
release, Silver. It's a great CD and I hope that this spotlight
at the very least encourages readers to visit your site and take
a listen to what you are all about. Good luck.
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