| AmbiEntrance: How would
you describe your music (and why it is that
way) to someone completely unfamiliar with
your work?
Wright:
Well, as most artists, I think that "style
labels" are just that, but I do refer it
to "ambient" for practicality. I rather
let the language of music to express and
communicate what it has to, even if it is
ambiguous. Generally speaking, the intent
behind the music of Ashera
is that of peace, introspection visual exploration,
healing and hopefully some poetic inspiration.
The principles and techniques are no other
than the ones already invented and tried
by previous composers which you and your
audience are already familiar with.
AmbiEntrance: (Even if
your techniques are nothing new) I find
the end results to be fascinating (and everything
you intend them to be)... but you seem to
always downplay your talents; what would
it take for you to personally feel that
you're creating something exceptional?
Wright:
I guess it does not matter what I think.
The real value resides in the Intent behind
the piece, the actual result will be always
limited in some way or another, by our circumstances:
The cultural musical background, the musical
skills, the performing skills, the quality
of instruments, recording, mixing, mastering....
the BUDGET! All these can be limitations,
we are not always in control of these.
The intent, is something different: What
is the artist trying to communicate? What
is the overall level of emotional energy?
Is it of pleasure, peace, reflection, optimism,
light, colour, healing, a metaphor, a parable,
a suggestion? or maybe: darkness, fear,
mystery, suspense, conflict, drama, the
void ? In between? the kitsch? and more
importantly, why? Is it a continuous act?
or simply turned out that way?
That, we can be in control of.
I worry about some ambient / spacemusic
out there. You know, it is interesting and
clever, but try to listen to it in a dark
room with children and most of them will
call "mummy ! " straight away and start
crying. Is this appropriate? Does it matter?
On the other hand, there is some New Age
stuff with a level of "suffocating prettiness",
that could make most adults run for air!
I try to stay away from these extremes,
and hopefully suggest, in an non-rhetorical
way, with the music, an uplifting sense
of inspiration and optimism. Suggestion
is very important here. In an invitation,
there is always more courtesy than by pulling
the emotions of the listener to the pigeonhole
of the composer. Let the listener create
their own dream with the "tools"and "suggestions"
( i.e. music) given.
Discovering the order, unveiling the light
that already exists here, in our universe,
waiting to be discovered. Ambient and related
music can be excellent tools for this. Composers
may not be creators, but rather discoverers
of a new creation.
AmbiEntrance: You steer
clear of any percussion in your works; is
that just not your thing?
Wright:
I have nothing against percussion. I am
actually a fan of good Jazz-Salsa, especially
Poncho Sanchez, and will
always enjoy the primal feeling of dancing
to it, it is joy, and humor.
Listen to Africa and their cross pollinated
sub-cultures, it can be joy, and it is complex.
Percussion is like a skeleton, look how
beautiful the structure of fish's bones
are. Order, is imperative, but to the right
level, because it can be rigid and limiting.
Listen again to Africa, this time to the
incredible complex counterpoint of the songs
of the Pygmies Tribe. These are bursts of
pure beauty and joy! How complex ! , and
it has no percussion most of the time, it
does not need it. The harmony, counterpoint,
the order in this apparent improvisational
chaos is enough.
I can not offer anything new to the world
in regards to percussion, unless it would
be in collaboration with a percussionist,
(I just imagined the sounds from Nana
Vasconcelos...) So I will work
for now with the idea behind "suggestion"
of structures within structures, mainly
in musical harmony, but with the implied
rhythm created by repetition, phasing and
other techniques.
AmbiEntrance: Can you
give us a bit of your history? Are you originally
from Australia?
Wright:
I was born in Venezuela and left to Australia
at 25. The insecurity, violence and corruption
of South America was not easy for me to
handle.
AmbiEntrance: Would you
say then that the escape to serenity which
your music provides is similar to your leaving
Venezuala?
Wright:
It is possible, but there is always a level
of intolerable chaos everywhere you go,
so you have to try to create a balance,
with whatever you have to give. On the other
hand, for me it would be very hard if I
had to live in the middle of Tokyo or New
York City.
AmbiEntrance: Does living
in Australia add anything "different" to
your outlook, and your music?
Wright:
It is a big place, with more space that
you would ever need. It is an ideal "Outdoor"
living place, for those like me, which loves
nature. Australia is relatively a peaceful
and prosperous place. When conditions exist
for people to relax, the art might reflect
that condition. Unfortunately, on the other
hand, easy living, and good weather is an
excuse to avoid introspection, the beaches,
sport, food and alcohol is tempting indeed.
And I like all of the above.r
AmbiEntrance: Your musical
pace is so relaxed... is that like (or unlike)
your own pace in life?
Wright:
The ocean, the clouds in the sky, the movement
of tree leaves by slow wind, are most of
times slow and very relaxing to see... the
pace of nature. These are home-safe feelings,
and I hope to convey this speed and sensuality
in the music.
AmbiEntrance: In what
ways is Colour
Glow different from your
previous releases, and why?
Wright:
It is an evolution, and an exploration,
which serves me as self-education and hopefully
preparation for better music. I make no
apologies to use techniques and harmonic
references from the music and ideas of the
more established composers, that originally
inspired the idea of making this type of
music.
AmbiEntrance: Do you
come up with your track titles before, during
or after creating each piece?
Wright:
All the above, depends on the piece, and
if I changed my mind...something I do a
lot.
AmbiEntrance: Most of
Colour Glow's
track titles seem apt and visual enough,
but what is "Two fFlarian"?
Wright:
It is from a painting by Richard
M. Powers, a not-so-well-known
master of surrealism. Here are some links:
http://home.fuse.net/astroboy/RMPowers.html,
and http://home.earthlink.net/~cjk5/greatbooks.html
AmbiEntrance: Tell us
about Caroline Wilson and
Adriana Korkosova who regularly
appear in your works.
Wright:
Caroline and Adrika are invited guests.
They have been very generous to leave their
voices recorded for me to play with. Adrika
is a visual artist, and Caroline is the
lead singer for the band Kinetic,
a local alternative Sydney band.
AmbiEntrance: Do you
write their vocal parts, telling them what
to sing; or do they improvise and then you
work with what they give you?
Wright:
Most of the time I play lines on the keyboard,
the voice will follow and gets recorded
for my catalogue. I do record improvisations
within the guidelines like a particular
harmonic key...
Once I captured a noise that Caroline
Wilson did as an expansive gesture, I sampled
it on the keyboard and the sounds ended
up in a piece called "Dolphin's
past life" which is composed entirely
of that voice sound by Caroline... there
were no synths involved.
AmbiEntrance: Your CDs
come with a request to "please play at lower
levels"; are you worried that people will
be cranking it up to 11?
Wright:
I always loved the story about Brian
Eno laying in bed, sick, unable
to crank the LP that his friend brought
him, and discovering a new way of listening....
Gentleness is what I rather refer to, leaving
some details in the shadows, affecting the
subconscious rather than receiving all the
information in your face, like some pie
thrown at your face.
This way, the music hopefully communicates
at various levels, bypassing some "censorship"
filters from our musical socialization psique.
Then of course, is always enjoy theÊrealization
of discovering again an old album, which
you are used to listen through speakers
in a room, and then listen to it using headphones,
getting almost all the nuances at moderate
levels. I recommend Budd / Eno's
The Pearl or On
Landfor this . Let me quote
Eno here:
"Ambient Music must be able to accomodate
many levels of listening attention without
enforcing one in particular; it must be
as ignorable as it is interesting." -- Brian
Eno - September 1978.
AmbiEntrance: I said
Cobalt
144 was "delicately overpowering";
is this planned and if so how do you "do"
it?
Wright:
Well I guess it has to do with the intent
and the energy level of the composer at
the moment of the act of composing. I hope
that if is overpowering, it does it in a
positive way...
I use intuition a lot, so I guess that
sometimes I strike luck as well. I compose
a lot of pieces / sketches that get discarded,
so planning is difficult. Structure and
harmony of a piece can be important, and
that is as far as it gets with me so far,
the actual melodic or timbre content is
developed on the way...by "ear".
AmbiEntrance: Let's go
to your first CD, Ambient
Selections... What were
you doing musically before this and how
did it lead to your debut?
Wright:
I am actually musically illiterate. Had
a total of 5 hours of piano lessons while
in my teens. This can give you an Idea on
my performing skills... nevertheless, I
did read books related to music theory and
history, and above all, listened to good
music.
I will always remember 3 key moments in
my life that stirred my direction and curiosity
towards music. I was 15, hearing heavy metal
and stupid pop songs, one day I played and
old mono LP with music by Delius
and Elgar, this was the first time
I actually "listened", and boy did I like
the sound of that 25 year old dust layer
over "Brig Fair"! , it
was visual.
Later on, maybe a couple of years later,
I discovered "Music for 18 musicians"
by Steve Reich, and a fiend
lend me a copy of The Pearl
by Budd / Eno. These musics
taught me a different way of "listening"
and "tripping".
AmbiEntrance: Is "Ashera"
from the Asher in "Anthony Asher Wright"?
Wright:
Partly, I originally wanted to use just
"Asher" , and found out about an artist
with that name already. Then I discovered
the meaning behind "Ashera", the ancient
Canannite / Hebrew goddess, which I found
amusing and compatible with the intent behind
the music I have been doing. ( "Asherah
is the grandmother of Muslims, Jews and
Christians". ), a few months later, after
buying the Ashera domain in the internet,
and pressing the first album, I found that
there was a couple of Heavy Metal bands
with that name !, and also that Ash
Ra Temple changed their name a
few years back to Ashra,
which is close enough... There you go! I
guess names are not that important.
AmbiEntrance: You've
got a lot of MP3s posted on the Ashera
wesbsite; how do you decide which tracks
to make available?
Wright:
I only post exerpts in lo-fi . They serve
as an honest way for a listener to test
the album before taking the decision to
buy it.
At the present moment, my opinion is that
the internet is and will definitely democratize
and increase exposure / sales for all artists,
but I am not totally OK with the practice
of posting full length pieces at almost
CD quality. I believe that CD's , DVD-audio
or CDDD-FMD will and should be the main
delivery mediums. I am against compressed
audio formats which deteriorate quality.
AmbiEntrance: You pointed
me to Ksine's Ambient
Christmas Music; do you
spend much time checking out other people's
ambient MP3's, etc?
Wright:
No, time is limited, but now and again I
do check, I think is a wonderful tool to
get an idea about how an artist's music
sounds like, specially unsigned ones.Ê I
also think that all the Mp3 fever will force
some signed recording artists to stop the
mediocrity of using "filling" tracks to
justify a complete album, where in reality,
most people will only like one or two tracks.
AmbiEntrance: Your site
also has a prominent link to Art
Maze? What's that?
Wright:
My way of sustenance, I make a living out
of computer visualization services.
AmbiEntrance: Can you
tell us a little about what you do there?
Do you see any relation with your musical
creations?
Wright:
I am a Computer Graphic artist, and an Architect,
so there is no direct relation to music,
besides the similarities of Architectural
composition and design with musical composition.
Unfortunately, it seems there is less Architectural
quality in the world than good music. Maybe
this is because all the money involved in
building.
There are systems of proportions wich
have their counterparts in the musical harmony
scales. I am currently working in pieces
that reflect direct relationships between
geometrical shapes, their proportions and
musical chords, hopefully it will sound
pleasant.
I am always inspired by good poetic Architecture,
you have the old monuments of course...,
and then you have some works by Luis
Kahn, Barragan, Legorreta,
Le Courbusier, Tadao
Ando and many more.
There is a silence in those architectures
that can make you deaf with overwhelming
emotion. The contrast between light and
shadow, the colour! just listen to "The
Room" by Harold Budd,
a hero of mine, or Debussy's
"The Engulfed Cathedral".
Ambient music can be very visual...
AmbiEntrance: Do you
share your music with your co-workers? If
so, what do they think of it?
Wright:
I do not force music to anyone, musical
taste is so personal...! It just does not
work, people have to make the choice, and
have the patience...to listen. Ambient music
has little impact if you want an "immediate
reward" like Pop music does.
AmbiEntrance: In a previous
conversation, you mentioned that you hope
to start producing more CDs, "aiming for
1.5 to 2 albums a year"? Can you elaborate?
Wright:
Positive reviews, increased sales and air
time definitively inspire me to do more
music, as you may know, the cost of the
instruments, recording and printing CD's
is quite notable, not to mention the time
required, and in my present situation where
no record label is backing me up.... and
the music will not get played in the commercial
syndicated radio programs of the genre...
well so there is no profit whatsoever.
I have decided though, that I was not
to pay attention to this to much, and keep
the work up.Ê On the other hand, there are
many people, online-stores and radio programs
that support me and other unsigned artists,
you are one of them. This is very encouraging.
I am currently working in a project about
the relationships between geometry and music,
as a system of visual composition, where
the music is the result of a non arbitrary
geometric sequence, or description of forms
and proportions, with the ultimate aim to
still be pleasant music and without the
feeling of cold "experimentalism". Maybe
some other recording artist would like to
explore this with me. Hello?
AmbiEntrance: What about
your gear; is there anything unusual about
your choice of sound-tools?
Wright:
Nothing unusual that I can think off. Maybe
the only thing is the lack of it...!
I will like one day to have a real good
piano, a Fender Rhodes 73, a Lexicon 900
system reverb, Matrix 12 sinth, Alesis Andromeda
synth, 48 channels of digital recording
with 5.1 surround, and the appropriate space
to put and record all this... Ha !
Well... I currently use one good sampler,
a couple of sinths, and a digital 16 track
recorder. There are all good enough, sometimes
it is important to invert situations, and
make a limitation work at your advantage.
AmbiEntrance: Are you
making any resolutions for the New Year,
musical or otherwise?
Wright:
I want to compose more, release more work
without diluting the quality, maybe collaborate
with another Artist and hopefully get some
Record label interested one day. You know,
at least for the marketing and product placement.
I can carry costs of production to an extent,
print some CD's, sell them through some
on-line shops...
But that will not get the attention of
the average consumer of music out there,
which still enjoys browsing in a shop, and
in a Mall, and listening to the mainstream
syndicated radio programs... Don't we all
( unsigned artists ) want this?
AmbiEntrance: Anything
else you'd like to add while you're here?
Wright:
I will like to thank all the people that
have supported me through encouraging statements
and actions in different Web resources,
DJ's, radio hosts, Artists and on-line specialists
retailers. You all show a wide understanding
of music and egoless interest in mutually
helping each other.
To all, let us have a prosperous and happy
New Year!
AmbiEntrance: Thanks
so much for your input, Anthony; and keep
up the good work!
Wright:
Thank You!, I will
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