You Are Multidimensional
I am a multidimensional resonatorat the bottom of an ocean of sound
sounds of our past, present and future
their weight keeps us prisoners to
time and space
until a new sound is heard
it pierces our consciousness as a ray of
pure shimmering light
as an expression of pure love
it is capable of shifting
the entire vibrational sphere of the room
higher and higher
for all sounds were meant to be
but not all were made to last
you
___are
______multidimensional
My favorite recording of this song is the Galactic Phase Rework on Purespace Recordings. Please check it out!
💎
Here, I share some inspirations that shape my personality and sound.
Dharma Art
The book Dharma Art was a turning point for my artistic practice. It acknowledges the important role art plays in society and teaches traditional Buddhist principles through the vehicle of creative work. The ideas in this book helped integrate my spiritual and artistic practices by illuminating the many psychological and spiritual problems that can arise in art making and offers practical guidance. The call to action is to create art from a place of basic goodness, so we don't end up laying our personal trips and psychoses on audiences. Practice is required to develop the right container for creative work, and the rest naturally follows. "Dharma art refers to art that springs from a certain state of mind on the part of the artist that could be called the meditative state. It is an attitude of directness and unself-consciousness in one’s creative work." - Trungpa, Chogyam; Lief, Judith. True Perception: The Path of Dharma ArtSpace cushion
In the mid-2010s, a friend shared about the Korean/Japanese word "yoyu." They gave a rough translation to English as space cushion. In essence, the living principles of spaciousness and ease. Making time in the day between appointments, taking a pause... being mindful and aware. I loved everything about this, and made it my artist pseudonym.
Slowing down
This took place about the same time that I first discovered ambient music in my own way. I was producing melodic techno and did this thing where I slowed the stem files down 3x for effect. I decided to mute the rhythm tracks, and what I heard sounded sooooo good. I was using a Virus TI2 synthesizer, and the resulting textures felt warm and cold all at once. Like the warm sun on a crisp, cold winter day. A brilliant effect. This process created my first ambient release, Awakening in Slow Motion. I made new performance systems for very slow live improvisation after that release. This was challenging at first, as it meant I had to access this new space of deep relaxation and awareness - not getting ahead of myself. It was typical for me to forget what I was doing and have to start over. With practice, it's become more natural for me to work this way. A big part of it is connecting with the body.
Somatic experience
Ultimately, performing slowly just feels good. Nowhere to go, nobody to be, and a crisp connection with the present moment. The right amount of attention and exertion is required, but not too much, or the whole thing falls apart or sounds contrived.
In the mid-2010s, a friend asked me to play music for a yoga class in a Winnipeg studio called Yoga Public. That was the beginning of a five-year transformation of how I perform music. I continued to play music weekly, sometimes monthly, in Yin and Flow classes in a 37c hot room. The thing about playing music in this setting is that it takes music out of the realm of entertainment and makes it more about function. Functional music to support yoga practice. Three things defined the experience and forever changed the way I perform:
- It's not entertainment. There's no stage. There's no audience in the traditional sense. And I could argue, perhaps, there's no performer. I take my cues from the room's energy and reflect on something helpful in the moment. True to ambient form, the music is passive, background, not foreground. Except for Savasana pose, most students are wrapped up in their practice and not in the details of the music. For me, this setting released the need to perform melodies and rhythms of any kind. I was left to focus on the things I love most space, texture, and colour. A true gift to the sound explorer in me.
- Gentleness. When a person is in a pose and opening for 3 to 5 minutes, they are increasingly raw and vulnerable. An implicit level of safety and trust is needed with sound to be effective. Transitions are gradual, the tempo is relaxed, and waveforms are gentler and softer than usual. But the key element here is trust and safety. No surprises, jump scares or mind trips during practice. There are no words or covert symbology.
- Intent matters. I think the point of yoga is to integrate mind and body to support meditative awareness. There are also physical health benefits. This positive intent shapes the container in which the music is performed. I've felt drawn to share more harmonious sounds, and major scales than I normally would have. People also react positively to nature field recordings, where an attunement of the body with forests, streams, lakes and oceans profoundly supports the practice.
Some of my album releases are basically cleaned up raw recordings from these yoga class performances: Gentle Monochrome and Open Heart Communication. Both are among my favorite releases ever due to their cohesion and minimalism.
I chatted about this alot in a Witchpolice Radio interview.
Musical influences
A beautiful example of Dharma Art is Eliane Radigue's volume of work. Radigue is one of my primary influences; her recordings are those I return to again for grounding and perspective. Two of my favourite albums are Trilogie de la Mort - a work reflective of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and Les Chants de Milarepa - a project infused with Tibetan Yogi Milarepa's teachings.
Another artist and label which provides continuous inspiration is Taylor Dupree's 12k. The Twelve Principles Upon Which 12k Was Founded is worth a look to understand the label community and its influential outputs. I read these principles from time to time as a reminder to myself. They resonate beautifully.
My music favourites evolve in time. However, two artists have been consistently in my top rotation and field of influence - Sawako and Sarah Davachi. Both are masters in experimental sound, ambient and drone.
Technology
Besides feeling good, creating music satisfies my natural desire to experiment, learn and discover sound spaces. I have been an electronics and computer programming student since my early teenage years. It blows my mind that sound feels fresh and evolves, even after 40+ years of playing. Electronic instruments and software are a big part of this, offering a vast field of exploration. My special interest is binaural processes, which are great at inducing wonder and warm body feelings. There are many ways to do this intentionally with music tech.
I love creating new tools and instruments for manipulating sound. This is something I will write about on my process web page. For example, this sample slicer is something I use to create abstract melodies.