Bella Union Week :: Dustin O'Halloran vs. Peter Broderick

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Two composers, one conversation – it seemed only appropriate to get Dustin O’Halloran (the great American pianist) to have a chat with Bella Union’s Portland instrumentalist Peter Broderick. Whilst their discussion starts serious and covers the expected ground of music, context and influences, it does lead into much more surreal territory towards the end…

You’ve been traveling most of the year, is it difficult to find the time and space to write music?
Hmmm, I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, because somehow I always manage to make new music even when I have no time. Traveling a lot makes me very tired sometimes, but then I just either make some tired music, or I make the exact opposite to try and wake myself up!

How has the lack of a “home” effected your music, and how do you define home?
Home has so many different meanings, especially when you travel a lot. For me, any place that I’ve stayed for more than one or two nights is practically a home now. Actually, I had a kind of embarrassing thought the other day… I thought, if I go into a house or apartment, and I open up my laptop, and my laptop recognizes the wireless network and remembers the password, then I can practically call that place home. Is that pathetic? In a way maybe it is… But I think all this traveling has definitely affected my music. I think my experiences and the people I meet and the places I see all get into my music somehow… I can’t imagine making the music I’ve made in the last couple years if I had still lived in Portland the whole time, working 4 days a week making pizzas.

Is there a place you see yourself settling?
At the moment it’s very hard for me to tell. To many things are uncertain, and it feels like I’ve been traveling for so long, I’ve sort of gotten used to living out of my suitcase. But settling somewhere is a huge desire for me right now. I want to have my own bed again, my books, my records… Right now I’m kind of hoping to stay in Berlin for a while. We’ll see about that…

You have a wonderful way of improvising your live set. Is this something you have always worked with since you started playing live?
It’s interesting to hear you say that, because to me, sometimes I think I’m not improvising enough, and that I should change more things each night. But there are always (I hope) some things that are a little different each time I play a concert, and I think these are the things that keep me going. I could never do the same exact thing night after night. I think improvising makes me nervous, and that’s a very good thing.

Are your recordings mostly improvised?
Most of my records contain some kind of improvisation, but I’ve never released a recording that was entirely improvised. But improvisation seems to become more and more important to me the more I play music. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m getting too lazy to take the time to compose something, or if I just like improvising that much more. But I think I need both. Structure and chaos. Organized improvisation?

What instrument do you feel closest with?
For the longest time I always answered the piano for this question. But now I think it might be my voice.

What composers do you admire?
What makes someone a composer? Do they have to write all their music down on staff paper to be a composer? I can’t tell where to draw the line these days. So I’ll just list some of my favorite music and hope that I don’t cross it — Arvo Pärt, Arthur Russell (just started listening to his music – so incredible!), Machinefabriek, Nils Frahm, John Cage, Steve Reich, Dustin O’Halloran (not kidding!), Philip Glass (especially ‘solo piano’ and ‘glassworks’). So many more!!!

Do you think you could take a vow of silence for a year?
Yes, I think that could be very good for me at some point in my life.

What has been your favourite musical moment this year?
Me and Nils Frahm rented a great recording studio in Portland, OR for four days. We worked all day every day and when we got tired we slept on the floor in the control room. Listening back to the music we recorded really loud, really late at night was really special.

What does bliss mean for you?
Nothingness.

Your recordings of violin have such a special sound, how do you get that?
Well, I’m very happy to hear that! I don’t think I can hear that objectively, and I certainly don’t have a fixed method of recording things, so I’m not sure if I can answer that!

I hear Nils Frahm is producing your new record, have you started recording?
Yep! I have no idea what it’s going to turn out like yet… But I know that we’ve had a lot of fun making the music so far!

Whats your favorite writer and novel?
That’s such a hard question. Lately I love to read lectures and essays by John Cage. And I just read an amazing little novel called LIGHT BOXES, by Shane Jones. Really beautiful.

Do you have synesthesia (the ability to see sounds as colors)?
I’m not sure. Sometimes I see much more than just colors. Sometimes I see nothing at all…

Where do you prefer to record, a barn or a studio?
It doesn’t really matter to me.

Whats your favorite dish to cook?
Right now my favorite thing is Spanish Tortilla de Patatas. I eat it every day when I’m in Spain, and just a couple weeks ago a good friend of mine from Spain showed me how to do it. It’s more complicated than you might think!

How has your experience with Efterklang effected you?
I feel like I owe everything to those guys. They have helped me to grow in so many ways. Friends forever!

Forest or Sea?
A forest at the sea.

Sweet or salty breakfast?
Salty more often than sweet, but sometimes sweet does things that salty simply cannot do!

Dustin O’Halloran on MySpace
Peter Broderick on MySpace