\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div><\/div> \n\tBut it\u2019s like, your voice is, I think, carved out and arrives at that because of the message. I think to accommodate the message that you\u2019re being given or that you\u2019re trying to send, right? And whatever spiritually you receive through here, it\u2019s kind of like it just evolves to pass that message on. And so, I feel like with Lola that it\u2019s just very obvious that that\u2019s happening. Whenever I hear her voice, I\u2019m like, it\u2019s like more than the sum of its parts. There are some voices that are more than the sum of their parts, and to have that so young is actually really unique. And I just love her, I think she\u2019s a great person, and I just always wish the best for her. I\u2019m just rooting for her.<\/p>\n \n\tDid you find yourself relearning instruments or techniques in real time on this record?<\/strong> \n\tThis is also your seventh full-length album.<\/strong> \n\tHow much stuff is left on the cutting-room floor?<\/strong> \n\tHow does that work when you get the call from someone and it\u2019s X, Y, Z, and then you work, spend all these hours doing it, and then you kind of just go home and hope for the best?<\/b> \n\tUnpaid?<\/strong> \n\tHow\u2019s that happen?<\/strong> \n\tIt\u2019s not even a complaint. It\u2019s just the way the industry kind of is that producers don\u2019t get paid by the hour. If you land something with someone, but I don\u2019t think of it like landing a track with someone, I just care about the music if it\u2019s good. And probably sounds like a bit of an embarrassing statistic to say they didn\u2019t even release. But actually, it\u2019s more like hours spent on things, right? So you can spend a lot of hours on a piece of music, and then the direction of a record can change. And that can happen with me too. I can just wake up one day and just realize, \u201cOh shit, we\u2019ve been going in the wrong direction.\u201d And then five to 10 songs just disappear.<\/p>\n \n\tGod.<\/strong> \n\tYou mentioned with<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cDeath of Love\u201d that you had written that or started on it in 2020, and in between that, y<\/strong>ou dropped like three records. How do you shift gears between projects like that?<\/strong> \n\tI didn\u2019t know how to apply myself for an extended period of time. I saw a clip of Tyler saying, \u201cI\u2019m still promoting this record after two, two, three years.\u201d And that\u2019s amazing advice for artists. You never know when that thing\u2019s going to catch, and if you just keep laboring it, keep putting it in people\u2019s faces, keep being like, \u201cListen to this, listen to this new music.\u201d Often, people give up too early, and I give up basically day one. I\u2019d just be like, \u201cCool, I did some interviews. Now let\u2019s just go make another song.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYeah. I feel like your whole career, you haven\u2019t really been a huge promotion type of guy.<\/strong> \n\tIf you could pick a collaborator, living or dead, who would it be?<\/strong>
I tend to learn by trying things rather than by studying. But when something requires it, I go, \u201cOK, let\u2019s give this a go.\u201d \u201cJust a Little Higher,\u201d for example, is that. That end section where the strings go from this very euphonic, primary-colors, sweet-harmony thing to this very chaotic, dramatic moment with some quite angular chord changes was one of my favorite moments on the record. It took a lot of work, but it was just so worth it.<\/p>\n
Fucking hell, yeah.<\/p>\n
If I think about that, I\u2019ll probably cry. There\u2019s at least three albums with people who are a few of my favorite artists of all time that haven\u2019t come out.<\/p>\n
Yeah. I\u2019d say 99, not 99. 95 percent of the work I\u2019ve done was unpaid.<\/p>\n
Yeah.<\/p>\n
Well, because as a producer, you\u2019re just throwing paint, you\u2019re throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks. And sometimes a lot of things that people don\u2019t put out or that sits on a hard drive for a long time. And that includes my own stuff, by the way. But actually, well, if I was including my own stuff, the percentage would probably be higher. But yeah, I\u2019d say the 10,000 hours that we talk about arriving at some kind of mastery of something, I probably spent that just doing things that never came out, which is nuts really.<\/p>\n
And that happens all the time. I think it\u2019s just part of the creation of music. I think a song needs to represent you when you first make it, but it also needs to represent you when you put the album out and a lot can change in that time. And then there\u2019s just huge life changes that people go through, but yeah, it\u2019s an unusual industry for sure in terms of the way things are re-enumerated, the way time is rewarded. I think to come up against that kind of numbers game, I think you have to have a really true obsession with create, making music.<\/p>\n
ADHD. Yeah. I\u2019ve just got really good sort of \u2026 Well, it\u2019s funny because at once, ADHD allows you to be highly functional at doing lots of things at once, but it also stops you from being able to do one thing well and for an extended period of time, right? And actually, this year, I feel like my primary goal has just been to fix my brain. And so I\u2019ve been really on one with that because I want to be able to focus on things. I want to be able to focus on this record. And I think a huge amount of my lack of, I say like I just carried on making music. It\u2019s like I wasn\u2019t able to just follow through on things. I\u2019d make a record, be so excited about it, and then I\u2019d just go, \u201cWell, I\u2019ve done that now.\u201d And then I wouldn\u2019t promote it, which is a crazy thing to do when you put that much money, money, time into it, actually to be fair.<\/p>\n
No, I haven\u2019t. Apart from today, obviously, where I\u2019m having a huge amount of fun, and it\u2019s fucking relentless. It\u2019s absolutely relentless. I can see why people don\u2019t do it, but it\u2019s also rewarding in a sense that you know that you\u2019re pushing this rock up a hill and you want to really show people this thing you love and that you\u2019re proud of. And that\u2019s why I\u2019m doing this time. And I think literally just being like, okay, if I had a kid and they\u2019re bouncing off the walls, can\u2019t focus on anything and then just move on from everything, it\u2019s like, what would I do? And I\u2019d be like, well, probably wouldn\u2019t give them sugar, wouldn\u2019t give them processed food, and I\u2019d make sure they were exercising. So now I just walk around going, I\u2019m five, what would I do? What should I do? And that\u2019s actually kind of fixing it, to be honest. I think that is the hack.<\/p>\n
Somebody I really wanted to collaborate with, who then passed away, was Ryuichi Sakamoto.<\/p>\n