voices #9
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
Asha Patera
answering some questions. We have already observed his drone / ambient / electronic / post-rock work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: The track from “Mana” that we prefer is “Kella”. Can you tell us how it came to light?
► Asha Patera: The album is a collection of tracks inspired by my surroundings. ‘Kella’ is the name of an area about four miles from where I live – it is so small as not to even be a village, just a few houses in the winding countryside lanes, but the name is evocative of dreamy summer afternoons, idling away time, and I tried to capture that in the music.
[2. CREATION]
■ The A. O.: How do you usually approach composition? Do you start with a concept, a sound, a state of mind or what else? How do you generally proceed from the initial seed to the complete work?
► Asha Patera: It can be any of those things – very often I have a sort of subconscious idea of the concept of a track, and I find a sound that I think details that. I like to create my own sounds, usually by sampling my guitar, then processing, resampling, granular synthesising etc until it starts to sound interesting, telling the story I’ve imagined. One of the things I like about being an ambient composer is using sound as a descriptor: without lyrics to determine the imagery of a tune it is the sound itself that conjures up the depiction, and that is so liberating if you consider that one person’s experience with the music could be wholly different to another’s. So with this I attempt to ‘weave’ the sounds together, almost like a tapestry, until it comes close to the abstraction I have in my mind. That’s when I know the track is complete.
[3. FEEDBACK]
■ The A. O.: What do you hope listeners feel or experience when engaging with your music?
► Asha Patera: Well, I would hope they draw from it the emotions that they look for as a listener – whether that be inspiration, relaxation or a journey for the mind perhaps. As I mentioned, people can interpret the music in their own unique ways, but those broad emotional strokes are at the heart of the listening experience I think. At the end of the day, I just hope they interpret it in a way that is positive to themselves.
[4. IDENTITY]
■ The A. O.: In a world saturated with digital music content, how do you try to keep your sound distinct and personally meaningful?
► Asha Patera: I just do what I do. Everyone’s art is a reflection of their personality, and mine is just that for me. No one could do Mozart better than Mozart, or Eno better than Eno for example, and by extension that follows suit for my music. I would hope by being true to myself – ‘Asha’ means truth for a start – then it cannot be anything other than meaningful to myself, and hopefully the listener.
[5. INFLUENCES]
■ The A. O.: Name three albums that you consider relevant to your musical path and why.
► Asha Patera: I had a good think about this.
○ Strange Cargo III by William Orbit. I got hold of a cassette copy of this album when it was first released, but didn’t have the name, who it was by, track listing, anything. For years I would listen to it as ‘The Unknown Album’ and I even made third generation copies in case my original ever got ruined. I finally managed to discover what it was as some of it was used in Chris Morris’ terrific radio/TV show Jam. I was able to track it down from the credits, and it made me laugh as I had been a William Orbit fan for a while, but never connected the dots. Anyway, the album in my mind is a masterpiece of ambient and electronica, and a real journey from start to finish. I love the production on it too.
○ Stases by Loscil. I had a hard time deciding which album to pick, as I find all of Scott’s work to be top drawer, but Stases in particular is a wonderful collection of drones and atmospheres that really paints a picture in your mind. For me it doesn’t get much better than this, and although there are many contemporary artists I admire: Rafael Anton Irisarri, Lawrence English, Abul Mogard, Loscil just has a way of speaking to me when I hear his music, and I respect his work immensely.
○ The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld by The Orb. This is where it all started for me: as a teenager I was firmly into heavy music, rock, metal… A friend of mine insisted we put The Orb on one evening after a smoke or two, and although I would have preferred something different I acquiesced and was immediately aware my life had changed from that point onwards, it really was that profound. Spanish Castles In Space particularly affected me, it’s empyreal. I love all The Orb’s early work, but this album in particular, with its concept and range of scope is their ‘Magnum Opus’, again, in my opinion.
[6. REGARDS]
■ The A. O.: Leave us with a quote you love.
► Asha Patera: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain (Bob Marley)