How did you get involved in the production for Infra?
Wayne called me up. Its usually like that – a bolt from the blue and suddenly something new is happening – actually i wouldn’t have it any other way – planning is overrated.
Your music was previously used in film – tell us about the experience of composing a score for ballet.
Wayne’s entire brief to me was “Its 25 minutes long, max…” So I just wrote lots of material and we started a sort of conversation between what we all doing (including the images by Julian Opie too). After a while a sort of organic structure started to happen and the thing took on its own momentum. I made a few initial recordings for the dancers to rehearse with and things just evolved in the usual random sort of a way…
How does it feel to have your music interpreted through dance (and I suppose, vice versa)?
I love to collaborate – it has almost always been a fun and interesting experience and im always fascinated to see how other people view what im doing, because my own perspective on what im up to is completely null and void – im just too close to it to make any sensible judgements
What is the central theme in Infra, and where did you draw your inspiration from to capture it?
infra means ‘below’ so the piece is all about hidden, buried, maybe forgotten or overlooked things – of course since im a bass head it also allowed me to use some of my favourite low end machinery…
What is the significance of the radio wave signals in this composition?
for me they signify something akin to the themes ive mentioned – also we are coming to a time when there will be no shortwave atmo out there – its thinnning out all the time, so its nice to preserve these wonderful textures
What are you working on right now?
ive started on part one of a three album project “voices form the black sites” for 2011/12
Read Headphone Commute’s review of Infra.
See also our previous Two and a Half Questions with Max Richter
