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So it's not like strictly classical composing, where you've got all the notes laid out before hand?

There's some that are like that but most of them are not. I'm mostly starting from the whole groove thing, dealing with drums and groove first because that's the hardest for me.

You live in rural New Hampshire. Why the choice to live so far away?

I sort of got out of control when I was in New York [City] so I decided to move out of the city.

I think NYC has done that to quite a few people. What's your studio setup like there?

I have a two-room shack in the woods, one room has the bed, and the other side has the studio. It has no running water, but it has electricity. The studio itself is nice. I do a lot of traveling, so I have a lot of strange instruments from Algeria and all these different places.

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It would be interesting to see what would happen if I go back to society.

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Is it just you and nature all the time, or do you have visitors out there?

Nope, it's just me and nature all the time. I do a lot of traveling, but when I am here, it's pretty solitary.

Do you think that informs the music and the songwriting process?

Definitely. It's getting a bit too extreme though. I might make another change. It would be interesting to see what would happen if I go back to society.


We've talked about Morgan, but are there any artists out there that really inspire you right now?

I wish I knew about more new music going on. I don't go out that much. I love it when I go out, but I don't go out much. Again, because I hang out with Morgan and people from the label, I listen to a lot of old things. On this record, I was listening to a lot of electronic music from the '60s and '70s, but it wasn't dance music. One of the biggest musicians was this guy Bruce Haack. He had a bizarre life, and he makes a lot of strange, spiritually charged electronic music. It's kind of hard to find it. If you can find it, it's some of the coolest, most bizarre sounding music ever.

Are you caught up in the political race at all?

Yeah, I live in New Hampshire, and there are a lot of small towns. We have one coffee shop, and I make the trek down. I do my emailing at this café and all of the candidates came through there. I was tripping over them.

Do you know where your heart lies?

I want something different, that's for damn sure. I voted for Nader in 2000, and now my friends have started talking to me about being pragmatic. I'll take whoever will be elected from the Democratic side.

I'm a lifetime member of the Green Party. I signed up in high school.

Good for you. Nadar got my vote. Now it's back to being practical for a change.

—Chas Reynolds
05.13.08

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