What film would you like to re-do the soundtrack for?

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There's not a huge soundtrack in it, but the original film is just so horrifying, and done in such a simple fashion. Most of the sound effects sound like it's just trashcans banged together, and other found objects from a scarp yard. It's so stripped down and sparse, and I think that's what makes it so powerful.

That was decades before The Blair Witch Project, but still had that documentary, gritty feel to it that made it just terrifying. That's what makes Texas Chainsaw Massacre good. Same with Blair Witch, such a brilliantly done film, and a timing that was so powerful. When it came out it moved so many people. Regardless of your taste in cinema, art doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

In what way does Mother Nature inspire the music you make?

I grew up near Sleepy Hollow in New York, and I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in nature when I was younger. Something about the peacefulness in the way that the earth rattles together naturally and hasn't been completely man-made and destroyed, that's what I think of when I sit down in front of the music gear. I just feel at peace with nature. If I don't feel at peace, I can't even start to attempt to compose something.

It's a massive Kuleshov effect, expressing the awe of nature through electronics. Do you entertain the idea of also doing the opposite - say, sequencing something organic like a garden or a plant?

That's a fascinating question. Birds sing beautiful melodies. The way they communicate, how bugs communicate with each other. Every species needs some other species to survive. Whether it be some sort of survival of the fittest, kill or be killed, or bees create honey need to feed off a flower, cows need to eat grass, these are life cycle sequences. Some of them can be seen in a harmonic way, and there actually is some kind of controlled sound produced by them.

In my opinion, your songs are a perfect example of the power of inviting, or suggesting, the listener to fill the in-between spaces in with his or her own imagination. Did you realize you had this power of suggestion at an early age?

No. I've made music for many years, and Headless Horseman appears from a time in my life when I was having a low point and didn't feel like creating. I experienced a few close people dying near me. I was down and depressed and in a rut. I wanted to hide away from everything, and in that process of hiding away, one minute to the next I decided to turn on the machines again and just see what would happen, just see what would naturally come out. I just started sketching, just throwing different kinds of paint around on the canvas, and I came across something that made me feel comfortable and safe.

I listen to a lot of classical music, and the composers I like, a lot of it is built on tension. If you don't have the element of tension, it's hard to listen to something for an extended period of time. With my tracks, I just want to feel tense most of the time, until there's a release at golden mean of the track. It wasn't intentional, but it's a positive thing that you see it in that way. The listener could fill in the blanks and go, 'oh I hear this string part, root note, add a third and the seventh’. Down the line you create inversions of chords and they make sense musically, sounding beautiful.

It's just the sheer musicality of your compositions that gets the mind going. You mention the golden mean, and you mention listening to classical music. I like listening to the classics as well, but sometimes I feel there's nothing more to add, it's all just there, the music is so complete it doesn't even need a listener!

A piece I've loved since I was a child is Mozart's Requiem. I think it's absolutely perfect. There's nothing to change. You wouldn't know how to change anything, even if you could. Because it was all in his head, and he wrote it down. I think the piece was composed before the feather-pen hit the parchment! It's something you can just sit down and enjoy and respect, no matter how well you know it.

The amount of tension is so strong in the piece that I can listen to it over and over again and never get bored. Even things that are predictable, if they have these certain elements that give you space to fill in in-between, you can enjoy them quite a lot. It's just as simple as what emotions or what sounds moves a certain individual.

When did you first come across an Elektron instrument? What was your initial reaction?

That was so long ago. I bought a Machinedrum very early on. Back then, it was kind of a niche market, well, it still is now which I think is great, because Elektron devices are unique. The Octatrack took a couple of days to get it really up and running. It's kind of this quirky Swedish workflow, but the design is incredible. It's aesthetically pleasing, the metal cases are really nice, the knobs feel good, they've only gotten better with time. With the Machinedrum, I twisted a few knobs at a friend's studio and I thought 'this thing is a killer!' Worth saving up for.

The first Machinedrum I got, I guess it must've been in 2001, not the Userwave version. I sold it shortly thereafter and got the Userwave version when that came out. I thought it was incredible, because I can design a kick, and overlay it with buzz or noise or just a sine wave, something that really packs a punch, and combine that with my own samples. The Machinedrum's the drummer, then I can do all kinds of re-triggering stuff that you can do with it, you can mangle the beats and then with two clicks, go back to its original state.

That was fun for me, because I was making a lot of IDM and breakbeats and whatever else have you. Shortly thereafter, you could hear the Machinedrum in every possible record out there. You'd hear the stock sounds, which are nice, but not for me. I need to feel like I've created something myself. Otherwise I feel bad about using it. I don't sample off records, I sample from synths, plugins, and gear. I've even sampled some of the Elektron stuff itself and put it back into itself. Just to try to utilize some different pieces of the hardware.

When I got the Userwave Machinedrum, what was it, 2 Megs of memory and 32 sound slots? It was so limited, and it had that kind of 8-bit crunch to it, I'd load some classic sort of 808 or 909 sounds into it and overlay it with the engine that's already there, just to give it some beef and use the compressor. In the end, you had some pretty punchy things coming out of it. That was pretty much all I wanted. It was the basis of a show. If all the other gear screwed up, if the sync was lost or something, with the Machinedrum you could still jam out of it enough to have people still moving around.

I always have enough hardware, you just want to be versatile from the sound quality point of view. I don't use the Machinedrum right now. I use the Octatrack instead, because I've sampled everything in, loops and individual hits, into the Octatrack, and I've created a little Machinedrum out of the Octatrack. Then I have the opportunity to load, on the fly, so much of the stuff I made. I love having a sampler because I just prefer to have my own sounds, either synthesized live, or my own sounds in the machine in the first place. Having lots of memory is key in a non-laptop live setup.

There is pulse and melody in your music, but also narrative progression. Can you name some great stories that inspire you?

I've created my own version of a certain character that inspired me, a fictitious story by an incredible writer, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I grew up near Sleepy Hollow. The Headless Horseman myth, or reality, however you see it, stuck with me from childhood until now. Having that as a base story, to help fantasize further, you get inspired by an aesthetic, a look, a location, a certain style of garment, or colors, or time of day, to use that as a possibility to turn my brain into a different person and a different character.

I'm not myself when I'm in the character of the Headless Horseman, composing music. If I can't get into this role even though inspiration has struck, the music simply won’t come out. It doesn't feel natural. It's forced. That's when I leave it alone.

The original story is from the 19th century, right?

Yeah.

Gothic novels of that era are often dark and visceral, yet also romantic and beautiful. Is the dark and the occult a prerequisite for being able to appreciate true beauty?

It's not a prerequisite. I believe it's going to be different for each individual. I know a lot of dark people, and they all have different reasons and different motives that brought them to a darker space. Whether they were into a certain music of fashion from an early age, or they were following a trend, or they really have issues that bring them to a place where the darker it is, the happier they'll be, the more content they'll be, the more stable they'll be.

For me personally, I was in a very dark period of my life, and I learned more about myself, and that's when this project, the conglomeration of all the elements collided, that started off that I came into my role. Whether or not that's a prerequisite for everybody, I think that's to each their own. Everyone has his or her reasons. This could be a really long topic.

I am scared of death, constantly. I'm scared of a lot of things. The moments of my day, or week, when I can compose music are the times that I feel really good and comfortable in my own skin. Everything else that happens in my environment stands still. If I could never make music again, nothing else would be able to cure my ailments.

Is there anything that scares you as the Headless Horseman, or are you completely fearless?

I'm fearless when I'm the Headless Horseman. I'm scared, sometimes, in this reality that's plagued and diseased by gentrification, and finances, and world powers and all these other nasty things that prevent us as people from just having simple, easy lives, and bartering and enjoying ourselves and finding peace, whether it be light or dark, and communicating. Hate, jealousy and greed to name a few are all so overwhelming these days, and we don't really know where anything is going with the Earth itself.

I think everyone is trying to escape from something. Even people who don't know it have something they're trying to escape from deep down in their psyche, even though maybe they haven't figured it out yet. I haven't figured it all out yet. Maybe you haven't either. But some things, you don't want to find out what they are. You just kind of want to carry on, you don't want to waste your time, because your time is precious.

You’ve had a few hours to check out the new Analog Heat. What are your thoughts so far?

I’m pretty blown away by it so far. Right off the bat, I can easily conclude that this is one of the easiest pieces of Elektron hardware to learn. I was a bit skeptical when I first heard that it was a distortion unit. The last thing the world needs is another stomp box. After a few hours today with the unit I must say its worlds away from what I thought it would be. So far, I can imagine this device being used for tracking. Adding saturation and fine-tuning stems. All of the knobs are on the front panel so it’s a joy not having to dive into hordes of sub menus to adjust settings. The sound is pristine. The equalizer and filter bring so much body back into the sound. It doesn’t sound anything like a typical distortion unit but it can if you’d like it to. I see this being a great addition for producers of all genres. Running pads through the unit and adding a tiny bit of mix amount and adding some highs gives that instant polished sound. The output section is also nice and loud while retaining warmth. Really thrilled by the input threshold to get a ducking effect when running drums through it. Oh, and the size, and build are excellent. Metal chassis, and has a good weight to it, but I wouldn’t expect a cheapy device from Elektron. In this last hour of experimenting with Heat I can already safely say that the Heat will get tons of mileage in the studio and on stage.

Did the Swedish setting seep into the music you made in any way? I heard you recently visited a Bronze-age monolith site. Did that experience tap into your mind in any way?

Had I been here longer, it would more so affect that. If I stay somewhere for longer than a few days, new ideas come to life. I usually go for long walks, just by myself, to absorb a new culture and a new place, I see a building, and its architecture might trigger a memory or emotion or a piece of sound that you feel in your head, so you have to rush back to find some electricity or equipment to record it with, or you capture the moment in your head so that you can get the idea down in some way.

I felt really comfortable to be able to run through here and play, knowing that everyone here appreciate what I'm doing in the first place, and incorporating a new piece of gear and making sure it works to my favor in some way and complements the sound instead of destroying it.

It must be a challenge to operate musical machinery with that headgear. Can you see at all through the fringes?

No. This is, for me, the spiritual side of when it started. I started making the music, and I made the first couple of releases, I did the first show at Berghain without any sort of costume. I don't want to be seen. This is not "put your hands in the air" music fueled by an ego. I believe the music comes from my soul, my energy, and these feelings can be transmitted to the audience. I don't look at the crowd and see what they want and try to react off them. If I'm feeling good during the performance, I hope they feel good and come along for the ride with me and get equally as lost in the journey.

I can see my equipment, but I can't see any further than that. I'm in my mode, I'm in my bubble, these are my four walls by myself. I turn my mind off from the world around me, because when there is too much visible and audible distortion from all ends, or mostly the visuals, the lights and all these things, I can't focus so much and be in my world. So I try to get into a trancey state, and that for me is a truly blissful moment. I'm one with these machines. With my hands, my heart, my soul, and my energy. I shut down from the rest of the world for that hour of playing. Afterwards, I slowly return back into whatever reality has in store.

You've been touring relentlessly all over the world lately. Any favorite venue or setting?

It'd be impossible to single out one place. The best places are where you go and you feel welcomed by audience and promoter alike. You feel that the people who are putting on and attending the shows have something in common from an emotional standpoint. For me, this is an art project, a life statement, rather than just pushing a few buttons and making people dance. If the connection has been made then that’s the best possible setting.

To what extent do you use Overbridge in your music?

The Analog Four with Overbridge works solidly. I like to be intuitive with my hands. The kind of controlled randomness going on in your head, I want to change this thing, you change the wrong thing and techno happens.

Those happy accidents sound amazing and allow for the element of surprise. You might create something that you've never thought to do, you're on the wrong page and you hit the wrong knob, then all of a sudden you have a sound that wasn't premeditated, but gives you the starting point to create a new track around it. You hear those random sounds and you go, 'I like this random element!'

You're walking down the street and hear a car horn from a mile away, and you go 'this sounded like an elephant screaming through a toilet paper roll (laughs)!' When you're trying to get that sound, and you get these sounds by accident, it just sounds so powerful and odd that it puts you in a place to create something around it.

Just finding out today that the Analog Heat will have Overbridge capability. That's going to be a powerful thing to use because we only have two hands. I like things to move around all the time. Overbridge is great for flowing automation movements. Not a huge fan of static lines and the extra automation power using this method on Heat will be sure to dive into new sonic territories.

The profound organ heard on Her Black Wings sounds massive. What made that sound? Was that an acoustic or an electronic sound?

It's one of my favorite tracks, and it's very simple, it only took a few minutes to make. On top of the string it's this kind of, it sounds like some kind of crying animal, like a hawk. That sound is just pitch modulation, adjusted by hand at certain points and finding the best part and taking that sample out and having that as a recurring theme to give it this counterpart, this overtone part, like the fifth of that. To me it sounds beautiful and gritty. At the time I decided to keep it simple and fill up the space with a driving beat to give the main theme more power without taking away from the melodic element.

You can look for resources in books on how to technically do anything perfectly, which is great, but when you're dealing with modern instruments that weren't available in the early days of synthesis there's so many ways to mangle sound for your benefit. Load of trial and error allows you to come up with your own kind of thing. If you studied it after the fact that you did it, you could say: oh, wait, this is mathematically perfect! Or: this doesn't mean anything. But that doesn't matter. With electronic music, all that matters is how it feels to you.

If it feels right to you, then leave it. Synths we have now, like the Analog Four, you could never previously have anything with this many parameters on it that would affect other parameters, and the routing possibilities, you come up with a new sound and go 'I've come up with this little piece, and I want to develop it!' Then you have a computer that you can multi-track into. These days with Ableton or any software, you can layer things so quickly, and test how things are going to work, as opposed to back in the day, where you had to play your Moog to a tape machine and listen back to it, and if you didn't like what you had, that piece of tape is just going to go in the trash.

You have to break in a new sound territory for yourself. Everything has been done, or not, but we want to be unique in our own ways, and if it happens naturally, then I guess that just feels right!

A final question: who made the video for Decapitation?

There is a duo in Berlin that is called November 29 films. They've made over a thousand videos for techno artists. They're really, really quick, and mangle pre-recorded/films. To me, it's a high form of art. They just bang them out and edit them, a total punk approach. If you ask them to change something, 15 minutes later, they send you a whole new video. Just natural talent of doing things quick and dirty, yet they look great and they fit the music. As simple as that.

Interview by Daniel Sterner
Photo by: Rebecca Cleal