JWPaton (Interview)
Good morning.
Today we’re listening to JWPaton, a Yuin-Australian composer and sound designer. He grew up listening to noise and metal, and was inspired to treat sound as music by artists like Merzbow and Éliane Radigue, as he describes in our interview below. Over the last year he put out two LPs, Structures and Submerged, which we’re playing today. The pairing consists of thrilling ambient works carefully sculpted, with a sense of foreboding and drama conveyed through rich sonic textures. He’s also done a fantastic collaboration with Chuck Johnson as part of Longform Editions, which you can watch on YouTube. An interview with JWPaton follows the streaming links.
Submerged - JWPaton (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
Structures - JWPaton (40m, vocals from field recordings)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal
What were the early influences that got you into ambient music?
Ambient is such a ubiquitous term, more than ever. So very little of what got me into the genre has anything to do with it!
Merzbow was the first completely instrumental electronic music I had ever listened to. Growing up I was listening to mostly hardcore and metal. Converge is still one of my favourite bands. A friend of mine introduced me to some classic metal records from the 80’s and 90’s, and I got really into early Sarcofago and Darkthrone. From there I wanted something heavier, noisier.
Like many people I inevitably discovered the almighty Merzbow through Earache (Carcass, Napalm Death, etc.) This was around 2010ish when I was just out of high school. Also worth mentioning that in 2013 both My Bloody Valentine and Swans did reunion tours here Down Under. And upon reflection those shows were probably very formative.
Through Merzbow I found Mego (RIP Peter Rehberg). Two records I listened to on repeat were Endless Summer and Sheer Hellish Miasma. Both artists combine ambient / minimal sounds with noise and texture and would open me up to a whole world of people working in a similar vein. I found that music can be “extreme” in it’s quiet moments as well. Artists like Taku Sugimoto and Éliane Radigue who work with silence / stillness in way that felt just as intense as something like Nails.
I was coming to a lot of this music decades after it’s release living in ‘so called Australia’ it kind of felt like I was missing out. So it was rad to discover Lawrence English’s Room40 and later Altered States Tapes who are both still putting out killer work.
You take inspiration from nature and your surroundings, and in your music we hear both the connection and conflict between artifice and earth. Tell us how those ideas influence your composition process.
I’m always looking for opportunities for contrast or a coexistence of sounds when making music. Having an abrasive sound underneath something soft. Or twisting a lofi field recording into something almost hifi through filtering and effects. I guess the ideas you mentioned inform my sound design more than the composition. But sometimes sound design can almost act as composition with mixing effects and adjusting parameters over time.
What are your go-to instruments in your studio – synths, pedals, DAWs, etc.
The go-to tools could / would be my little modular, electric guitar, phone recordings and obviously the DAW. I’m rocking a pirated Ableton 9 currently. Much of my current process is recording a bunch of stuff then manipulating and arranging in the box.
Specifically I love taking a 2-3 second snippet from an improvisation and turning it into a synth with Ableton’s Sampler. Also, I’m huge fan of Clip View. Having Loops of different lengths each with their own automation and triggers. These processes will often form the basis for a track.
Name an underrated artist from the past 50 years.
RESIST COLONIAL POWER BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY is a compilation put out by PTP Records. It exists as a collaborative declaration against genocide and global occupation. 100% of the sales go towards our people in Palestine and in Haiti.
Definitely not underrated! But I found a bunch of amazing artists I’d never heard of before.
From Gadigal to Gaza, long live the Intifada.
What music do you listen to when you're working, like answering emails, etc.?
Nothing specific. Here’s yesterday’s playlist:
What are you working on next?
Currently working on new music, hoping to release something later this year. I’ve got some live shows lining up as well. The type of venue and sound system has been on my mind recently and how I can adapt the music to the setting.
Also, some potential collaborations and group projects are on the horizon that I’d love to see come to fruition. I’ve really enjoyed doing this kind of thing in the past, super inspiring and unpredictable in the best way.
