MC: Let's talk about bird sounds. They’re often heard in ambient music but there’s something very deliberate about how you choose to use them. What is your process for gathering field recordings and piecing them into your music? 

Go Outside: Bird sounds and natural ambient sounds are the texture of our lives. Humans evolved with the sounds of nature as our aural accompaniment. We've only recently started blocking out those sounds with modernity but our physiology remembers that the sound of birds/wind/water means that the world is alive and we are alive with it. I use these sounds in my music to remind myself that my art is not created in a vacuum. It's an antidote to existential loneliness. I love the process of getting the recordings because it gives me an opportunity to really just stop and sink into a place. It's very therapeutic for me.

MC: You utilize noise in a somewhat unorthodox way. What gave you the idea to start including it in your patches and using it rhythmically?

GO: I think I approach my music as a building and arranging of textures. Noise is a really useful tool as it contains all the audible frequencies. That said, a lot of things that sound like noise in my music, especially the rhythmic stuff, is not actually sourced from noise but from other audio that's been mangled beyond recognition. If I take a sound and destroy it to a certain point, I often stumble upon something that I couldn't have imagined otherwise. And that's always more inspiring than the thing I thought I was looking for. On its own it usually sounds like annoying garbage. But in context it can twinkle in just the right way.

MC: Your music definitely has a clear relationship with nature and the outdoors. Was there a specific place that was in mind during the creation of Distance?

GO: I don't generally start with a theme or intention in mind. I usually just discover, through the process of creating, that I'm dealing with some theme or emotion internally that makes its way into the music. When I started this song I was missing my wife, who was out of town. After working on it for a while I found myself building textures that seemed to mimic the sounds of nature. "Longing" was the feeling that guided the sounds. I thought of how longing is such an essential part of life; an animal longing for food, a person longing for a community to belong to, a frog longing for rain, a seed longing for warmth, a leaf longing for sunlight. It's something all things experience and drives many of our behaviors and interactions. And I found comfort in that. Just like being out in nature, making music provides a space for me to process and integrate my experiences. They are both a place of solace for me. 

MC: You’ve released a small handful of EPs, each with its own sonic palette. Do you find that working with shorter collections of music makes for a more focused production experience?

GO: I draw inspiration from all types and genres of music and one of the ways that shows up is my ever-changing "sound." If I release an EP or album, it's because I got lucky enough to start and finish a collection of songs within a relatively stable window of inspiration. I'm always inspired and always making music. I'm just not very good at making it sound like anything else in my catalog haha. 

MC: What can we expect to hear from you in the future? Any direction changes on the horizon?

GO: I always have a bunch of material in-process. Right now I'm really excited about some collaborative works that I'm hoping to share in the next year. In my solo work I'm exploring more spacious and meditative ambient, as well as more cinematic tracks. I'm also launching a new side-project (unnamed as of yet) to explore my love of house music and other more rhythmic styles. I have way more ideas than I will ever have time to produce them!

Artist Playlist

We asked Andrew to send us what he’s currently listening to + inspired by in the form of a playlist which you can check out below:

ARTIST LINKS