Abelard Interview

How did you begin to get into music?

I started with piano lessons as a kid after my parents noticed me tinkering on the piano and making up things, then moved onto playing sax and clarinet in jazz bands at school, as well as guitar when I was in highschool. I started messing around with electronic music at the same time, and it took over. I would sometimes spend entire days shut in my room working on music.

You are based in Melbourne, do you think there is a good audience there for the type of music you are making?

I’m not sure, honestly! There’s a lot of talented electronic musicians over here, but really, with the internet, I make music for, and with, the world. A lot of fans I have come from Japan, Russia, France, USA. Back home there are some friends and artists that I write and share tracks with, but I’m not so active in the scene. Just wish I had more time to be!

When you sent me this mix you mentioned that your influences were very broad. Could you elaborate on this - have your inspirations progressed as you have continued to make music? Is there anything that remains constant?

There are some constant inspirations, like those in the mix I made for the show – electronic music made between the 70’s and 80’s. Other things that are inspiring have been bands like Midnight Star and Five Star, 80’s R’n’B as well as late disco scene and euro disco scene, and my obsession with Italo Disco. I think that my influences have remained similar for a long time, but, recently I’ve chosen to focus on different aspects of their sounds, and trying something new. Before producing under the name Abelard I was writing 80’s inspired dance/synthpop, with very similar inspirations, just different executions.

You also stressed the importance of the simplicity of the tracks - could you tell me about how this influences of your own music? Is this something always in your mind when you start the musical process?

Many of the tunes I produce often only have 5 or 6 tracks with instruments / samples in them. I think I just like the paired back sound, to be honest. Every track speaks for itself, and has a place. It’s not necessarily in my mind as I write things, but at a certain point I just think “That’s it for this one.. it has enough tracks and sounds to focus on at once�. Things tend to topple over easily when there’s too much piled on top, so I just keep it simple.

Do you design the EP/album covers?

Yep. I’m a graphic designer, professionally. But, don’t get much chance to work on projects like this, so I enjoy creating album covers for myself. I enjoy being able to create the look and feel of the “Abelard� sound, too. One day I’d like to collaborate with other designers on covers, but at the moment I’m happy to create my own.

We've recently seen you included in KEATS//COLLECTIVE are collaborations something you want to do more of?

I would love to, and have had a few requests to do collaboration contributions but It’s hard to find time, especially if they want original contributions. I would love to do more but I can only write so much!

What are you presently working on?

I’m working on an EP. Well it’s actually finished. I’m currently getting it cut to vinyl, producing album art and getting things sorted for it. It’s pretty exciting, but unfortunately I cant give you a release date just yet! I’ll make sure to keep you and your listeners in the loop.

And finally 'Abelard', recently in my philosophy class we discussed Abelard - is this where you sought your name!? or was it something else?

Sadly it was less insightful than that of Pierre Abélard, though I know of the story of his affair with Heloise, which is a great and somewhat romantic coincidence, but it was during an episode of Archer, actually. There was a pug called Abelard, and a short synopsis of his involvement can be found here : http://archer.wikia.com/wiki/Abelard. It was a slightly flimsy pretense for a name, admittedly. But I prefer not to have a long-winded explanation of a name. I’d like for fans to make their own associations with the name, link it to their own experiences and stories.