{"id":255,"date":"2023-03-25T23:27:44","date_gmt":"2023-03-25T23:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/?page_id=255"},"modified":"2023-03-27T11:07:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T11:07:11","slug":"interviewed-by-christian-for-music-arena-gh","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/interviewed-by-christian-for-music-arena-gh\/","title":{"rendered":"Interviewed by Christian for Music Arena GH"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview Archive<\/h1>\n

Interview originally published at musicarenagh.com<\/em><\/h5>\n

<\/em>Due to a short archival shelf life at that particular site this interview is no longer available at source. <\/span>Whenever interviewed I put a lot of time and thought into the answers I give though so felt it appropriate to reproduce here.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s the story behind the name Al Swainger’s Pointless Beauty? <\/strong><\/p>\n

For me Pointless Beauty is a slightly ironic title acknowledging that not everyone likes the same things and that that\u2019s ok. It doesn\u2019t matter. If people react positively towards something they are happy to identify it as \u2018beautiful\u2019. Equally if they have a negative reaction, or no reaction at all, they are often quick to dismiss those things as \u2018pointless\u2019. It\u2019s such a subjective thing. Not all things that I would regard as beautiful are joyful or happy \u2013 the beauty lies in the idea of emotional stimulus for me. We celebrate these things on their own terms for their own sake as we perceive them. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Pointless Beauty is an acknowledgement of our right to openly enjoy it wherever we find it. I\u2019m not really interested in being part of a specific genre so it\u2019s a title that also describes the eclectic way I approach making my music.  <\/strong><\/h5>\n

When did you decide to pursue music as a career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know that I ever decided to pursue music as a career as such. It\u2019s more of an \u2018I think, therefore I am\u2019 kind of thing. I remember reading Vernon Reid saying in an interview long ago that there\u2019s two types of musicians : those that do it because they find they\u2019re good at it and it\u2019s a job for them and those that have no choice. I\u2019ve always felt like one of those that have no choice \u2013 it\u2019s too fundamental to who I am. I change the type and way I make music fairly often to keep it fresh but it\u2019s always the thing I have to get back to.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

How would you describe the music you typically create? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cathartic, I guess. It\u2019s always about exploring a mood or emotion through sound. I improvise a lot and the sounds that come out are very reflective of where I am emotionally at the time. I reflect on it a lot to structure it but it always comes from quite a raw and personal place in the first instance. My music also tends to pass through quite a few moods in each piece so the genres shift around accordingly. The first track on Hearts Full of Grace (The Way Back) has elements of soul, jazz, EDM, rock and latin for instance. It\u2019s not a contrived thing, it\u2019s just where I feel the music going. The lives we live are not simple things reflecting only one emotion in each situation so why should music be like that? Pieces of music are like short stories to me and should take you on a journey. It\u2019s not music that reveals everything it\u2019s going to do in the first 15 seconds, you need to spend time with it.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Who (living or dead) inspires you as an artist and why? <\/strong><\/p>\n

So many people! I tend to be most inspired by artists that are driven to reinvent themselves. The ones who need to explore more than they care whether it pleases the audience they already have. Miles Davis, David Bowie, Radiohead, Bjork all seem pretty fearless in this respect and they are just the first ones to spring to mind. You could take records from any of them from different parts of their career and use them as examples of fundamental shifts in direction that have been unpopular with critics when they came out but hailed as works of genius years later. The work was always good but it took time to catch up with how to understand and listen to it. There\u2019s a really strong creative personality at the centre of each of them that makes their body of work make sense even though all the stylistic changes. My Pointless Beauty project has made albums in a lot of different styles now with shifting lineups and I can only hope that part of what I appreciate about the artists I mentioned makes sense about my own approach in a similar way.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

What’s your creative process like? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I tend to start by improvising. I pick up an instrument or have a tune in my head or mess with an fx pedal and record. I listen back and reflect and develop and then maybe bring in other players when I get to a point where I hear things happening that I know are outside of the way I can play. I get them to improvise with the ideas that I\u2019ve had. Some ideas are fixed and I notate them and things have to be specific but there\u2019s always room for the players to input their own personalities around those moments. I\u2019ll usually then work with a whole bunch of takes and sculpt that further into what I hear the finished album as. There\u2019s a lot of listening and reflection. I always try to listen like I\u2019m in the audience and think about how it makes me feel. Is it exciting, relaxing, melancholy, euphoric and so on. If you only listen through the ears of the performers then you won\u2019t necessarily keep the attention of people who don\u2019t perform themselves. It\u2019s important not to be precious about your ideas I think. \u2018How does it make me feel?\u2019 is the most important consideration for something really satisfying.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

What feelings or reactions do you hope to arouse in people who listen to your music? Are you surprised by the reactions you get?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope to engage a whole range of emotions. Wonder, melancholy, joy, stress, anger, frustration, peace, calm, freedom. There\u2019s so much music that is kind of intended as a form of Prozac, it seems to me. Life is tough and a lot of mainstream music has become written to paper over the cracks with happy pills and pretend that it isn\u2019t. Part of the reason I write instrumental music is that it doesn\u2019t tell you what to think. When there are lyrics there\u2019s already someone else\u2019s story to latch onto. That can turn into pretending that it\u2019s your own story too. When there\u2019s just a title you have to think \u2018what could this mean\u2019? The music then becomes an emotional encouragement to help people unravel their own stories and thoughts. I think that\u2019s why people describe my music as \u2018cinematic\u2019 so often. We\u2019re used to instrumental music in films being used as emotional reinforcement for scenes in films. What if people have to just hear the music and reflect on their own lives without any additional interference? I\u2019m always deeply moved by the reactions I get to my music. It\u2019s not for everyone but the people who do respond to it tend to really love it. I think because it\u2019s so personal and intimate for me to share that that resonates with people who are looking for something a little deeper than is often pushed in the mainstream. I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m surprised so much as relieved to find I\u2019m not alone in seeing the world differently.  <\/strong><\/h5>\n

7. What is the best advice you\u2019ve been given in relation to music? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure anyone ever gave me this advice but I remember reading it somewhere and it stuck in my head :  “In the battle between the river and the rock, the river will always win. Not through strength, but by persistence”. Confucius. I think that\u2019s great advice, whatever you\u2019re driven to do, when things get hard.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are all hobbies about escapism? Maybe, anyway, I\u2019m quite a nerd for tv, films, books, graphic novels and video games. I\u2019m pretty fixated on RPGs with video games \u2013 I like exploring the open world types rather than sport or first person shooters. I\u2019m a sucker for superhero films and comics. I have a REALLY low bar for how good they have to be to get me to watch them! I just discovered the author N.K. Jemison and she\u2019s writing some really original takes in the sci-fi genre. I\u2019m a huge fan of sitcoms and comedy drama series\u2026 White Lotus, Hacks, Umbrella Academy have all been recent series that I\u2019ve really enjoyed. I like things that involve me in an alternate narrative to take me away from my own brain I guess.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

What has been the high point of your career so far? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably getting to tour my own music and having such a warm and positive reaction to it. It\u2019s not the easiest thing to get promoters to gamble on original music \u2013 especially in a jazz context it seems \u2013 so to do a program of Chick Corea greatest hits alongside my own compositions and have an audience respond that my music was the highlight of the evening was pretty special.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Which musician would you like to collaborate with? <\/strong><\/p>\n

The natural inclination is to think of the people you admire most but they\u2019re often the people who also have the most similar approach. That\u2019s generally not a good combination as you can be too similar for it to really work in practice. I love to collaborate with people who do things I\u2019m not good at or will challenge me to look at things differently. I\u2019ve had some really satisfying collaborations with vocalists as that\u2019s not something I do myself. Although I really enjoy writing instrumental music I can get equal pleasure from framing someone else\u2019s approach. I\u2019m always open to experimenting though so who knows what\u2019s round the corner? <\/strong><\/h5>\n

What accomplishments do you see yourself achieving in the next five to ten years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m such a terrible planner. My focus has always been on experimenting and discovering what I\u2019ve been up to at the end! I\u2019ve been making Pointless Beauty since 2014 and this is the first time I\u2019ve even got round to really promoting an album properly\u2026 There are five studio albums, a whole bunch of singles and other side projects available on my bandcamp at music.alswainger.com already for instance. Reception for the new Hearts Full of Grace album has been really positive though so I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll be touring at some point. The best way to find out when is going to be by following my bandcamp account or joining my mailing list at alswainger.com and you\u2019ll hear about that and future projects as they emerge.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

What is “Hearts Full of Grace” all about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The title for the album was inspired by a Martin Luther King quote :   \u201cAll we need to serve… is a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love\u201d. I found this led me into a meditation on our place in the universe and how we strive to bring meaning to it. It helped remind me that however invisible and inadequate we feel at times, we never lose the power to enrich each other\u2019s lives. No positive action is too small.  I think the way I contribute to those around me is by offering time and perspectives for reflection through art. To be outwardly healthy we need to be inwardly aware. Each of the tracks is crafted to represent narrative fragments of my reactions to the 2020 pandemic but also echo feelings I\u2019ve had for much of my life. Navigating isolation is a huge theme amongst those experiences but I hope they offer a form of catharsis for people listening too.   The last track, Remember the Sky, is inspired by the poem \u2018Remember\u2019 by Joy Harjo. It\u2019s intended as a final invitation to be at peace. An invitation to remember the value of community. An invitation to look beyond ourselves and feel freed.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Who and how many people worked on it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had a team of people I greatly respect working on this with me. Jon Clark (drums) is one of the most versatile and sympathetic players I know. Not many drummers will sound as great on an ambient soundscape as a driving samba! George Cooper (keys) also has an incredible rhythmic perception and has an incredible gift for comping on funk and odd time signatures. Ant Law (guitar) has a ferocious technique and you can hear him really take off on tunes like Two Steps. Gary Alesbrook (trumpet \/ flugel) shines throughout with the most haunting, lyrical and funky playing. We recorded in a blend of Crescent Studios in Swindon and my own home studio Other Compass. The album was mixed and mastered by Alex Killpartrick who I got in touch with after hearing his work on the first Snow Poet album. He has really detailed ears and an incredible clarity to his mixes that I just love. His mixing on my previous album After & Before is also amazing. All the artwork and sleeve design was done by me as well as playing bass, synths, programming, producing and editing.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

If you had one message to give to your fans, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be the river!<\/h5>\n

interviewed by Christian<\/p>\n

Music Arena GH<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Interview Archive Interview originally published at musicarenagh.com Due to a short archival shelf life at that particular site this interview is no longer available at source. Whenever interviewed I put a lot of time and thought into the answers I give though so felt it appropriate to reproduce here. What’s the story behind the name Al […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":1,"tcb_editor_enabled":1,"tve_landing_page":"tcb2-blank-page","_tve_header":"0","_tve_footer":"0"},"class_list":["post-255","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260,"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/255\/revisions\/260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointlessbeauty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}