S14 E12: Sitting With The Muse featuring Nick Leng

Nick Leng is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and producer known for his abstract blend of electronica, classical piano and ambient soundscapes. Nick’s music is hard to categorize but evokes a sense of musical synesthesia, which he describes as a kaleidoscope of emotions turned into sounds.

Nick's musical journey began in his early years growing up in South Africa, where he was classically trained on the piano. His formal education provided a strong foundation for his later experimental approach, as he learned to seamlessly blend technical skill with a passion for experimentation.

In today’s episode, Nick talks with me about his musical development and the nuances of his ever-evolving creative process.

In a world where artists are often pressured to keep up with the demands of producing new content, Nick shares openly about his struggles with the industry’s relentless pace. He talks with me about the importance of resisting this pressure and taking time to sit with the muse, allowing his songs to develop naturally.

In keeping with our Season theme of Reclaiming Wonder, Nick contributes a fascinating perspective on discovering wonder within new sounds and new ways of approaching music.

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S14 E10: Dreamscapes with visual artist Chalom

Melbourne-based visual artist and electronic musician Mike Lane creates under the name Chalom, a name spoken to him in a dream. His practice consists of visually expressing dreams and meditations, with mostly found materials, embedded bible pages, penciled notes, and spray paint.

Beyond the haphazard backgrounds of his paintings, brushes or tools are rarely used in the making, just hands and fingers employing scrawly texts, scribbles, and vaguely figurative forms.

CHALOM’s prolific work is a deeply spiritual practice, and he loves to write blessings and prophecies, hidden under the paintings for the viewer to experience as mysteries and positive energetic flow, intended to shift the atmosphere in the spaces where the works are hung.

In this episode, Chalom talks with Stephen Roach about his creative process and the deeply-felt spiritual underpinnings behind his visual art.

S13 E07: Mastery & The Flow State with composer Christen Lien

Christen Lien is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates an innovative brand of musical storytelling. She disrupts the classical genre by integrating innovative technology and collaborating with artists and musicians from many mediums. Christen has performed for a diverse network of audiences around the globe, from the Dalai Lama to the Burning Man festival.

Through her lifelong devotion to the viola and her innovative use of guitar pedals, loops and electronic soundscapes, Christen’s compositions and performances create a multi-faceted musical landscape that bridges worlds and ideas.

In this conversation, Christen shares about her pursuit of mastery, the role of discipline and spontaneity in her work and how she experiences the flow state in her performances.

REPLAY: An Ethos of Healing with Elephant Heart

As we prepare for The Breath & The Clay creative arts gathering, I’m going to be highlighting several of the speakers and performers who’ll be joining us at the event.

For today’s episode I reached into the archives and pulled a segment of my conversation with BC24 headliners, Elephant Heart.

Elephant Heart is the Los Angeles-based electronic duo Jason and Victoria Evigan. Elephant Heart’s music Is Rooted in their shared passion for international travels, world beats and global cultures Elephant Heart creates genre-bending music that pulls multicultural influences from far and wide.

This segment of Season 7’s conversation carries a meaningful contribution to our current season’s theme of community and culture.

In this clip, Victoria and Jason share about the healing power of music and its ability to bring people together, the beauty of cultural diversity as well as a candid look into Victoria’s own process of moving past fear into the fullness of her creative expression.

You can listen back to the full episode here.

S13 E02: The Vocabulary of Encounter with Kaleb Moten

Kaleb Moten is a singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, and musician, dedicated to revealing beauty and meaning, and liberating other artists to do the same.

Kaleb has released four studio albums to date and is currently producing two more. In addition to his solo work, Kaleb also works as a music producer, with credits for artists such as Victory Boyd and Abbie Gamboa.

In this episode, Kaleb shares one of the foundational encounters that shaped him as an experimental, musician, as well as his journey of developing a vocabulary to encapsulate some of the deeper experiences of his music and life.

In keeping with this season’s theme of community and culture, Kaleb shares about the impact of leaning into particular expressions of art not only as an individual but what happens when an entire movement of people collectively express the same heart.

Kaleb will be joining us along with Victory Boyd at The Breath and the Clay creative arts event, March 22-24, 2024.

S11 E10: In The Moment with Julianna Barwick

Julianna Barwick is a Los Angeles based composer, vocalist, and producer who makes deep, reflective compositions rooted in the human voice.

Over the years she has made six critically acclaimed records as well as contributed her sound to the world of film scoring.

Her self-released debut “Sanguine” came out in 2007, followed by "Florine" in 2009, and “The Magic Place” in 2011.

In 2013, she released "Nepenthe," an album which marked Barwick’s first steps into collaborating, working with producer and film composer Alex Somers in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Her 2020 release "Healing Is A Miracle," features notable artists Jónsi (Sigur Rós), and earned Pitchfork's coveted 'Best New Music'.

In todays episode Juliana talks with Stephen Roach about her experience growing up in Louisiana, singing in choirs and the development of her experimental soundscapes.

Bonus Interview: Half-Handed Cloud

John Ringhofer, the man behind Half-handed Cloud, is as joyful and frugal as his music. An economical thinker, Ringhofer prefers the subway over a taxicab, is a recycler of plastic, a compulsive note-taker, and a habitual optimist. Half-handed Cloud started as a home-recording project in Chattanooga, TN in 1999. Ringhofer was later based in the California Bay area for over a decade (where he worked as a part-time custodian) before moving with his young family to Helsinki, Finland in 2015 for his wife’s linguistics research. Half-handed Cloud is able to ensconce complicated theological concepts into catchy and sublime playground songs that refuse to condescend to its subject or its listener. He has collaborated with artists Sufjan Stevens, Daniel Smith of the Danielson Family and is currently an Asthmatic Kitty recording Artist.

In this bonus episode, Stephen talks with John about the creative process of his latest album, Flutterama as well as the mischief of Jesus, satire and how environment shapes the art we make.

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S9 E06: Composing Through The Multiverse with Son Lux

Son Lux is an experimental, electronic trio whose music strives to question deeply held assumptions about how music is made. The band started in 2008 as a solo project of founder Ryan Lott, then expanded to include creative collaborators Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia.

Most recently, the band scored the new Daniels film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, featuring collaborations with Mitski, David Byrne, Randy Newman and Moses Sumney among others.

I had the chance to talk with Ryan about his creative process, collaboration and what it was like composing music for a bizarre film based on the multiverse, one which the New York Times has called “an exuberant swirl of genre anarchy.”

If you’ve been following the podcast this season, you’ll know I’ve been talking with my guests about mental, emotional and spiritual health as it relates to the creative artist. I asked Ryn for his comments on this subject as well which I’ve made available for our patrons at patreon.com/makersandmystics

S8 E15: Moving Through Space with My Brightest Diamond

Shara Nova is a classically trained vocalist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist. She records dazzling, shapeshifting music under the moniker My Brightest Diamond.

Her music resists the conventions of genre, blending elements of rock, art pop, and chamber music into a sound totally her own.

Over the span of her career, Shara has released multiple ground breaking albums, as well as composed a baroque chamber opera titled, "You Us We All.” She has recorded as a guest vocalist with notable artists such as David Byrne, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, and many others. Her extensive collaborations with visual artists include contributions to the works of Matthew Ritchie, Matthew Barney and more recently, performance artist and vocalist Helga Davis on a collaborative film project titled Ocean Body.

In today’s episode, I talk with Shara about her background as an artist and some of the motivations informing her work.

If you are a patron of the podcast you can enjoy an additional episode segment with Shara on her experience as a working artist navigating our current cultural landscape.

Visit patreon.com/makersandmystics or see the show notes of this episode to sign up as a patron today.

S7 E15: An Ethos of Healing with Elephant Heart

Elephant Heart is the husband and wife musical collaborative of Jason and Victoria Evigan. Jason Evigan is an award-winning producer and songwriter responsible for some of today’s biggest hits from artists such as Maroon 5, Madonna, Ellie Goulding, and Rufus Du Sol. Victoria Evigan is a musician, visual artist, set designer and stylist known for using make up, hair, environments, and fashion to create contemporary expressions of the Elephant Heart ethos. Victoria is also the principal operator of Picture This, Elephant Heart’s not for profit organization.

Patrons of the podcast can listen to additional interview segments with Jason and Victoria about Picture This, making their own instruments and Jason’s work as a music producer.

In this season finale episode, Stephen talks with Jason and Victoria from their home studio in Los Angeles, California about the spiritual dynamics and creative processes within their music.

S7 E12: Pillars Of The Earth with Turtledoves

Turtledoves is the new musical project of Ashley and Alex McGrath. Exploring the balance between lo-fi electronics and acoustic instruments, the husband/wife duo creates harmonically rich soundscapes consisting of labyrinthine melodies, ambient textures, and layered vocals. Turtledoves exist in the liminal spaces - messengers between seen and unseen - ambassadors to the now from the not quite yet. Residing in Cincinnati, OH, the band recently released their second EP, titled, “Pillars of The Earth. Their first, “The Rest is Yet to Come”, was released in 2018.

In this episode, Stephen talks with Ashley and Alex about their collaborative process as a husband and wife duo.

Watch the Music Video for Soft Speaker