Der kanadische Musiker und Maler, Colin Muir Dorward meldet sich zurück mit einem Doppelalbum auf meinem Label EndTitles. Ich führte mit ihm ein kurzes Interview. Auf nach Yukon.

Meeting the artist. An Interview.

ET: What is your new double album «fostexDubs Part 1 & 2» about? What was your instrumental approach for the album?

CMD: I don’t think there is a particular message in my music. Of course there are emotions, and making music is a way to express myself, but I don’t usually have an agenda when I record. If I had to name one driving force it would be curiosity. For this material, it was a fun challenge to make the mc909 not sound like a preset dance machine. With modern gear, it’s easy to become very critical of the engineers for making silly decisions because they should know better by now, but with older stuff, you kind of forgive them and move on. That mental shift of accepting what the tool is, warts and all, and finding out what it can do is a big part of my workflow. 

ET: Tell us about your work as modular module designer? A new line to buy soon?

CMD: I got into synth DIY six or seven years ago and it stuck. I’m not an engineer but being a producer has definitely helped. This winter I finished designing a eurorack series I’m calling the Jade system. It’s a bread and butter thing with big, clear fonts, and easy to understand layouts. I wanted something suitable for live performance and also for beginners to learn subtractive synthesis. Despite the generic surface, everything has been designed to have a unique sound. There are lots of cool features and design choices under the hood to make it something of its own. I would love to say this will be available for purchase soon, but in reality what I need is for someone to help me with the entrepreneurial side of things. It’s very easy for me to drift away and lose interest when it comes to promotions, distribution, etc. For now I’m just plodding through and building up a small stock to sell locally.

ET: Tell us about your idea of building a residency for musicians? How is it going in the meantime?

CMD: Last summer we hosted a recording residency for local musicians. Seven artists/groups each got access to a recording studio for one week, and a small honorarium to basically do whatever they wanted. We drew names from a hat to choose who got the residency. This was volunteer run and organised, but we received a small grant from the Yukon government to pay the honorariums and a few other expenses. That project got iced once winter arrived because that space is not really insulated. This summer we plan to offer some new residencies and recording opportunities, but it’s too early to say what yet. There will definitely be a visual arts component added this year. I want to introduce an international residency, but for now that’s obviously on hold.

ET: Online concert series? What is the idea behind that?

CMD: fostexDubs evolved from some material I had prepared for a couple shows I did here in Yukon. I’d like to repeat that workflow and use some more live shows as an excuse to dive into a new setup and get some ideas working. Since online streaming events have become somewhat normalized, I figured it was a good opportunity to stage a tour, of sorts. I like that it’s kind of the opposite of what I imagined I’d be able to do since settling here a few years ago. The nearest metropolitan center is 2000kms away, so touring has not really been on my horizons.

ET: So see you online in May, the 7th. More details to come. Thank you for the interview, Colin. Cheers!