The Edinburgh-based composer Matthew Collings released his solo debut ‘Splintered Instruments’ (produced by Ben Frost) on Fluid Audio in January 2013. He says, “Emotionally this record comes out of reckoning with the destructive forces in my life. I’ve felt my whole life as if there is an immense, violent force ready to come out of me…” He creates an electro-acoustic world of melancholically melodic and neoclassically-tinted ambient-noise rock soundscapes.
Facts
There is a British art critic with exactly the same name as me. If you google ‘Matthew Collings’ you often get him, damn him.
My first musical buy was a tape compilation of chart pop called NOW 33. It had Meat Loaf on it, which is awesome.
I’ve destroyed at least 3 amplifiers in the quest for the right broken sound. I’m likely to destroy more.
Questions
What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
A fantasy of a sound that only exists in my head, of colliding and collapsing massive, beautiful, crushing sounds. I’ve yet to truly pull this sound out of my head and into reality, and I may always be chasing it.
How and when did you get into making music?
When I was a teenager, when I was obsessed with chord sequences, and convinced that great songs were made up of secret chords that I didn’t knowÉI started recording and making lo-fi music when I was about 19, and I’ve just gone from there.
What are your 5 favourite albums of all time?
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Sonic Youth – Evol
Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians
Joy Division – Closer
Boards of Canada – Geogaddi
What do you associate with Berlin?
The magic trick of opening bottled beer with a lighter (which i still can’t do), graffiti, bears and friends.
What’s your favourite place in your town?
Ausland
If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Probably be a lot more relaxedÉspend a lot more time in nature
What was the last record you bought?
Raime – Quarter Turns Over a Living Line
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Autechre and Kevin Shields
What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
As performer – Iceland Airwaves 2009
As spectator –
How important is technology to your creative process?
Very important, although I have a love hate relationship with it; it offers me immense power and options but limits and frustrates me for the same reasons.
Do you have siblings and are they proud or jealous of you?
I have a brother, I hope he’s proud!
Our Favourites:
30 Minutes with Matthew Collings
They Meet On The Subway
Links: Band camp / mcollingsmusic.com/ | Facebook | Interview with Matthew Collings by Digital in Berlin
