It's the balance between wanting the power of electronics and having something real happening - if you want people to engage in what you're doing, I think that's important. I want to have fun with people, but that's hard to do with a laptop.

Anna Meredith

Categorized in : Thinking Fun Real

There's something strange about a laptop, how you can make the tiniest gesture and make the biggest sound. I don't feel I've resolved working a sense of performance into a piece yet.

gestures pieces sound

I had thought everyone in the electronic world would be so laid back, but there's as many cliques and prejudices as any other world.

laid-back other-worlds prejudice

I want to become less and less about the laptop. That's what's lovely about an orchestra - the physicality, the way every gesture relates to something you're hearing.

gestures orchestra lovely

Quite often, when I describe to people what I want, I'll say "overwhelming" - I want it to feel like it's phy

overwhelming want people

Performances are so defined by their venues - it'd be nice for the music to dictate more of the reaction.

venues reactions nice

I feel happier knowing a starting point came from me. And I like stuff that gives you a physical reaction.

knowing stuff giving

I try to listen to stuff that makes me happy for other reasons, rather than being musically inspiring.

reason stuff trying

If I'm feeling confident, then I write confident, happy, or assured music. I can hear some early electronic sketches I did where I'm clearly not confident and everything's a bit mid-range, nothing really pushes through.

range feelings writing

I'm less interested in uniqueness than in goodness. I see so many concerts where the program notes are more interesting than the music. I remember talking to one composer who went through the most complicated mathematical algorithm to generate some material from scratch. It took weeks and weeks, and he came up with a C major chord. For me, honesty is more interesting than originality.

honesty talking interesting

I've never been really interested in music, classical or otherwise, where the craft is more important than the result. I realized quickly that I'd never be a technical electronic musician.

crafts musician important

With the classical stuff, I've always been better at the big brushstrokes and broad textures than spending ages honing a chord, or tweaking a sample.

texture age stuff

Other friends have said, "I don't understand why you've used this trumpet-style sound rather than a real one when you know you can write for trumpet." But it's most important to get the energy right.

style real writing

I'm up for a massive, bombastic tour with hydraulics, robots, lasers, 15 costume changes, projecting on a power station, big impact, big visuals. I'd love to realize the theatricality of the whole thing. To be overwhelming, to surprise you, maybe to play in hidden spaces.

impact space play