'Here and Now,' by Jason Anthony Gomez, is a beautiful instrumental electronic music from the California-based artist's latest EP, 'Beauty Beyond the Divide.' 'Here and Now' flows seamlessly with key-laden pulsations until a darker change past the one-minute mark. Shortly after, the initial bouncier, effervescent aspects resurface, followed with spacey, spooky synth-laden resonance. The title was added after the music was finished and was inspired by Aldous Huxley's novel "Island." Jason Anthony Gomez was reminded of the impression of presence by the ethereal aspect of the postlude. Being in the 'here and now,' accepting both the good and the terrible.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hey Jason, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What have you been up to over the past year in this big old mess?
Hi, everything has been going well here. I know things are still tough out there, messy even, but I’ve done my best to take advantage of the changing currents and just write and grow more as a composer. I’ve also been playing a lot more as part of a violin and clarinet ensemble with my partner; we are called Air and Water Duo. Throughout the Covid pandemic we were able to create these really special, intimate musical experiences performing for people from the front yard of their homes and even online via Zoom. It was a really cool way to bring live music safely to people. We now play wedding ceremonies and picnics as well, so things are going ok for us. That was one really neat thing about the pandemic, seeing all the ways musicians innovated so that they can keep doing what they love. It was inspiring to see it unfold in real time.
How do you plan to support yourself financially long term?
One day it would be awesome to find work writing music for video games. It would even be nice to have a single or album that becomes really popular among listeners. I will continue to work toward those goals, however, if none of that ever happened I would support myself the same way I always have been: teaching/gigging with my violin and investing when I can. There is always a way to make money as a musician, no one has to live by the “starving artist” stereotype.
Your latest track is 'Here And Now'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
I don’t think anything unusual happened through the creative process except probably not knowing how to end the track. My solution was to add the seemingly unrelated ethereal outro that rises into the scene and then slowly fades out. It is so different from the hard hitting beat and anxious “blippy” riffs from the first half of the track; I didn’t know if that was going to work. Luckily, I fell in love with it instantly. The title “Here and Now” is based on the pursuit of presence as described in Aldous Huxley’s novel Island. I felt that the outro in the track really captured the experience Huxley describes, so I stuck with it.
What are you focusing on right now?
Right now I am reflecting on the music I have written this year and how I can take what I’ve learned to projects for 2022. I’ve also been taking on a lot of violin gigs around my town. The holidays are a busy time for musicians.
Aside from that I am resting where I can so I can approach my next project refreshed and ready. My partner and I bought Pokemon Shining Pearl over Thanksgiving and that’s been really helpful in the resting process for both of us.
What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
I listen mostly to Classical (Dvorak, Francaix, Copland, Shostakovich), Alt/Indie Rock from the 2000s and 2010s (Gorillaz, Radiohead, The Shins, MGMT), and a lot of Jazz performers from the Mid-Century (Coltrane, Brubeck, Davis, Bill Evans). I think any genre can have innovations I can learn from as a writer and there are artists that really excel within each medium, so I try to keep an open ear and continue to find so much to love.
Describe your creative process when you write new music.
I write most efficiently when I set parameters for myself. I’ll pick a couple of concepts that I really want to focus on like meter or timbre, but I never know what those limits will yield until I am done with the track. A lot of the fun comes from solving the puzzle. How can I get from point A to point B in an engaging way for myself and for listeners. I love figuring that kind of stuff out. Even as I listen to other artists I am always thinking to myself “What did they do here?” or “How did they get there?”
Traditional notation methods help keep me organized through the process. A lot of the ideas I come up with or even entire tracks in a couple cases are written out before I transfer them onto Ableton.
When faced with making a big decision, how do you decide what is the right thing to do?
I am thankful to have a solid support system in my life. Great friends, great family, and a great partner. They all have different strengths and experiences, so I can bounce ideas off of everyone and get different solutions that I can weigh.
Making decisions has always been hard for me even when I know what the right answer is. Sometimes I have to close my eyes and override my doubts.
After working so hard to write the tracks for my EP, I didn’t want to share them. I was telling myself that I wrote music that wasn’t truly representative of me. I enjoy composing more classically focused music, so I was worried publishing something more “pop” or electronic focused would invalidate me as a composer. A very silly thought, but it still went through my mind. I closed my eyes and submitted anyway.
What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?
There have been many things that have made me passionate about music over the years. I have always loved how music can drastically expand the way we think and there is something unifying about its ability to make us more empathetic individuals. I have experienced that first hand time and again.
Right now what I am passionate about is creating an environment with my music that can be an alternative to the current cultural and social trends we have been experiencing over the last couple decades. I want my music to be an alternative to the hyper materialism we see worshipped so often in popular music. I want to create music that congregates and celebrates diversity of thought, existing alternatively to the current culture of sophistry that sinks us further into division.
To be clear, in no way am I discouraging anyone from listening to what they want, only that I am designing my music to offer something different. If that resonates with you, then welcome.
How do you stay connected and up to date with the art world?
Most days I don’t really feel up to date with the art world; I even feel disconnected at times. Instead I find myself reading about and finding inspiration in artistic and musical movements from the past. Fauvism by Mattisse. Neoclassicism by Franciax and Milhaud. Third Stream by Brubeck and Davis. There is just so much to learn from the artists of the past.
When trying to learn about today’s artistic movements, I most enjoy learning about them in conversation with others. I enjoy seeing what they resonate with and why, and in turn I can learn how these trends can affect me emotionally or artistically speaking.
What are your plans for next year? Do you have any productions ready to be released?
Only dreaming and planning for now. I want to take time tinkering and figuring out how to create a richer, more expressive sound in my electronic music. One way of doing that I think would be folding in my violin into the tracks, so sometime will be spent figuring out what I want that to sound like and how to get it recorded. One or two singles might be created as a result, but no EPs or albums until 2023. I will also be returning to writing more classically focused music, so a lot of next year will be spent just writing that music out and getting it performed. I am very excited for all of these projects and seeing what I can get done.