Aidan Baker

The most interesting thing about you is the variety of soundworlds you work with. Because of this, everything that comes from you is always a sort of surprise. Do you usually let your creativity surprise you?
More often than not, I have a fairly specific idea of what I want to do going into a new project... But often during the process of working on that project, I might surprise myself or realize something unexpected. As such, the process of the act, and what might happen in the course of those actions, is as important as the initial conceit.

In a more rational way, what's your approach to music composition?
That depends entirely on the project and the nature of my initial conceit. Some compositions are considerably more structured and rigid, others are entirely improvisational and freeform, some are a combination of that.

I think your background's also quite various, isn't it? Do you think this has a great importance on your approach?
My background is relatively various, yes, from formal classical studies to self-taught experimentation. I suppose it is important to the way I work, but since it is such an integral part, but sort of subliminal, in a way, I cannot say that I really think about it...

How was the idea of re-release "The Sea Swells A Bit" born? Why did you decide to release it again only on LP?
"The Sea Swells A Bit" has long been one a fan favourite and a lot of people asked if there would ever be a vinyl edition, particularly in recent years with the resurgence in vinyl production. But it was not until I connected with Ici d'ailleurs last year that I found someone who was interested and able to do a re-issue. A Silent Place, who originally released the album, did two pressings of the CD, so it did not seem necessary to do both a LP and CD re-issue.

In that album you probably got closer than ever to psych-electronics, and it came after two very different releases. Did you experience it as a sort of moving away from the stuff you were working on mainly?
Not really, no... I think it was just another style and sound that I wanted to explore. Even if it was, at the time, different than other releases, it was style part of that continuum of my 'soundworld,' as you call it.

What does that album represent for you?
To be honest again, I have always been a little surprised at the popularity of "The Sea Swells A Bit". Not that I dislike the album, but in some ways it seems... simplistic! Which simplicity might well be one reason why it's so popular, since it takes the conventions of post-rock and simplifies them into an ambient context and, in a way, makes what is essentially an experimental album more accessible...so, the album has a bit of a mixed representation in my own mind.

During the last year, you've developed much more your drone and noise sides (that becames more or less your "classic" ones), in albums like "Aneira". But you've created also something very new, in "Already Drowning" in particular. What about these works?
The more song-structured approach of "Already Drowning" is not really a new one for me - even if drone is more my 'classic' sound, I do have other song-oriented releases in my catalogue. But again "Already Drowning" takes an approach I have already explored minimalist post-rock or slowcore, if you will, but with the addition of guest vocalists and an overlying lyrical conceit I'm attempting to offer up something different and unique.

The only real common element of all your works is probably guitar... Do you see it as the main carachter of your soundscapes?
Yes, certainly. Though I have released records with little or no guitar on them..."Book of Nods" or "Still Life," for example, which are more piano- or keyboard-oriented.

Even if your soundscape is quite complex, you've ever been open to dialogues and collaborations with other musicians, sometimes very far from what you do... How do you feel about sharing your creativity with other artists?
Collaborating can be very satisfying - it is not always fruitful or easy, of course, but the best moments are when something unexpected albums and the process of collaborating takes both parties to new and different places.

Some of these collaborations evolved as complete projects. Nadja, for example, is today one of your creative sides, isn't it? How does this step usually happen?
Nadja is not really the best example of this, as I began the project by myself and asked my partner, Leah, to join in order to be able to perform Nadja material live. This certainly changed the nature of the project, but it didn't really start out as a collaborative partnership. B/B/S/, my trio with Andrea Belfi of Hobocombo and Erik Skodvin of Deaf Center, is more a group that started somewhat spontaneously, just from meeting up to play together and see what might happen...

How do you see Nadja and what creative forces do you manage to realize in that project?
I originally started Nadja as something of the flipside to the solo work under my own name - still drone-based and ambient, but heavier and denser, incorporating noise and industrial or metal elements. Nadja still represents this alternate side, but I feel freer to do different and weirder things under my own name - Nadja now has a fairly specific sonic identity and it is sometimes not so easy to take our music outside that...

A recent collaboration that really shocked me was the one with Uochi Toki - two italians guy that I actually don't like so much. How did it take shape? How did you manage to create an artistic dialogue with them?
We met Uochi Toki through OvO, whom we also collaborated with. And certainly Uochi Toki make very different music than us, but I think we found common ground in bass and noise. Our collaboration with them was actually quite effortless and instinctual, I think. Once we established a basic premise and structure, we just played and more or less spontaneously created the album.

You use to be incredibly prolific, releasing also something like 5-6 albums per year. How do you manage to complete so much stuff in such a little time?
I always have songs or sounds going through my head demanding to be played or recorded... A lot of what I do is improvisational, so it is easy (for lack of a better word) to produce a lot of material. Separating the good from the bad material is one of the biggest challenges, of course, and is often more time consuming than the recording process itself.

Last but not least: would you be able to choose an album from your huge discography and say "that's my favourite one?
Uh... not really. If I could name a few, I'd say "Already Drowning," "Green & Cold," "The Spectrum of Distraction," and (of course) "The Sea Swells A Bit" are among my favourites.