Some Words with Dustin O'Halloran, Tonight's Triple Door Headliner
Dustin O'Halloran (Photo Credit: Emile Hengen)
Hearing composer Dustin O'Halloran for the first time resulted in such a declaration, and we weren't alone. O'Halloran has been painting sonic landscapes fit for the screen for years. Gaining attention for crafting playfully melancholic piano waltzes for the L.A. dream pop band Devics, O'Halloran has since established himself as one of the most promising American composers alive today.
If that weren't enough of an impressive/intriguing bio, O'Halloran was featured on the score for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette and also worked alongside Brit Daniel for a song on the 2006 Will Ferrell film Stranger Than Fiction.
We were lucky enough to catch up with O'Halloran in advance of his show at the Triple Door with noted German pianist Hauschka.
Have you found you think more visually about what the notes paint even when you’re not composing for something with an inherent visual component, such as TV or film?
Composing is very visual for me, but not really like a movie in my head kind of way. Mostly its about colors, all the variations of light and shade, and texture. It feels more connected to painting than anything for me. I'll think to myself does this piece need more blue? Do I need to cover up that whole section with white? Only recently did I discover its an actual condition called synesthesia, the experience of seeing sound as colors.
For those not yet familiar with your work, what key elements might help them identify what they’re hearing as an O’Halloran original?
Well, I think it's always evolving, and the new record is very different in some ways than anything else I have done. On the last 2 records, it was mostly about really pure melodies recorded very close where you can hear everything that is happening inside the piano. So maybe one of my sounds is the noise you hear in recording!
If I’m not mistaken, you recorded your last records in Denmark and Italy and compose mostly in Germany. How do you feel, if at all, your geographic surroundings influence your signature sound?
I lived in Italy for about 8 years and wrote and recorded both my piano solo records there. Now I am living in Berlin, where I have been for about 2 years. These landscapes have influenced the music so much. I don't think I could have ever written the same anywhere else. Its still amazing to me how much changing where you live changes your art. Everything influences me, the language, the landscape, the way the light is different in the north..so many things. In Italy, I really was living a very isolated experience with my studio in an old farmhouse in the country. I would write and record till late at night with the doors open, the sounds of the animals everywhere. Berlin is so different...the sounds, scents, they are all urban. The sound of the train passing my house is one of my favorites...it all finds its way into the pieces somehow.
Your music fits very well with Seattle as a backdrop. Have you spent much time in the Pacific Northwest or thought much about geographies that might be best suited for your music?
Well, I do love Seattle and Portland....I have never lived there, I grew up in Los Angeles. But perhaps I have always had a heart for a place like this. I spend a lot of time indoors writing, and sometimes living in a sunny place..you have this kind of guilt for not being outside all the time. I do love sun, but its not everything for me...I think grey is beautiful too. Rain...snow. It feels more human to me to have seasons...so Berlin is working out. I recently was having a conversation with a friend about how sometimes your internal seasons don't always match the external season...this last summer was like a winter for me, I was inside all summer working on my record.
Though somewhat akin to asking a parent to pick their favorite child, as a performer, do you derive the most pleasure from your solo performances, collaborations (such as your upcoming performance at the Triple Door) or more fully arranged concerts?
I love both for different reasons. I only recently started working with quartets live so its still pretty new...it feels more expansive and definitely has more colors you can work with. But I also really love the intimacy and directness of performing solo. It's one of the most challenging things I have ever done, getting up there with nothing but a piano, but I love this risk, that it could all collapse. It keeps me in the moment.
How has your latest tour with Hauschka been going, and how did that collaboration come about?
Its going great so far. We played 2 wonderful shows together and had an amazing show at SXSW, believe it or not. We played in this beautiful church in Austin that had great acoustics...it felt like a normal show and not part of the chaos of the festival, and I think people appreciated that a lot. Volker ( Haushcka) and I and talked about doing something together for a while, and it seemed right to create a whole night around instrumental music. There are a lot of great festivals in Europe with new composers, but not much in the states...so it seemed like a good idea to create a tour together and bring it across the US.
In a past interview, you mentioned that you try to take your weaknesses and exploit them. That’s really an interesting mindset. How does that approach affect your artistic output?
Well, I try to let mistakes happen when I am writing, sometimes those moments create tangents that can spawn whole songs or ideas. I didn't study or have any formal training so its really about discovering for me.
How has your approach to instrumentation and use of those instruments evolved throughout your career?
Maybe the biggest change is that I have become a better player over the years. I am releasing a live concert cd next month called " Vorleben" on the Sonic Pieces label out of Germany. It was recording in Church in Berlin on one of the most beautiful pianos I have ever played. I performed a mix of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2...and it was really interesting to me how different I play them now...I think in some way, I caught up to some of the pieces and can play them the way I had envisioned them. I like that they can evolve with me.
Dustin O'Halloran, March 24, The Triple Door, 7:30 p.m., $12
