One of the legends of the electronic music scene returns in unmistakable style thanks to his sumptous new creation ‘Yahweh’ out now on Armada. Dan Prince checks in to see how the new year has began for the Grammy nominated artist as he prepares for 2018 with top of the list, puppy training…!
Brian a huge welcome back to DMCWORLD young man, where on this crazy planet are you at the moment?
I’m on the freezing cold east coast at the moment visiting family. It’s beautiful but as mentioned, very cold!
Who is the most interesting new artist you have heard this year?
I love Cinnamon Chasers, the new Mute Math, The Midnight and Will Regans latest. Daily I find amazing new music.
A really exciting start to 2018 for you as you return to the dancefloor thanks to your new track ‘Yahweh’. Please talk us through the history and sound of your new trance bambino that you readily admit “is one of my favourite songs I’ve done in like forever…”
Well for a start it’s a bit of a misnomer that Yahweh is trance. It’s 127bpm with a rolling deep 1970’s minimoogD bass line! I’ve had demonstrated to me that when writing classical music for a full orchestra, people will call it trance, but I digress! Yahweh really is a special composition in that I made a concrete effort to infuse all the orchestral writing I do for films with a deep, lanquid, hopeful and uplifting within a deep house framework. It’s this dialectic and confluence of these two polarities that makes it special (to me).
The name Yahweh is best known from the famous ‘I AM’ interaction with Moses and references the fact that God has always existed and will always exist. We love a great name meaning at DMCWORLD, your name Brian is possibly derived from an Old Celtic meaning ‘high’ or ‘noble’. You happy with high and noble young man?!?
The name is an overt overture to my faith and where all my music comes from. I love that historically there are so many beautiful and diverse names for the Creator. As someone fascinated by origin stories and linguistics, this particular name for God is unique and fascinating. The etymology of the word has actually been lost and it most certainly pre-dates the Hebrew connotation and accepted definition of the word. Like in Sanskrit there are stories about spoken language and sequences of phonemes that have the ability to create or alter material reality (Ohm being one). This word and name for God “Yahweh” is particularly fascinating and I am quite sure it’s lost meaning and origin are extremely significant. A mystery word for the Creator. Seems fitting.
Last weekend was of course the big annual NAMM Show in California where all the global leaders in the music, pro audio and event technology industries came together. What were this year’s highlights for BT…?
Oh, wow too many to mention. I’d say my show highlights would have to be a secret meeting with Dave Smith in a hotel room seeing his new glorious creation. The Waldorf Quantum is a stunning instrument and the new Erika Synths Wavetable VCO and drum computer are ridiculous. That and I got to say on a panel “In 10 years, machines will make better music than we have ever dreamed of” and the big discussion/disbelief/jaw-dropping/conversation that ensued. A big current fascination of mine is machine learning. I am working with it on a slew of new software currently.
Tell us about the new puppy causing havoc in your studio…
The havoc more than anything is we are all having cute heart attacks. His name is Scout and we got him for our daughter. We are big animal lovers here so we were worried with introducing him to our cats, but it’s amazing how adaptive animals are. Can you imagine a world without animal companionship? I can’t! 
When you hit the studio you are a great believer in exploring and experimenting with sounds and techniques that shouldn’t really work that conjure up combinations that open up a new perspective. What has delighted your mind’s laboratory of late in your sound den…?
I’ve had all my analog instruments locked up for years while building the new studio. Having all this stuff at my fingertips is a revelatory experience. It’s crazy how many different systems and things I’ve learned since I was a kid. Having an environment where I can got from a 1984 Fairlight CMI III to an IBM 5150 running my first sequencer (Sequencer Plus Gold) to a 3,000 instrument autoload for orchestral mockups makes my brain hurt, but in the best way possible!
So you flick the lights off switch in the studio and head out for a hike. Who are the artists you love to chill to at the moment?
I like to listen to silence. It’s then my brain begins to fill it in with music.
Tell us about your new Electric Dreams show that you have scored…
It’s a Philiph K. Dick story. He’s one of my favorite futurists and authors. Blade Runner changed my life completely but that is to long of a story to write. The show is amazing and it was an honor to work with Mark Isham. I think we did a really beautiful score for it. I’m super proud of the work. Also as an homage to Philip and Vangellis I used the CS80 and a Lexicon 224 obsessively.
A new year stretches out in front of you. What is in your diary for 2018 in the To Do list?
This is the year we are finally releasing the All Hail the Silence record which is beyond words exciting. I’m signed on to score several film and shows this year, have a ton of software and hardware in development and am writing songs and collaborations for my next artist album.
And finally, what is coming out next from the mighty BT?
My score to the Bollywood film ITTEFAQ and the All Hail the Silence album. Those are the next two in the pipeline.
Good luck with everything mate, see you soon.
Thanks for the great interview and thoughtful questions Dan!
BT – ‘Yahweh’ is out now via Armada…
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