(Reflections) On Minimalism

Around this time last year, I got pretty heavily into Japanese art and philosophy. It came shortly after reading No Longer Human - one of the most profound and affecting reads of my life - after which I went on a bit of a binge through other Japanese authors, which led to an interest in both its philosophical and aesthetic roots.

Through my reading, one of the things that grabbed me was the recurring practice of simple living, and the very heavily westernised concept of minimalism. This struck me as quite odd, coming from someone who all my life has collected various things, from football cards, vinyl records, limited edition and collectable Blu-rays, but mostly books. I was someone who took a great deal of pride in whatever collection I was working on at the time, especially my book and film collection, which were always extremely well organised. 

I then read Sasaki's Goodbye Things, which made me rethink why I collected books and films. I noticed that many of the books I had were to do with projection. Outward objects that were meant to symbolise who I was as an individual rather than genuine artefacts I enjoyed or was creatively inspired by. Over the following 12 months, I reduced many of my possessions. From around 400 books to about 80; some were sold on eBay, but the majority were donated to charity shops (around 5 bags full). I also got rid of clothes (collectable Supreme hoodies I never wore...why?!), DVDs, and anything that I wasn't actually using or gaining value from.

Forward 6 months later, I've bought my first home & I'm collecting books again. The desire to begin my collection again, but also the desire for the search for new literature, came from the realisation of actually how much creative inspiration I derived from reading. I hadn't actually considered how much of my compositional work is/was directly engaged and influenced by literature; by researching authors and their conceptual and creative approaches or processes.

Reflecting now, it seems obvious, but my work as a composer has always been far more influenced by what I read - and sometimes the films I watch - rather than music I've heard or discovered. I'm actually not that much of a devoted new music searcher. I'll browse the latest homepage of my Bandcamp each week for some new music..but other than that I really stay in my musical roots, and my desire to create new works comes from other mediums.

At the moment I'm focused on exploring small independent authors and book presses, such as Amphetamine Sulphate, Schism2, Calamari Press, Apocalypse Party and others.