I want young Indian composers to be able to do more than just film music. I want to give them the skills that will enable them to create their own palette of sounds instead of having to write formulaic music. It doesn't matter if they become sound engineers, producers, composers or performers - I want them to be as imaginative as they like.
From the very beginning, I started doing music performances with a lot of theatrical aspects to them, where humor was a part of it but not necessarily had to be. Humor is just another tool to make the palette more rich and interesting for myself and eventually for the public. It's a great way to break out of convention.
It's hard sometimes to take a step back and realize what's happened because you're always trying to move forward. You're always looking at the next palette.
Instinct is still important, but now I can easily identify problems like cliches and mixed metaphors, and I have a broader palette to work off of.
Without black, no color has any depth. But if you mix black with everything, suddenly there's shadow - no, not just shadow, but fullness. You've got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that's real.
I've learned to create a palette, a vocabulary of ways to take pictures.
Words in a person's word stock are like paints on a palette. It helps to have just the right shade when you need it.
I always leaned toward free jazz... experimental jazz and progressive jazz. I feel like jazz is just part of the flavor and palette that you have as a musician to experiment with.
My varied listening palette is all-inclusive of all walks of life. No one individual is exempt from the human experience, so it is that intangible that is a universal truth. In that regard, I've had success in encapsulating something cosmic.
On my first album, I felt like, if it was going to be turned into a movie, it would have been directed by Sofia Coppola. She creates this kind of pastel-colored palette that's very whimsical but also very stagnant. And that's really how I heard the record.
