Contours Q&A
With the recent release of his ‘Forward Motion’ EP on ANMA, Manchester-based Contours AKA Tom Burford further explores his love of new sounds and rhythm. We caught up with Tom to discuss everything from the global Covid crisis, teaching music and esoteric percussion.
The Global Pandemic we are in has changed our lives. The cancellation of gigs and live events is really hitting our musicians hard. How is this affecting you, and what are you missing the most?
I've had a few gigs cancelled including a couple that I was really looking forward to in Italy and Portugal. However, I feel really lucky. I don't rely solely on gigs as my form of income. I also teach Music Technology in a high school, and so I'm still being paid there thankfully. I feel for all the freelance musicians who have had the entire gig industry pulled from underneath them during this. That said it's obviously a really tough time for a lot of people at the moment, most notably the NHS.
How is the world going to change as a result of this situation we are faced with?
Whilst the context of COVID-19 is awful, and I feel for those directly affected by the virus. It has the opportunity to result in some positive outcomes. It has forced a pause on a global level. Something it would have seemed impossible to do in the modern world. Hopefully, this pause will be an opportunity for us to consider a number of things. The impact of humanity on the planet, the need to reduce inequality. COVID-19 is definitely not the great leveller some people have said it is. It is disproportionately affecting the poorer margins of society. As a result, will we do more to reduce this inequality when this is over? Also, our own happiness when we take a step back and breath. Having more time to create music during this has been really nice!
Your new EP Forward Motion utilises shuffling polyrhythms and clave patterns to create movement and energy. Are you still exploring concepts you learnt from working with the Fonkodelis Arkestra? Can you talk a bit more about your work in Uganda and how it has influenced your approach to music-making?
The collaborative work we did in Uganda with the Fonkodelis Arkestra and a whole host of other musicians definitely influenced my approach to building rhythm. Particularly in regard to thinking of different percussive layers as occupying particular frequency ranges and allowing more space for the percussive parts to be melodic. The Bakisimba (Bass Drum), Namunjoloba (small tom drums) that play melodic lines, and Engalabi (long drum) that play piercing solo parts and heavily syncopated elements interact to create thick textural and driving rhythm sections. I've also been going to these weekly sessions with a local group that play folkloric Cuban music and trying to get a better understanding of this music. This has given me a much better understanding of the way clave patterns interlock with a number of specific different Cuban and Afro-Caribbean styles.
Utilising traditional African percussion gives a beautiful, organic quality to the EP. Do you approach this tuned percussion differently to say playing the drum kit?
I'm glad you're enjoying the percussive elements running through the EP! I grew up playing the drum Kit but play it rarely nowadays. My focus has very much turned to music production and utilising different elements of percussion. My approach to playing tuned percussion differs to my approach to playing the kit. But I definitely think about the ensemble of percussive instruments coming together in the way a drum kit would, or like the group of Bugandan drums mentioned above. I've also started sampling a lot of my live percussion into my drum machine, the balafon in particular. This has opened up new methods for writing multi-layered melodic percussion parts, as well as enabled an interesting interplay between elements of live and sequenced balafon.
How important are the teaching and workshops you facilitate? Does it influence the direction you take with your own music?
Teaching and running workshops are really important to my practice. My passion for music was largely instilled through attending music workshops when I was younger. I'm really grateful for having that, so I think it's important artists pass on their knowledge to the next generation. I also think that my own music feeds into my teaching and the teaching embeds my practice and feeds back into my music. It feels like a positive cycle!
After you finish a piece of music, how do you assess the results? Do you try and listen back in a club setting to help refine the piece or can this be done at home?
I tend to listen to any production I finish on a number of different speaker and monitor sets and headphones that I use regularly to gauge any areas for improvement. Occasionally I'll also test demos in the club or on the radio.
How important is collaboration as part of your practice?
Massive. Collaboration is great for pushing you in new directions and exploring new territory, learning new skills and just breaking the cycle of solo production which can sometimes be a pretty insular and lonely affair. There's a number of interesting collaborative projects on the go at the moment which I look forward to sharing.
Do you find yourself creating lots of music and then making choices, or are you very focused on what you want to achieve when you set out? What are you looking for in a piece of music that you would like to release?
I rarely have a set idea of what I want to create when I get in the studio. More an idea of what instrument I might want to explore at that time. If I do go in with a specific intention, it tends to have evolved into something else by the time it has finished anyway. In terms of what I'm looking for in a piece of music I want to release, this can vary hugely in terms of mood, but I think there always has to be a that feeling. It has to have some impact on you. If it is a track that's built with the club in mind then then you shouldn't still be sat in your studio chair. The studio should resemble a club at 5 in the morning, lights off and me dancing around like a mug. I've been working on a load of stuff with string players recently. Not a club vibe, but equally big impact from just sitting and listening with my eyes closed and lights off.
What does your studio setup look like at the minute?
Quite nice actually! Yahama Clavinova, Nord Lead 2, JP08, TR8S Drum machine, Loads of percussion: Balafon, Udu, Gato drum, Engalabi, Conga's, Bongo's, Darabuka, RE20 Space Echo, Logic and a nice pre-amp and decent range of mics for capture.
What keeps you inspired? Listening to music. Trying to learn new things. A nagging desire to always create something.
I know you have a show on NTS searching out some incredible music. What music have you been listening to you recently and who do we need to know about?
There's loads of good stuff coming out of Australia at the moment. JK Group, Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, Horatio Luna. These bands are all part of the same melting pot of Melbourne jazzers. Phil Stroud is a wicked percussionist/producer doing stuff in Perth. Another recent find is Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, an Iranian percussionist who is a virtuoso on the Tombak and recently put out an amazing record on Latency titled Ritme Jaavdanegi.
‘Forward Motion’ by Contours is Out Now.