5 Q&A With William Sanford
Can you share any interesting or unique musical elements or production techniques used in 'Deep Mollusca?'
For better or worse, my music has an almost oppressive bass presence, which some people love and is a turn off for others. I’m a huge fan of textures in sound and bass is one of the best ways to achieve that. Aside from the usual side-chaining of e.q.’s and compression, I’ve done a lot of experimenting with side-chaining instruments to various filter effects I put on my basses. It seems to allow for a unique separation of sound, but also triggers extra texturing when the sounds collide.
I also pay very close attention to my reverb programming and will spend dozens of hours just getting a reverb tail to pan gracefully. I get weird and obsessive with particular sounds.
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of 'Deep Mollusca?'
About a year ago, I read about and then listened to a genre called Space Bass. I was also regularly listening to podcasts at work and came across an episode of Biologic about Mollusks. The first song I created for this project was Abyssal Solenogastres (a member of a very primitive and basal Mollusk phylum) which was an exercise in trying to get as much bass as possible, but still maintaining an ambient and psychedelic atmosphere.
I basically made a Deep House song. 😂
What did you enjoy most about making 'Deep Mollusca?'
As the project came together and possibly before I even knew this was a project, I basically fell down a mollusk rabbit hole (Everyone should really check out the beautiful and haunting Nautilus Live and Schmidt Ocean Institute videos on YouTube and Instagram). And each song began as a reflection of that growing knowledge.
I initially saw the project as a sort of psychedelic Nat Geo soundtrack. Of course, the project evolved beyond that initial premise, but I love my dorky interests and am happy to share them with others, even if these intellectual ideas are completely subliminal within the confines of the music.
Can you describe your typical creative process when composing music? How do you usually start a new piece?
I try to allow the music as much freedom as possible to create itself. I’ll typically begin with a chord progression, baseline, or basic melody and sort of let the song grow and evolve from there. I see each individual song more as a performance as opposed to a composition. And as projects come together, there are many songs and/or song fragments that simply didn’t make the cut as they didn’t fit the vibe or narrative I felt the overall work was headed towards. 🐙🦑🐌🦪🌊🐳
Is there a composition that you feel best represents your artistic journey or evolution as a composer?
I’m super proud of Back To Benthic. I took on Hyper Pop as the initial influence but I feel the song best represents my goal of oscillation between genre, catchiness, esotericism, a sort of gleeful presentation, but with fear, depression and trepidation as the subject matter.
The goal was to create audio whiplash as the song train wrecks its way into existence and fades off just as quickly, leaving the listener disoriented but curious. It’s pop, electronic, experimental, and weird all at the same time. Or, at least, that’s the hope. 😂