Street: You’re an accomplished (and really impressive) graphic designer. How does your work in design and your eye for visuals inform the way you make music, or the other way around? Tycho: They are one and the same to me. I don’t see a separation between my goals for each. I am trying to express a singular vision with my work and I feel that the musical and visual aspects are two necessary components. My current goal is to create a full–length motion piece scored by my own music.
Street: Do you ever envision an ideal scene for listening to your music? The cover of Dive looks pretty ideal... Tycho: I suppose each song would have its own specific environment for me. I definitely envision spaces or at least hazy images of where that song might occupy in physical space. For me, the cover of Dive is the space I imagine when I hear “Ascension”; that was the song I think most informed that artwork.
Street: Which musical artists are your main inspirations? Tycho: Boards of Canada and Ulrich Schnauss are my primary inspirations and two artists who show me what electronic music could be. But in the years since I started I have found many other inspirations, most notably in the world of folk/rock which I think has been playing a larger role in my work of late.
Street: Could you talk a little about ISO50 and what that means for your music? Tycho: ISO50 is just the name I went under for design, but over the years as I stopped doing commercial design and focused on my personal work I realized the design and music are inseparable. Now I think ISO50 is more about the blog and the pure design work.
Street: What was touring with Little Dragon last year like? Tycho: It’s was a great experience. I am a huge fan so it was an incredible opportunity to tour with them. We learned a lot from how they represent the music in a live context.
Street: What are some future projects you're excited about? Tycho: I'm currently working on a new visuals set for the live show. I’m working with a director named Charles Bergquist who has been shooting some beautiful stuff which I’ll be sequencing and effecting for the shows.
