Confessions of an Electronic Music Fanboy

by Anthony Yu

To Anthony, the absence of words in electronic music often conveys deeper stories and emotions.

Picture this. You go to an art gallery and look at a piece created by a famous artist. Does the artist tell you what to feel? Or would he or she leave you alone to seek out your own interpretation? The same goes for instrumental music. It is a canvas of different symphonies, all combined to allow listeners to make up their own stories. The absence of words ends up conveying meanings or emotions that become a unique experience. This is why I love instrumental music.

There is a power in this special type of music that cannot be described. To me, music is a combination of frequencies that sounds uniquely pleasing. My taste in music veers towards the instrumentation, rather than the lyrics. I’m not saying that songs with lyrics are bad, for they provide listeners with a pathway to understand the singer’s message. But where is the space for interpretation?

The instrumental music scene usually revolves around electronic music, which involves heavy computer manipulation to create compositions or improvise on traditional jazz or classical pieces. In spite of the different genres, what links them together is the instrumental base. The instruments are at the forefront of everything, speaking to each other, drawing our attention to their exclusive qualities, rather than serving only as a background to an actual voice.

I am an electronic music fanboy, and wholeheartedly agree with Bjork who disagrees with critics who say this type of music is soulless. “Don’t blame the computer if there is no soul in the music; it is because nobody put it there,” she said.

Less Is More

Ambient music can best convey emotion without the use of words. With no conventional beat or rhythm, it comprises a melody played over a synthesiser, an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals using sound waves. As minimalist as one can get, it is not boring at all. It allows the composers to pay attention to what is important: the sound.

A great example of the less-is-more approach, is the track “Stone in Focus” by legendary electronic music producer Aphex Twin, off his second album Selected Ambient Works 2. There are no lyrics, obviously, but no drums either and no intended meaning.

It’s an instrumental track based solely on a synthesiser and a repeating melody that changes only occasionally. Although there isn’t much to grasp, the listener is asked to focus on this one sound. Now, you start to notice how evocative the chords are, how wonderful the melody is, and how warm and bittersweet everything feels, simply through frequencies joined together.

Personal Interpretation

Every listener will have their own deep personal experience. Instrumental music can evoke so many different memories: times past with friends or the innocence of childhood. The possibilities are endless and it’s not just me who feels this way. The number of comments that Aphex Twin’s soundtrack garnered, with people sharing their own experiences, highlights the beauty of music without words.

In a similar vein, another artist that has resonated with me is British electronic artist, Jon Hopkins, who, I think, made one of the best electronic albums ever. His “Form By Firelight” – the sixth track off that album – starts off moodily, with a soft drone and a piano accompanied by a plastic-like percussion. Subsequently introduced is a thick heavy bass that contradicts the softness before it blossoms. This is a perfect example of modern music, blurring the line between multiple music genres and combining different elements, which can even venture into the realm of classical music.

The whole track makes me feel like a mediaeval protagonist who is trying his best to unite his army to one more victory. In the end, he fails. And so does the music, fading away into oblivion, as the battle leader, weary and defeated, reminisces about his once great empire. Devastated, he can still die with dignity.

Electronic and instrumental music are really new languages. Any wonder I’m a fanboy? ■

Anthony, 16, is from Youth Hong Kong’s young writers team and has participated in The HKFYG English Public Speaking Contest. He enjoys recording music, cooking and sharing his works online.