Interview

Lone

Matt Cutler may make music in a little room in Manchester, but he’s a master of creating portals to other times and places: the UK rave scene circa 1993, New York hip hop a few years before, or perhaps the fuzzy landscapes of a half-remembered childhood.

 

Skype Interview by Angus Finlayson. Photos shot by Mary Stamm-Clarke in London, UK.

 

‘I think music or art or anything like that is almost a portal into something else. I think it is a doorway into maybe a different frequency of consciousness’

 

 

What means of escape did you have before discovering music? Did you daydream as a child?

Very much so. I used to draw pictures all the time, obsessively. I remember going through a phase of drawing pictures of skyscrapers, for some reason. My parents would sit me down with a pad and paper and that would keep me quiet. Until I discovered music, and that just took over, and it’s been the same ever since.

 

People say that your imagination diminishes as you get older. Is that something you’ve experienced?

Yeah. But for me, discovering music – I still feel exactly the same way when I make a tune now as I did when I was getting into it as a nine-year-old. I think with any creative outlet it’s a way of holding on to that thing. Whereas for a lot of people, it gets drummed into them that they have to get a proper job and stuff like that. And sadly I think it’s knocked out of them a little bit.

 

This childlike quality to making music, is that where the nostalgia comes in?

I’ve always been really sensitive to music – that’s always the main thing for me, that it’s able to trigger emotions. So I like to use it as a tool for getting back to certain memories or certain feelings from a long time ago. And at the same time I like to document what I’m doing as I go – so it’s like a diary entry for me, almost. I can listen to tracks that I’ve made that are old now and they’ll take me straight back to where I was . So it’s an interesting tool, a way of evoking things for me.

 

‘I’ve always had an interest in… I don’t like the term spiritual , but I guess spiritual things’

 

 

To me your music is very escapist – it creates a space outside of the environment you’re in.

I’ve always had an interest in… I don’t really like the term spiritual , but I guess spiritual things. And I’m not really sure how it comes out in music, but it just does. Without going too deep into it, I think music or art or anything like that is almost like a portal into something else. I think it is a doorway into maybe a different frequency of consciousness. Well, that’s what it does for me. If it can do that for other people as well then that’s perfect.

 

Hence the title of your new album, Reality Testing – it’s a reference to dreaming, right?

If you find yourself questioning what’s happening in a dream, a reality test is a way of trying to prove that you’re in a dream and you’re not awake. There are certain tests you can do. So maybe if you try and fly and it works, then you know you’re in a dream. I like the idea of being in between sleep and awake. I like the idea that it’s got the word ‘reality’ in it as well – I like to ponder what reality actually is a lot of the time .

 

Do you ever feel an urge to escape more literally? To leave the city, get away from things?

I’d love to at some point. I’m cooped up in a little room making music, and it’s just pure imagination, in a sense. I think if I could set up a studio in a really beautiful place then I’m sure that would have a strong impact on it. As soon as I can afford it and get a bit older, I’d love to get out into the countryside – get out of the city. I think it could get really interesting from then on.

 

 

Lone plays on 11 July during the club night HOAX at Melkweg, Amsterdam. New Subbacultcha! members can win tickets.