Composer

The Beatles, 'Revolver.' It's pop. It's classic. It's experimental. It's revolutionary.

The Beatles, 'Revolver.' It's pop. It's classic. It's experimental. It's revolutionary.

As a composer, it is a great thrill for me to have an album in the top 15 of the pop charts.

Music is an intrinsic part of life; therefore, it is important to transport different forms of artistic expression, science, and mathematics into compositions.

Often, I could not find the range of emotions in classical music which I found in the The Rolling Stones and Hendrix. Listening to Bach, I found a deep spirituality and felt elevated above the human level. Yet the feeling and emotions attached to popular music speak to us far more personally, and I couldn't leave that behind.

I think what really stays with me is the idea that you can write music about the texture of a wall, and everything is in some way connected.

On every new project, I try to write in a different way and see if there's a new side of myself I haven't explored.

I couldn't find a way to write music with numbers and rules and schedules. So I tried to forget the academic idea of music and started to see if it was possible to do creative work, taking in all the influences I wanted to keep.

I like music that expresses what I think.

I am very happy to be able to cross borders to go to China, to Mexico, to America, everywhere, and there is an instant understanding of what I do. This is incredibly beautiful because you've suddenly communicated with everyone without speaking the same language. The language of music is able to go anywhere.

I feel a vocabulary in my music that is coming from popular music. Popular music is like the mother of all languages.

It is a boring life if you stick to all the rules.

I was a teenager, and I started to go to high school, and it was a disaster!

You can learn and enrich yourself through the process of knowing a different musical culture.

I went to Mali for the first time in 2000, and I met Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko - two of the greatest kora players of our time.

You can create something strong in art with a few notes. It is like how Aboriginal drawings have a simplicity that is incredibly rich.

I love The Edge's guitar style; it is unique. There is an ancient world resonating in his guitar sound.

I discovered that I didn't want to be strict like a German composer.

It is very important to have connection with your soul and open your heart to people.

It's very interesting to see how the music is used, as sometimes you have composed something with a very different intention, and then suddenly you see it connected to something different. For example, it was incredibly strong and beautiful the first time I saw 'This Is England' by Shane Meadows.