Morgan Visconti is a songwriter and producer born in London and living in New York. His own music is a melodic electronic based pop with influences from New Order, Depeche Mode, David Bowie. He is also a member of alt electronic band Ready, Steady, Die! and goth rock band The Ancients, also collaborating frequently with family members Mary Hopkin and Jessica Lee Morgan. Check out the exclusive Interview below:
1. Your roots can often shape your journey. Can you share a story or moment from your early life that had a significant impact on your path into music?
MORGAN VISCONTI: When I was a toddler, my Mum (Mary Hopkin) and Dad (Tony Visconti) had a professional home studio in London. The band, Sparks were there recording their album Indiscreet. I remember hearing the sounds made by the musicians in the live room on the other side of this thick glass, coming back off tape in the control room and sounding larger than life. I wanted to learn how to do that.
2. Did your musical journey begin with formal training, or was it more of a personal exploration? How has that shaped your unique approach to your craft?
MORGAN VISCONTI:The path that led me to what I do was very much trial and error, learn by doing kind of thing. However, the basic tools such as learning how to listen and feel music definitely came from having musical parents. I was also lucky enough to have a couple of terrific music teachers who made learning theory fun and memorable. I often reflect on having my GCSE curriculum include Stravinskiโs The Rite of Spring and Queen album The Works being about as comprehensive a course as you can get.
3. Who were some of the most influential figures in your early musical life, and how did they inspire your sound? Also, whatโs the story behind choosing the name โMORGAN VISCONTIโ?
MORGAN VISCONTI: I hate to name drop, however I canโt overlook how influential it was to hear my Dad bring home rough mixes of David Bowieโs Heroes and Lodger. It set the bar high for what can be done in the spirit of exploration. It didnโt sound like anything else I was hearing on the radio. I got the sense that it was going to be something very new. I was also hooked to the radio in the early eighties and everything coming out sounded original and exciting to me.
The second question appears more geared towards an band or artist name, however I did choose my first name Morgan from my own Welsh family tree (as did my sister Jessica Lee Morgan). I was born Delaney Visconti and felt it didnโt fit my identity so I changed it at some point during school.
4. What do you believe sets your music apart? How would you describe your sound to someone discovering you for the first time, and what emotions or experiences do you hope to evoke in your listeners?
MORGAN VISCONTI: I think everyoneโs music is the growth of their influences and theyโll all be unique to their personal journey. I think the early random discoveries of mine through Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and the types of instruments around my childhood home set me on a path to making electronic music but with kind of a folk heart and soul. I hope that the kinds of back to roots synthesizer tones and atmospheric effects transport listeners to the far away planets I envision. I always need a melodic and harmonic (emotional) through line in everything I write and I think thatโs where my classical training and absorption of my Motherโs music comes into play.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as EDM?
MORGAN VISCONTI: The release of this album, Twilight City and the nature of it being old recordings was a real retrospection of my career. I had wanted to put some of these recording out for years but while sifting through the tapes I did hear and DNU (do not use!) several tracks that were highly obvious as to their influences. I think there are necessary and cringey moments in everyoneโs repertoire. But part of recording and writing for me especially in my early years was just woodshedding. e.g. โToday I will write a chord progression in the style of Black Celebration era Martin Gore.โ I canโt even listen to it now but it was part of my homework and it helped hone my skills to where I could take them somewhere original. I still write โpastichesโ where I want to experiment with a technique I learned on a youtube channel. Iโll stash the technique away for a rainy day but probably never listen to that piece ever again. All this is to say that the reason Iโm such an advocate against AI is that it allows a โcreatorโ to bypass this learning period where youโre developing your voice.
6. Music often transcends entertainment. Whatโs your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles โ and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
MORGAN VISCONTI: Iโm quite a politically charged person but Iโve never had the skill set to make my music into my inner voice. I just watched A Complete Unknown and thatโs what Dylan did so effortlessly and it was something he didnโt know how NOT to do.
Yes music can charge, inspire and motivate but it can also heal, energize and soothe. Iโve been dealing with chronic anxiety my whole life and recently bringing meditation into my routine. I actually now love those aural baths of chords and slow melodies that are almost clichรฉ. Some of the music on this particular album is in that realm of โambientโ or โrelaxationโ music and perhaps itโs why Iโm releasing it now. I believe music can provide escape or connection and itโs such a profoundly malleable tool for us as human beings.
7. Do you feel the rewards of your musical career match the energy and passion you invest in it, or are there different kinds of fulfillment youโre still seeking?
MORGAN VISCONTI: Itโs something I think about a lot. Releasing music to the public can be and often is a disappointing feeling. You get so charged making it, putting the details on the album cover, getting distribution and when itโs out it can feel like postpartum. I suppose that says a lot about why I make it and itโs the creation of it that most excites me, less about doing the outreach, social media, endless cycle of content creationโฆ Iโm extremely lucky to have found a revenue stream making music for ads and that allowed me to start a label (human label) and pursue my own music as a creative outlet and help others do the same. The most rewarding thing Iโve had from making my own music has been playing it live. Thereโs nothing else like it. I suppose a million streams could come close but until thenโฆ
8. Can you walk us through your creative process? From the first spark of an idea to the finished track, whatโs the most essential part of your process, and how do collaboration or external influences shape your work?
MORGAN VISCONTI: I have two processes which I fall back on. One is to go into the studio and mess around with sound, try a new technique out (as I mentioned I seek out tips and tricks on youtube when I feel stuck) and a sound or a certain arpeggiator or modular patch will inspire a fuller piece to form. But I try to balance that with getting outside. There are studies on the brain that show that being idle produces a kind of neuron storm. Getting away from the instruments and the studio is just as important as mastering it. And you can combine both. I often write the music in the studio but step away and let the top line and lyrics come to me when walking and more often than not, thatโs the time that it all clicks into place.
I probably collaborate enough on my own music โ I tend to be a recluse โ but I do work in several other partnerships โ my bands Ready, Steady, Die! And The Ancients which keeps me honest and inspired.
9. Whatโs been the most challenging hurdle in either your personal life or music career, and how has it shaped you as an artist?
MORGAN VISCONTI: One of the most challenging chapters of life was moving to America. I had to reconcile an alluring new life in an alien city with leaving half of my family behind in the UK. I had endless stomach aches for a couple of years (Iโve heard NYC can do that to you). However, the people I met in those first few years really pointed me in the right direction. I was invited to play with several new and established bands, brought in as a side man and later mixer and arranger. Iโm lucky to have been exposed to a variety of musical opportunities and not the distractions of drugs and other things that were on my periphery in New York City in 1990. The variety taught me to be flexible in whom I deal with and how the music gets made.
10. On the flip side, what moment or achievement in your career so far has made you feel the proudest, and why? And letโs talk about your latest release and future plans.
MORGAN VISCONTI: Of the huge crossover events, after writing for ads for almost 20 years in 2011, I wrote a very shoegaze, short song for a Dove commercial about self esteem. The response was so positive that it inspired me to turn it into a full length single called โCould Youโ. This really gave me the confidence to start releasing music under my name and shortly after I released my first album called โRideโ.
11. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
MORGAN VISCONTI: I really try to ignore it and generally it is only one in a hundred people that seem to have something negative to say (about me or my music). I remember opening up for my Dadโs band (At the time Holy Holy) to a crowd of Bowie fans. After my first (electronic dance pop) song someone yelled out โHEY! NICE BACKING TRACKโ. But it was such a minor bump among an otherwise happy crowd that it allowed me to push it aside. I do think that there is something of etiquette that has been lost some time ago โ online behavior can be abhorrent as it strips you of the empathy that comes from speaking face to face. People heckling from crowds, well I guess thatโs always been a real issue for composers going back hundreds of years. Back to Stravinski and The Rite of Spring allegedly sparking a riot on its first performance. You just have to believe that what youโre doing is working and that itโs unrealistic to think youโre going to please everybody. In fact if youโre evoking ANY kind of visceral response, youโre doing it right. Donโt let the toxicity get into you because that can be a dangerous path.
12. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
MORGAN VISCONTI: The control freak in me would prefer the studio as well, you have the time and space to get something as close to perfect as it will ever go. However the few times Iโve played live are terrifying at first but end with a huge endorphin rush that I never get in the studio. Live is HARD WORK though and certain people thrive on doing it constantly. Iโm not one of those people.
13. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
MORGAN VISCONTI: I tend to write lyrics more literally than most of the poetic lyricists I aspire to so there probably isnโt much ambiguity there for the audience. (I did mention that Iโm a huge Kraftwerk fanโฆ) What does excite me is knowing that the underlying music could inspire a visual or body feeling and for everyone that will be different. Iโve learned a lot from composing for ads and film how one piece of instrumental music can move people in different ways and that can be frustrating when something you believe is perfect emotionally for a story and the client blatantly rejects it. Their childhood was evidently a very different one and thatโs not a snub, itโs understanding that weโre individual and have individual responses. Knowing that helps navigate music from collaborating in the studio to the critics. Itโs also a gorgeous feeling to go to a show by an artist you love and knowing that everyone in the room found joy from that one song that you love. We can be so different yet the same.
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