I bet you have never come across such a peculiar record; ‘Exploration SX-240’ is an absolutely immersive jump into the sonic fabric of a single synthetiser, the obscure and rare Kawai SX-240. American composer and musician Kenneth Roberts uses it to compose a full album, exploring new-wave, electronica and industrial stylings in the process.
Pushing the machine to its absolute limits, Roberts showcases his sound design abilities, delving into a plethora of different patches, be it a long soundscape or noisy percussive hits. Honestly, ‘Exploration SX-240’ is one of those records one has to listen to at least once. Vibrant, nostalgic and cinematic, the album is as evocative as it could be. Notably, the album is released via One Instrument, a label specialising in publishing music made by one sole instrument.
Intrigued by the project, we caught up with Kenneth to find out more about his artistry and future goals… interview below:
Hey Kenneth! Hope you are well! We had a look at your catalogue and there’s a wealth of stunning music to discover. Something that’s instantly clear is your eclectic approach to it – how would you define yourself? a composer? or simply a visionary?
I’m doing very well, thank you. You certainly started off with a tough question. “Visionary” feels a little grandiose. I will say, in the last few years, I have created projects that seem to defy easy classification. With PDX Dreams, I took field recordings at locations around my hometown in Portland, Oregon that were important to me throughout my life and I added various keyboard instruments over the top that reflected my memories at these locations. It created a really unique listening experience. But what genre of music is it? The feedback I got on it is that there isn’t one.
With my most recent EP, Exploration SX-240 I have run into a similar issue. When I was first asked about what genre it was, I tended to start with what it wasn’t. “Well, it isn’t EDM…it isn’t synthwave…it isn’t exactly ambient..” I believe that these works are pretty original in nature and hard to classify. I have certainly called myself a composer in the past. I was classically trained in music composition in high school and college. I’ve also been a singer-songwriter, rock band member, jazz band musician. In the end, I just consider myself an artist who writes music with a unique style, for better or worse.
Often, musicians have a ‘trigger’ in their past, an event or a set of circumstances that pushed them to pursue music, both as a hobby and a career. What was (and is) your trigger?
For sure it was my family. I grew up in a house that was filled with music. My mom was the neighbourhood piano teacher from the time I was born until I was five. My older sister played piano. My parents sang. From what my dad told me, I started playing Christmas carol melodies by ear when I was around three years old. Always at the lower register of the piano, and very loud and dramatic. At the age of four, I started formal piano lessons.
I picked up viola, violin, bass guitar, guitar and orchestral percussion along the way which led to a lot of really cool musical experiences and performances in my life. I’ve played orchestral music in sold-out concert halls in Europe, rock music in packed theatres and clubs in the US, jazz music in intimate settings. I am very thankful to have that breadth of experience to draw on when creating my own music.
Doubling down on the last question: what motivates you today to continue your music research in the field?
I once saw the quote “Music is what feelings sound like.” which is credited to Georgia Cates. I can’t think of a better description of music, and I love the fact I get the opportunity to experience this from the role of the listener and as an artist. I’m always on the lookout for new kinds of music I haven’t heard before, sometimes much to the chagrin of those around me. I’m fascinated with how we as humans express ourselves through music and art in general, in so many different ways. As an artist, if I go too long without working on a project, I start to get anxious. The need to create runs very deep in my life, and I find I am typically more happy with projects that push boundaries of some sort, or are clearly unique in some way. This isn’t so much research related, but more letting my mind run free of confining thoughts at the initial stage of a project. I suppose this could be called inner research if that makes sense.
You recently released an evocative and peculiar album, ‘Exploration SX-240’. Released via the One Instrument label, the record follows the concept of using only one instrument in its arrangements. The first question is, why did you choose the Kawai SX-240, and do you own it to this day?
I love your use of the word evocative. The music was written to transport the listener to a place where they naturally create their own story around it. As for the synthesizer, the Kawai SX-240 was the first synth I ever owned. My parents bought it for me when I was young. It is something of a rarity now, and I still own it. It has a lot of sentimental value to me and I can’t think of a scenario where I would part with it. It has very simple, limiting architecture, and it is a bit of a pain to program but it produces some really amazing sounds.
I was a fan of the One Instrument label for quite some time before we decided to release a project together and I had heard all of their releases. I knew they hadn’t released anything with the Kawai SX-240 on it, so in my mind, it was the perfect fit for both of us. I got to use a synthesizer I hadn’t touched in a very long time, and the label got a release with a unique sonic palette.
What are some of the challenges that presented to you, when composing using only one instrument?
It wasn’t just the one instrument restriction that was challenging. There is also a policy that no external effects or modulation other than reverb are allowed. The idea is to really feature the voice of the instrument being used. I didn’t realize how much I loved delay until I couldn’t use it. As I mentioned, the instrument itself has a very set architecture and there are some things it excels at, such as pads and bass, and other things it is near impossible to get out of it, such as percussion. There were some sounds I was hearing in my head that I could not create using this synth. It was in those moments that I had to be flexible, be willing to change things up and find alternatives that were possible within the constraints of what I had to work with.
As a result of your latest album, would you say that limitations positively impact creativity, and would the record have been as good if you had used a wider selection of instruments?
Without a doubt, limitation positively impacts creativity. I recently read an interview with Trent Reznor talking about the work he and Atticus Ross have done. He said the first thing they do is pick a limited amount of instruments that they are going to use and stick to it as best they can. Otherwise, they spend all their time changing instruments. I have run into this in my own studio. In the back of your mind you have this FOMO thing going on, like the next synth you pick could somehow be better than what you are using. Because of the limitations of this project, I pushed this fairly simple synth to its absolute limits, going well beyond what I thought it was capable of.
There is a lot of satisfaction in that, and growth that occurred in me personally as a sound designer along this journey. I wouldn’t have experienced this without the limitations. Would the record be better if I had been able to use a wider selection of instruments? That is, of course, subjective and a bit hard for me to answer. Would John Carpenter’s Halloween soundtrack have been better with a big budget and a full orchestra? Again, we come back to the beauty that can be found within limitations that breed creativity. Could I add some ear candy with some other synths or effects that I couldn’t achieve with what I had to work with? Of course.
But at the end of the day, I was able to produce my vision for this project. To me, there is no asterisk at the end of this release, if that makes sense. A listener and fellow musician recently gave me a huge compliment when he said “I thought using only one synth would be too limiting until I heard your music.” That was the goal.
You are a trained musician and composer, but also a sonic explorer and sound designer – do the two things influence each other?
It seems like they interfere with each other more than influence each other a lot of the time. In particular, the sound design interferes with the composing. Let me state up front that I am a pad junkie. More often than I care to admit, I’ll go down a rabbit hole developing a patch only to emerge hours later with something that sounds cool by itself, but I realize it isn’t useable in a track.
Like a single patch that rolls the full spectrum from 30Hz through 20kHz, has a lot of movement and sounds fantastic but where is the room for the lead and the bass? I tend to operate best when I have a vision for a project, a theme, a story, and then do the sound design to fit what I need. I’m a big fan of concept albums, and most of my solo works come from having a story in mind as I write them. I just try to keep it subtle and let the listener make up their own story as they interpret my music through their life experiences.
What are the next steps for your project? Anything exciting on the horizon?
I had a fantastic experience working with the One Instrument label for this project and right now I’m really focusing on the promotion side of things for this EP. As to what is next on the horizon, I have a couple of different projects in mind, but I haven’t made any firm decisions yet. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be hard to place firmly into a specific genre. I’ll definitely keep you posted.
