Seeds Mix #9: Hamie Jouse’s mixtape for benevolent collusion Kodama

Whilst setting up his spectral light show on the Bush of Ghosts stage, Tia and Wil (that’s us) caught wind of the music he was playing. What unfolded in those early morning hours was something special – patient, ambient-soundscapes with a deep understanding of the fractal nature of the forest, where every process is made up of countless sub-processes doing their best impression of one solid bit.

This mix captures that philosophy; energised yet gently held, pulsing yet ambient. Mirroring both the slow, steady rhythm of plant growth and the constant, quick reactions within the cells. There are rarely right angles in the forest, just lots of individual leaves doing their thing- a benevolent collusion with the kodama, those forest sprites that House channelled through his psychogeographic, hauntological light work.

From the Rhubarb Triangle of West Yorkshire, where he dabbles in ambient matters with his long time friend Aaron during hazy Sunday afternoon straggler zones, overlooking different vistas, House has created something that feels like plugging into the mainframe with beings deep in the woods, under a very full moon.

Always bring a memory stick, indeed.

Who are you?

You, probably ∞♡…

Musically though I’m just a product of a load of great communities, bands, parties and people I’ve been with, in and around. In no particular order… Duke, Comfort Peter, Fever, Endless City, Old Red, Resonance, NARR, HCE, Wizold Sage, Dima Rabik, Amateur Hour, Workshop, Map, Slop, LTJ, Phaedra, a Village Mind, Giggle + a few more that never got round to the naming process. Also any I’ve forgotten because it was too much fun. Long live DIY music in all forms, nooks and crannies.

Why are you here?

I was doing some special lighting for the Bush of Ghosts at Watching Trees which involved filming the daytime trees each day then projecting them back onto their evening counterparts through a load of prisms. The arty bullshit behind it is that it was trying to bridge the gaps of time and space and memory, creating past tense ghosts of the daylight. Using the projector as the one light source, the prisms split the beam into thousands of tiny rainbows all containing it’s own unique hue and personality alongside the essence of the original whole. It was inspired by the whole psychogeographic cut up tape drift animism forest sprite faerie kodama hauntological kinda thing but it also just looks pretty and I didn’t realy have to do much cus the trees and the sun have it all covered.

As I spent so much time messing with the projectors on the stage I was playing some music during setup and Tia and Wil enjoyed it, so here I am 🙂 I have dabbled in ambient matters with my mate Aaron (A far better gardener and DJ than me) for a looooooong time now, so it has been real nice to share this with a wider audience outside the usual sunday afternoon hazy straggler zones overooking different vistas of west yorkshire. Always bring a memory stick!

When are you happiest?

I’m trying to be happiest right now but yesterday I found that quite hard and who knows about tomorrow. I do really love plugging into the mainframe and being with beings deep in the woods under a full moon though. Maybe even with some tunes on.

Are there specific genres or styles of music that you feel naturally complement the act of planting seeds?

Planting seeds is great but it takes a certain amount of energy and foresight to plant seeds right now that you might never even see fully grown in your lifetime. I like to feel energised and gently held by benevolent tunes with a pulse and not too many sudden movements. I feel like planting seeds is one of the biggest movements you can do to reclaim your physical, mental and emotional space from the machine, so lyrics and samples that encourage thought about this process always compliment it nicely.

How important is minimalism in music designed for slow, organic processes like plant growth? 

I feel like minimalism has its place but the natural world can actually be pretty maximal most of the time. It’s just our new world has so much noise we now see that natural chaos as calming. Every process is made up of countless sub-processes, self replicating patterns and individual parts doing an impression of one solid bit. The fractal nature of this is something I like to play with and bring out in music – what is fast and what is slow? What is ambient? It’s totally subjective but I love music which somehow manages to pack itself with energy but still remain relaxed and ambient – that’s very seedish. There’s rarely a right angle in the forest, but you’ll find a hell of a lot of them in the topiary and landscaping of royal gardens. That’s a nice tree, but it would be a lot nicer if it was a cube. Once you zoom in there’s no right angles though, just a load of individual leaves doing their thing doing their best impression of one.

How do you approach creating music that mirrors the slow, steady rhythm of plant growth?

I love music that manages to mirror this on all levels, some elements showing the slow steady rhythm and some parts mirroring the constant quick reactions and interactions within the cells of the plant. I think we project speed onto the plant from our own perspective when comparing it to the speed at which our lives unfold, but I love to think about how time perception can vary from species to species.

What role does silence or pauses play in evoking the growth process in your music?

I love to walk as many places as I can and whenever I walk I enforce a strict no-music rule, apart from in emergencies of course. This silence brings an opportunity to do some deeper listening to things like the wind in the trees and the birds doing their thing and the dual carriageway in the distance. These are all very helpful things and can be fed back into the cycle of creation nicely.

What instruments or sounds to you evoke the feeling of nature and growth most effectively?

Acoustic instruments which require a human to function feel the most natural and fitting for the garden to me. It’s great what we’ve done with synths and electronics in the last 70 years or so, but that’s so new compared to the entire history of nature and humans. I reckon some of the older plants might be a bit confused about kick drums and what they are doing on the turf. We’re all going to have to find a symbiotic relationship though – everybody loves a kick drum sometimes. I like to imagine how many of them I’ve heard in my life and how different it all is now to when you heard the first one.

What did you grow in your garden this year?

I’m from the Rhubarb Triangle which is almost as exciting as the Bermuda or Wold Newton Triangle. Wakefield is the rhubarb capital of the world, so it would be rude not to grow a bit even if it’s just for bragging rights and crumbles. The trick to good rhubarb is forcing it to grow earlier than it would naturally, keeping it in total darkness, making it constantly reach for a light it is unlikely to find. It’s not too kind to the rhubarb but that’s the truth, it’s not nice but it makes the taste way better for us bigger and more advanced beings doing the harvesting.

What do you find most challenging about caring for new plants?

I’m actually naturally terrible at caring for plants. I’m trying my best and I really love them but I really do struggle with almost every aspect of it.  Plants are the chaos which requires the order of the seasons and surrounding environment to flourish. My current life contains a chaos to order ratio that can be no good for the plants if I’m honest. Maybe when life changes I can be trusted to look after some in my own space. For now I visit them at their own homes and it works well for both of us, I think or hope there’s mutual respect. A cornus is not just for christmas.

Have you ever used music or other sensory experiences while tending to your plants?A few of us are working at the moment to create a sensory garden, arranged in separate areas for feel, smell, taste, sight and sound and with the grey areas between the categories seeping into each other’s spaces. There were a lot of different plants, lights and sounds of all descriptions – not one of them will have the power to overwhelm the senses or create a negative experience for any of the other plants or for the people loitering in the flowerbeds. All of them will be a treat for at least one of the senses. Nature is such a holistically sensory experience, I love the idea that gardens are kind of like playlists of curated moments.

Check out Jamie’s portfolio: https://www.hamiejouse.co.uk/art

Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/hamie_23

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