Mathias Grassow - Insights - Tambura Drone III

Born in 1963, Matthias Grassow has spent nearly his entire life living in Wiesbaden, Germany, exploring music and sound. At an early age, Grassow was influenced by artists such as Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Pink Floyd, Yes, Stephan Micus, David Hykes, and especially Klaus Wiese, whose singing bowl music can be heard as an influence on his 1999 album Himavat. In the early 1980s Grassow was introduced to spirituality and the works of Alan Watts and made a decision to devote himself to spiritual energy flow and its relationship to music. He has extensively studied Buddhism, the Sufis, mystic Christianity and Celtic and Viking culture. Grassow states, "More and more I fell in love with real spiritual power in music, found especially in overtone chanting and in North India Raga music."

Grassow's recent work reflects these attitudes, as he exclusively works with synthesizer drones and overtone music, sounds he believes have a profound impact on the human psyche. "Mondseele" and "Pathfinder V," from Himavat, show Grassow's intent to leave his compositions open to interpretation. Each song delves deep into a dense ambient world, so you never know exactly what you are hearing. Under the murky layers of sound you might hear a waterfall or the whinny of a horse. Grassow regards "music as a state and not as a tool for enterainment," noting that "these compositions once more are a possible way for each listener to walk on own different paths of sanity and consciousness."

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