“Creation Keeps the Devil Away,” summed up some time ago Hess Is More, to give us a good idea for life. “Music has a calming effect on the mind and on the millions of impulses. I create music to feel good. The process of creation keeps a certain balance on my mind. Some elements of creativity in your life can be balancing,” explains Mikkel Hess, talking on Jazz FM.
While that is true for the soul, the music of Hess Is More just makes the body move! “I was always attracted to the beat in the music. Part of our music is exploration of what you can do, using the beat – both known and reaching into new territories. What I find fascinating about the beat of the music, and the tempo, and the way it unfolds, is how music can play with our sense of time. It’s a time machine,” says Mikkel Hess.
The expression of Hess Is More has the past of jazz and disco, the present of club electronic music and looks forward into the future. “I look forward to further exploring,” Mikkel says. He had started out pretty much as a solo artist, but now finds in sharing a big part of the pleasure of art: “Over the years I have opened up the creative process. More collaborators are part of it. What develops the music further is to step outside of my own imagination. Collaboration and community is part of my musical future.”
Just as feeling a part of a community is our instinctive aim in today’s fractured society: “A lot of people have a longing for this sense of community, as we are more and more isolated now into small segments,” Mikkel feels. On the question of what builds community in life, he has a swift answer: “The open mind.”
That openness – and art – will help us avoid mistakes. “Hey Boss” turned out to be prophetic, having gained so much popularity at the time when the world is shaken by a massive sexual harassment scandal. Being real about sexuality has a firm and steady base: “It’s about openness, respect, honesty. More and more people are realising there’s a lot of work still to be done to reach a more positive place with that type of energy in the world. If you don’t have a sense of community, if you don’t have a sense of connection, then you obviously shouldn’t enter that area,” Mikkel advises.
In what sense the forthcoming single “It’s Backwards No Matter What I Do” will touch reality, life is still to prove: “Let’s see what it means. Oftentimes, it takes a while before we even know what those lyrics are. The lyrics can arrive before the understanding,” said Mikkel Hess on Jazz FM days before moving the Bulgarian music scene with his music. You can listen to the interview, using the “Audio” button.
Hess Is More are at the “Sofia Live Club” on 28 October.
