György Ligeti – Atmosphères
I listen to a lot of Ligeti and I was trying to decide whether I would have the same kind of relationship with it that I do, if it weren't for equating it with 2001 and lots of those sort of ideas. The two are so inseparable in my head. When you think of hurtling through the void, that's what you hear. There's a lot of connections between this and the way I process the vocals in Third Law. The strange thing is that a lot of people relate these sounds to horror and feelings of tension, but actually when you listen to more of that music it does become beautiful. In those tiny moments where motifs resolve, you get this sense of relief and beauty that you become a bit addicted to.

It's difficult to say whether I would love Ligeti and associate his music so strongly with space if it weren't for 2001, but it doesn't matter because the combination is so good. There is so much genius piled into every aspect of 2001 that it's impossible to write a few lines about how important it is, but the use of music is still groundbreaking. Ligeti and the monolith are my defining image of space.