10. John Tavener
I’m always searching out that type of music, religious ecstasy or someone’s interpretation of God. One day I was driving and that version of ‘Song Of The Angel’ came on the radio, and it was one of those ‘I think I’m gonna have to pull over now’ moments because I was overcome. She’s just singing “Hallelujah”, but really stretched out. And it’s just so orgasmic. It’s just amazing. Sacred music is really interesting to me, I remember reading a Coil interview where Sleazy made the point that the idea of music as entertainment is very modern. For so long in human history, music played this important sacred role and it’s only relatively recently that the idea of entertainment or commerce has come into it. Exploring how music can be transcendent and connect you to something greater than yourself is really interesting and I love those experiences. I think they’re an important way of changing your perspective and making you get over yourself. I grew up a very mild Anglican and I might have been a lot more into it if the intensity was cranked up a lot more. It was too mild for me.
