Want to put the cosmos into sound? Space travel might still be a distant dream, but Tone Ranger is already providing the soundtrack. Read on for our interview with Tone Ranger 5 years after our initial discussion here.
Great to have you back after 5 years. Tell us a few things about Mother Moon. What is the main idea behind it?
The main thrust of the song is to go beyond Earthly limitations and connect with the cosmos (like a lot of my songs). I wrote it with my wife in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm, while staying in a 700 year old barn in southern France
Mother Moon marks a pivot toward your vocals being front and center. What prompted this transition, and was there a specific moment during the writing process when you realized this story needed to be told through lyrics rather than just instrumentation?
On my last album, Confluence, I started weaving my voice in more and more, with lyrics on tracks like “Touchstone” and “Over the Moon”. There are some songs that just come out as vocal songs and I’m trying to do better to build them into their fullness. I guess any song about the moon is fair game for a vocal performance.
Your most honest and personal lyric?
“I’ve been here before long ago, always wanting more of your glow – now I know how to let it go.”
Ever since starting out on my musical journey, the moon has always been a teacher – always there marking time, always showing far-off beauty beyond this world, showing up in feminine wisdom that I’ve encountered along the way. It’s an acknowledgement of what I’ve learned and that I have the strength to pass it on.
You co-wrote this song with your wife, Gabriella. How did that personal partnership affect the “yearning to be connected with nature” that the song explores?
Gabriella is a writer and has a real talent for expressing big ideas in words and my strong suit is being able to express some sort of ethereal cosmic way of looking at the world and bringing those two elements together. Our partnership makes song ideas like this a more complete picture.
As a film composer, you’re used to scoring someone else’s visual narrative. When writing a standalone single like Mother Moon, do you find yourself scoring a mental movie, or is the process entirely different?
Yeah, I feel like I’m always writing to imagery in my head into some kind of scene unfolding. The lyrics are really grounded in a lot of imagery, which helps to paint a picture like rising with the moon.
Artists and people that have influenced you?
I’d say the electronic realm, Ratatat has been a huge influence, Daft Punk, Animal Collective – people who really think outside the box of electronic and bring a lot of natural elements into it really inspire me. On the Americana side, I’m a big fan of the crooner Marty Robbins and the wicked spaghetti western soundtracks of Ennio Morricone.
In which place or state of mind do you imagine people might listen to your music?
When people are looking to explore, they can tune into the music and find all sorts of terrains. There’s really gentle flowing ambient music that I make as a series called “Explorations in the Stereo Field”. In contrast, there are these high velocity high intensity peaks, songs like mother Moon, that tap into more of a lightning kind of energy.
What is the story behind your name?
I was on the UC Berkeley radio station and I was playing music that was a mixture of all kinds of Americana and exploratory electronic / ambient worlds and the name seemed to fit quite well. I love that it has a few meanings – sound explorer, working in a wide range of musical styles. Funny enough, there are a couple other Tone Rangers out there – one’s a rad guitar pedal builder in Texas, and another makes boutique guitars. Maybe we’ll all get a coffee together and talk about our strange parallel journeys. Ride on, rangers!
Thank you!
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