[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e’re still doing the gig,” Simon Green, aka Bonobo, informed me as he picked up the phone in Kiev. His European tour hit disaster on day one when his equipment went missing. Originally from Brighton, Green went from playing in a band to solo artist as he isolated himself from outside influences and built his music up through looping samples and a wide range of instruments. Almost 15 years ago Bonobo’s first album, Animal Magic, showcased his distinctive jazz influences; since then his sound has naturally progressed through five albums to a rich, downbeat 4/4 house beat, most recently produced earlier this year in The North Borders. The record separates itself from its predecessors through spiralling lyrics and homegrown samples, giving his first clear nod to house influences. Expertly crafted, The North Borders and its acclaimed predecessor Black Sands, are lavishly produced, layered records amounting to a sound which sits aside Four Tet, Shlohmo and James Blake in London’s ambient electronic scene.

Dividing this work into individual musical sections means travelling with a six piece band from Bucharest, through Brixton Academy and onto the US and Australia. Difficulties naturally arise and are resolved, however when every piece of your band’s equipment is robbed on the first day of your tour, one is naturally taken aback. I spoke to Green a few hours after he awoke in his hotel room to find…well, nothing. “We got in last night to Ukraine and then all our stuff got knicked from the hotel rooms while we were asleep. But we’re still doing the gig.” His natural frustration resounds as he spouts the suspicion of an inside job. “We haven’t really managed to replace most of the stuff, it’s kind of really corrupt out here as well so I reckon the hotel sold all the stuff basically; and now we got to deal with it.”

Far from the divas or rock stars of other touring bands, the live DJ develops his music not just for the printed LP, but through the evolution of their music from the Soundcloud mix to the four month tour. Green insists that he does not let the studio form of production be affected by the prospect of recreating it live; “The thing is I treat them as two separate things, I don’t let the studio stuff be informed by whether it will work live. I treat the studio stuff as more of an electronic thing and the tour as a live thing. Then I have to try and figure it out afterwards, how I’m going to translate it.”

The North Borders is the product of eighteen months in isolation crafting a record out of sounds such as coins dropping into water, crunching paper next to a mic and vocals from neo-soul star Erykah Badu. “I’ve always worked the same way you know, my music is the product of experimentation — I don’t write tunes in the traditional sense.” With a rejection of themes and solid plans, the process is long and drawn out. “I just find sounds and mess around with them and see what works, most of the tracks are born out of the process of experimentation. They are born out of four bar loops and stringing loads of sounds together, then I take a breather and bring the whole sound together a little bit more. Within the loops I seek the song structure.”

With such an isolated and meticulous creative process, Bonobo’s move across the Atlantic following Black Sands appears to be a strange choice for effecting his music. When asked whether geographical matters such as these have any real bearing on his end product, Green retorted, “Nah, I don’t think so. Honestly, I think I’ve made a London record in New York. I think I’m transient enough not to be affected by geographical specifics.” This may be part of a bigger change in the way cities are playing a lesser part in the development of sound — a specifically large effect seems to have hit electronic. No longer are producers limited to records found in cities’ shops, the digital age provides instant access to the world’s offerings. “I think that music isn’t as geographically specific as it used to be.” Green proposed, “the way music is digested now — I think there still is a London sound, a Berlin sound — but because of Soundcloud, Boiler Room and YouTube, everything’s shared immediately that way. All artists are on the internet now.”

Despite this rejection of geographical influence and the division of sound by national borders, Bonobo’s music still seems majorly influenced by London. The compact loops and chiming melodies of The North Borders reflect and add to the London landscape of Kieran Hebden, Sam Shepherd and Burial. When asked about his musical background, Green accepts that his influences are fundamentally found at home, “Yeah definitely, I always have my ears to London more than anywhere else. I definitely think that’s going to be something that carries through.” While accepting where his influences stem from, he rejects that the location of them has any effect on the music. The music is just the music.

He created his alias through convenience: needing a name for his solo work he went to the most immediate source. A book about Bonobos that he was reading — Will Self’s novel Great Apes. Similarly, his references to geography and borders are just convenient, these facades are nothing but names, his music has shifted with his taste. He explains that the title of the latest record, The North Borders, is derived from his feeling of ignorance flying from London to New York, not knowing what lay on the huge frozen expanses below. When asked whther big idea have influenced his music he flatly denies it, “No I don’t think so, its just a collection of music. It’s not really about geographical anything — it’s just about the music. I don’t really start a record with any momentum, I just make music that reflects where I’m at, at the minute. It’s got to be just a reflection of my tastes.”

After five albums spanning nearly fifteen years, Green is still pushing his boundaries according to his constantly moving taste. This is perhaps the reason his music continues to stay alive long after its creation. “It’s got to be just a reflection of my tastes, for the last ten years of my life I’ve been making music, so the main thing is to keep it alive, to keep it interesting — to make it exciting for myself,” he explained. For this we can be excited, two years following the release of Black Sands, we were treated to a remixed version. We hope that a similar project may be on the cards for The North Borders. When asked about what we can expect after his October 3rd Dublin gig in the Olympia, Green refuses to give much away; “I can’t tell you too much right now but there’s going to be a big live release to come out later, probably next year. I’ve got another single coming in June, and a few more remixes. But the way it’s evolving is through the live show”.

Bonobo’s music and evolution seems to have been influenced by nothing but his shifting tastes, something which increasingly strikes a chord with the European and American dance scene. His music and ideology of non-nationalistic scenes makes sense in the music industry where Soundcloud, the Boiler Room and Pitchfork have taken over where local radio, the club night and the music mag have dwindled in influence. A process which owes itself to the lack of influence from without and the evolving taste presented through his commitment to touring live. His local surroundings in Brooklyn, his translation to a six-piece band, and his general lack of equipment a few hours before his European tour cannot shape an artist who moves with himself and no one else.