🎧 歌曲：Control – Nathan Paul/Tommy Lehman
📀 专辑：《Free Trap》（2024）
🎵歌手个人网站：https://nathanpaulsound.com/nathan-paul
专辑故事：Secret Eclectic Interview with Nathan Paul
SE: Describe your sound in 3 words
NP: I wouldn’t describe my sound in 3 words, It’s a multi layered sound, fully influenced by the history of black American music. Quite difficult to do.
SE: Tell us a few things about Free Trap. What is the main idea behind it?
NP: The term Trap Jazz already exist and the term is not accurate in my opinion, there are def trap elements but i’m not catching the jazz elements, the term free trap is to separate from the term trap jazz which has very little jazz in it. Jazz is heavily influenced by the art of improv, taking an unplanned solo on the spot. Free Jazz is a popular type of jazz from the 60’s. terms like “free game,” “free jazz” it’s all black expression. The word free is a play on a few things, the term trap is directly related to trap music. Free trap is literally a mix of trap and jazz or trap and live improvised music. We have the 808, a simple loop to play over (my sax represents a rapper in this case), if you listen to my sax like it’s a rapper you may have a better chance of hearing the vision.
SE: How did you come up with the name for the record?
NP: Live drums are on every track. If one were to say “this isn’t trap” that would be accurate in as much as it’s not pure trap, but take the sax out, all the horns, what does it sound like than?
SE: You blend numerous different genres. Which artists or musical influences have had the biggest impact on your sound, and how do you pay homage to them in your work?
NP: It’s all interpretation, I could have the same exact influences as many people but my interpretation could be very different. I’m not trying to blend numerous genres per se, I basically create what I perceive to be a funky drum beat, I don’t censor myself, I go with the first thing I write and keep adding parts until it sounds right. In my mind i’m making a fun beat to solo over, that’s the jist.
I could simply have my friend add guitar cause I want another layer in general and now it sounds like rock with the guitar influence
SE: Is improvisation a talent or a skill?
NP: Both. But what it is, is really just fluently speaking a language. We don’t plan our conversations or read a script whenever we are hanging out with friends. You just have to be good at speaking the musical language and master a specific dialect.
SE: Your motto is ‘I play energy, not notes.’ Tell us the most powerful album you wish you had composed yourself.
NP: I still haven’t composed it, it doesn’t exist yet.
SE: If the music of Nathan-Paul was a film, which film would that be?
NP: I don’t think it exist yet lol, very hard question to fully answer
SE: What advice would you give to your younger self?
NP: You are perfect, go further with what you are doing. Divine music instincts you have.
(808鼓机与即兴演奏交相辉映，萨克斯风如说唱歌手般流畅自如——粗粝失真的陷阱音乐节拍，狂野奔放的自由爵士即兴，无限的律动。阅读下方我们与这位才华横溢的艺术家的访谈！
用三个词描述你的声音
我无法用三个词来形容我的音乐风格，它是一种层次丰富的音乐，深受美国黑人音乐历史的影响。这很难做到。
请介绍一下Free Trap这款游戏。它的核心理念是什么？
“Trap Jazz”这个词已经存在了，但我认为它并不准确。它确实包含一些Trap元素，但我听不出爵士乐的成分。“Free Trap”这个词是为了区别于“Trap Jazz”，因为后者几乎不包含爵士乐元素。爵士乐深受即兴演奏艺术的影响，即现场进行即兴独奏。“Free Jazz”是60年代流行的一种爵士乐类型。“free game”、“free jazz”之类的说法都是黑人音乐的表达方式。“free”这个词本身就包含一些含义，“trap”这个词则直接与Trap音乐相关。“Free Trap”实际上是Trap和爵士乐，或者Trap和现场即兴音乐的混合体。我们有808鼓机，一个简单的循环乐段可以用来演奏（在这个例子中，我的萨克斯代表一个说唱歌手），如果你像听说唱歌手那样听我的萨克斯，你或许更容易理解我的创作意图。
你是怎么想到给这张唱片取这个名字的？
每首歌都有现场鼓声。如果有人说“这不是陷阱音乐”，这话没错，因为它确实不是纯粹的陷阱音乐。但如果去掉萨克斯风和所有管乐，那听起来会是什么样子呢？
你的音乐融合了多种不同的风格。哪些艺术家或音乐影响对你的音乐风格影响最大？你又是如何通过作品向他们致敬的？
一切都是诠释，我可能和很多人有着完全相同的音乐影响，但我的诠释却可能截然不同。我并不是刻意融合多种音乐风格，我只是创作我认为很棒的鼓点，我不会自我设限，我会从最初写下的旋律开始，不断添加元素，直到听起来合适为止。在我看来，我只是想创作一个适合即兴演奏的节奏，仅此而已。
我可能只是因为想要增加一个层次，就让朋友加了吉他，这样听起来就像是加入了吉他元素的摇滚乐。
即兴发挥是一种天赋还是一种技能？
两者兼有。但说到底，就是能流利地说一门语言。我们和朋友聚会时，不会事先计划谈话内容或照本宣科。你只需要精通音乐语言，并掌握某种特定的方言即可。
你的座右铭是“我演奏的是能量，而不是音符”。请告诉我们，你最希望自己创作的专辑是哪一张？
我还没创作出来，它现在还不存在。
如果把 Nathan-Paul 的音乐比作一部电影，那会是哪部电影呢？
我觉得它现在还不存在，哈哈，这个问题很难完全回答。
你会给年轻的自己什么建议？
你很棒，继续努力吧。你拥有与生俱来的音乐天赋。)
