About The Artist

Introduction

Dear Fans,

Here is a biographical sketch I've created in hopes to give people a clear understanding of where I'm coming from as an artist.  I included some very personal information because I believe in the power of  sharing our stories.  I hope it ends up helping others along the way.

I've also included sections describing the meaning behind Apeirian Age, a list of my influences, as well as the gear/software I use.

Take care,

Benjamin D. Jackson

Biography

Fast forward to my teen years, I began to suffer a lot from anxiety and depression (as it turns out, this was the start of a lifelong struggle).  These emotions inevitably drew me to the piano, which we had in the house, to help release them.  I had no experience or lessons under my belt, but somehow, playing simple intervals and patterns really helped me.  I would play certain combinations of tones and just cry.  This emotional release became addictive, and before I knew it, I had a collection of original songs that came out of those patterns as my fingers learned to do more.  This was the start of my lifelong journey in music creation.  

In my late teens and early 20s, I worked restaurant jobs in order to afford my first synthesizer keyboard with a sequencer, the Korg Triton LE.  The piano pieces which I had been creating motivated me to want to be able to use different sounds and have multiple layers being played simultaneously.  With the Triton LE, I created ~30+ pieces over the course of ~5 years.  During this time, my obsession with music and vision for it grew 10-fold.  This inevitably caused me to change my major in college to music, because I wanted to understand music theory and chord progressions better.  But having no prior formal training, it took 6 years to complete my degree, and I graduated with a B.A. in Music at age 26 (2011).  It was around this time that I also moved on to investing into a PC computer and Pro Tools to expand my musical tool-set.  My first completed song using this medium was The Kingdom Within, as heard on my 2017 debut album.

Since graduating, I've dedicated most of my free time to electronic music and piano composition, studying mixing, and piano practice.  I continue to strive to make my music the best it can be, and I'm extremely excited about where it's going next!

Meaning behind Apeirian Age

One of the first questions people ask me about my music besides "What kind of music is it?", is "What does Apeirian Age mean?".  It wasn't long after I started creating works on my first synthesizer keyboard that I felt the need to have a name for my music.  Being a bit of an idealist, I felt that my music was about something bigger than myself.  So it didn't feel right to just go by my name like many do, or even create a stage name.  To me, the music represented an ideal and a philosophy, and something I was communing with external forces to create.  And, being interested in Greek philosophy, I came across the word "Apeiron", which was used to describe the universe in its infinite, boundless nature.  I resonated with this, because of the deep optimism which I still hold on to about humanity's place here.  That deep hope seems like such a rare outlook in this day in age, but it has been intrinsic to my outlook for most of my life.  

Thus, I simply changed the noun Apeiron into an adjective, "Apeirian" in order to describe an age - a boundless, limitless age of creativity and discovery.  I suppose that's the ultimate ideal for this musical expression - To create a journey which represents both dark and light aspects of life, all with that underlying sense of hope and optimism.  

As a side note, this theme isn't necessarily to be taken too rigidly, because part of the reason for choosing it was the fact that it could be the name of some cool retro sci-fi/fantasy book.

Influences

Musical Influences: Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Enigma, Isao Tomita, Dead Can Dance, Final Fantasy game soundtracks, Klaus Schulze, Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Ozric Tentacles, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Frédéric Chopin, Gustav Holst, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Aphex Twin, Karsh Kale, Ravi Shankar, Sven Grünberg, Ulrich Schnauss, Hawkwind, Hans Zimmer, Trent Reznor, Enya, and many others.  I am also highly influenced by world music and traditional music from around the world - in particular:  Indian classical music, Japanese gagaku, Thai gamelan, and African polyrhythms.

Film Influences: THX 1138, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pi, Legend, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Akira, Memories, Hayao Miyazaki, Akira Kurosawa, Andrei Tarkovsky, Federico Fellini, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ingmar Bergman.  Other film influences include sword and sorcery films, spaghetti westerns, Star Trek, and weird old movies that I can dig up.

Other Influences: I'm heavily influenced by philosophy, art, history, and humanity in general.  I'm actively seeking the beautiful parts of humanity that shine through the darkness.  This is tied into a lot of my tastes in art and fiction, because I believe that the core of artistic expression should be based in the absolute inability to express certain things through words.  So a lot of my philosophical beliefs are embedded straight into my musical expression, which I hope at least comes through in an abstract way.  

Gear and Software

Most of my early music was created completely within my Korg Triton LE keyboard, which had a 16-track sequencer, a great library of sounds, and weighted keys.  The main limitation with it, was that each song could only have 1 effect, so I had to choose wisely!

Current Gear Setup: Korg D1 88-key weighted digital piano, M-Audio 88-key weighted keyboard, Yamaha HS5 monitors, Yamaha HS8 subwoofer, Computer Upgrade King PC computer

DAW: Pro Tools 11

Primary Plugins: Omnisphere, Native Instruments Ultimate, Izotope Ozone 9 and Neutron 4 (for mixing and mastering), Melodyne (audio pitch editing), and many other smaller VST plugins