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Trying to get to the heart of Graham Flett’s musical style is a slippery task.
“I have a variable aesthetic,” muses the tall, lean, shaggy-haired composer sitting across from me in a modern Amsterdam café. “I have leanings towards certain things I like to do.” The remark is vague, but not intentionally so. Flett is a little out of his element; perhaps the bustle of staff and patrons and the trendy tunes coming over the PA are distracting him from forming a clearer statement. We had originally intended to talk at a Belgian-beer bar in a more bohemian part of town, but when the guy next to us lit up another joint, we decided the scene was too smoky for us. A couple of sips of tea clear Flett’s head. “I’m not super-dogmatic about style,” he continues. “I like to use style as a composition parameter. I make a conscious decision about style at the onset of a piece and I’ll compose around that, aware of the associations and expectations that might exist.” Now we’re getting somewhere.
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Image by: Adam Coish
