Jachin Pousson - Mad Scientist With Patch Cables

-What made you get into creating music? When did that happen?

JP: When I lived in Singapore I started playing the drums at around 12 years old in school chapel, then later in church as a teenager. Playing drums for worship music in church taught me how to pay close attention to dynamics and the attitude of directing attention heavenward. Around the same time I also started listening to and playing heavier music like metal and punk with my friends. Playing drums this way taught me how to build up waves of sheer energy, and engage with an audience. It was a great outlet for rebellious energy. Then there was a moment after college that I found myself working a desk job in an advertising firm. I realised then, that I would deeply regret if I didn’t try to escape Singapore and pursue a musical life of some kind.

I quit the job and started my own band at the age of 21. After a few years of local concerts, we toured all around Asia, and as far as Perth, Dubai, New York and Hollywood. Apart from playing drums I also wrote the lyrics to the songs, and began playing and writing on keyboards. Around this time I became aware that I could imagine orchestral music ideas in my head, but didn’t have the education to write it down. I self-studied music theory and piano playing intensively for over a year, took some exams, composed some music for a portfolio, and sent them off to several music universities, applying to study music composition.

Photo by Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-Can you tell us about your formal education in music? How did these experiences influence your musical direction?

JP: Formal studies in music composition for me began at the Royal Danish Music Academy (DKDM) in Copenhagen at the age of 27. I studied with the composers Bent Sorensen and Hans Abrahamsen. At the time I was wholly underprepared for formal studies- I was tossed into the deep end and it was sink or swim. I had never heard of Xenakis, Ferneyhough or Varese before. Those first two years in Copenhagen were very rough but I worked hard to catch up, taking extra classes and practicing late into the night. My teachers were kind and helped me to grow quickly from the ground up. Hans Abrahamsen introduced me to the music of Arvo Part and Peteris Vasks. I remember listening to them in the library getting goosebumps, and thinking how I would like to visit the Baltic States to learn from composers here.

So in my third year of my bachelor degree, I took an Erasmus exchange trip to Jazeps Vitols Latvian Music Academy (JVLMA) in Riga. I liked Riga very much straight away. Its a very pretty and walkable city, very charming yet not without its rough edges. After living here a year, I decided to continue a Master’s degree in composition at JVLMA. I studied with the composers Rolands Kronlaks, Janis Petraskevics and Peteris Plakidis. I found the music education in Latvia to be more grounded, more characteristic and with more substance than in Denmark. Despite the facilities and culture being a little more old fashioned, it seemed to represent a more unified aesthetic and value fundamental craftsmanship more as a whole. For example in DKDM a composition exam would be almost like presenting a thesis- defending every note on the page without even listening to the result, while at JVLMA the exam consisted of only listening to the result together with the score- allowing the music to speak for itself without verbal discussion.

Photo by Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

In sum, Denmark gave me the basic tools, and caught me up to the aesthetics of the current century, but Latvia was where I began to really hone the craft of composition. I’ve been very blessed to have had many opportunities to work with some of Latvia’s finest musicians, conductors and ensembles over the years to realise my early ideas and develop my own style.

Besides composing art music I still very much love playing musical instruments and performing concerts. It’s healthy for the mind I think, to keep playing. These days I play in a free improvisation ensemble “Endless Roar”,with Arvydas Kazlauskas, Stanislav Judin and Vestards Shimkus, a live electronic duo “MakeMake” with Vadims Pitlans, and an experimental folklore band “Sun Horse” with vocalist Elina Ellere. These projects allow me to play with ideas that don’t fit in the academic stream, and to learn to create and record in different ways. You can listen to these projects, as well as selected recordings of my academic music on the streaming platforms. Endless Roar is also available on vinyl from Jersika records.

I’m not sure how these experiences sum up to influence my musical direction because as you see, it is diverse- I’m following several interests at once. The musical direction that led me to Erica Synths however comes directly from the research path I’ve been on about making music with brainwaves. Over the past 5 years I’ve recorded the brains of musicians doing various tasks to try to isolate certain elusive aspects of performance, such as expressive intent or synchronisation with others. One output of this kind of work is scientific articles reporting the research findings. Another is about applying the knowledge to build BCMIs that can open up new ways to play.

Previously I’ve used the EEG in performance only twice- In 2019 my EEG live signal was visualised in an academic piece “Tropos” for Sinfonietta Riga, and in 2024 I participated in an installation art performance as part of Valmiera city’s multimedia art festival which was an Augmented Reality (AR) brain-reactive environment inside an empty swimming pool involving over 50 performers over 3 days. This project “Tele-empathy” was conceived by my friend and colleague Martins Dabolins, who was also the visual artist for Tropos and for the concert at the end of the residency.

The Erica Synths Residency seemed like the perfect opportunity to put what I’ve been developing into practice- to attempt to control modular synthesisers with my live EEG signal in a concert. In sum, while I’ve been researching this for 5 years, I’m only starting to find ways to take it outside the lab bit by bit. So far I’ve approached this direction more as a scientist and an innovator. Thank you for the chance to experience the BCMI tools I’ve been tinkering with as an artist!

The residency also motivated me to record and release an album of EEG-created musical works. It is a concept album made up of 12 pieces- one in each of the 12 musical keys in the Western Classical music system. It was made using recorded EEG signals from my own brain as well as the brains of a saxophone player (Arvydas Kazlauskas) and a pianist (Hailong Zhang). They were created using analog synth keyboards in a similar way as how I worked during the residency- but I used effect racks in a DAW instead of modular synths in this case to modify the outputs. The album is called “Electroencephalography” and is expected to appear on streaming sites in late January 2025.

Photo by Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-What inspires your work?

JP: Different seasons bring different inspirations. When I was younger I wrote more about the forces of nature - about flocks of birds, gravitational anomalies on the moon, underwater currents, the refraction of light through amber. As I grew older I began to write more about human things. Love, death, faith, pain, awe, fear, loss, loneliness, wonder, strife and despair have all been wonderful sources of inspiration!

People of course, also inspire my work. Composer Peteris Vasks really inspires me in the art music world- his music is so haunting, expressive, honest and human. The late romantics inspire me- Mahler, Sibelius, Debussy- as well as the early spectralists like Ligeti and Messiaen, and the sacred minimalists like Part and Hovhaness. Innovators like Erica Synths also inspire my work - looking at what you’re doing makes me want to invent musical instruments too! Electronic music technology is advancing so fast- it’s incredible to witness and to be able to experiment with all these gadgets at this time in history.

-Explain - what’s happening in your performance at the Erica Synths Garage?

JP: Preparations for the performance began some weeks before the residency.

At its core, the narrative I wanted to express was based on the premise that music begins and ends in the human brain, and is made up of electrochemical processes. From a neuroimaging perspective, imagining music, and indeed consciousness itself thus can be expressed in voltage. The main questions that arose from this were 1) Can I use the voltage from the brain to control music parameters? and 2) How would this process play out in creating a performance incorporating modular synths? The main task at hand was to identify the sounding parameters and a mapping strategy that best serve the artistic vision.

The artistic vision began with the performance concept of the brain as a musical instrument, in which various processes are introduced and intertwined over time.

Based on experience in the lab, I began by determining parameters for BCMI control to work with: Master tempo, cutoff, resonance, attack, release, rhythmic density, arpeggiator movement, drone/noise sculpting, reverb and tremolo.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

I also determined the BCMI paradigms to use: Localised EEG frequency band power, hemispheric synchronisation, and a special algorithm developed during my PhD studies that provides real time feedback on expressive intent during music performance on the arousal dimension. In the lab we call this the “Blue Ball” algorithm because the original neurofeedback visual was literally a blue ball on a screen that ascended above, or descended below a horizontal line according to the performer’s intentions.

The BCMI mappings were then realised using a visual programming software to create a patch I called “Neurosynth”. It acted as a live EEG data monitor, displaying levels and mappings between 8 electrodes and 16 controller outputs based on the BCMI paradigms used. Each of the 16 control values could be mapped to MIDI clock, triggers and control change (CC) values. To convert MIDI to clock and control voltage (CV) values in order to interface with modular synths, I used 4 Mutant Brain Eurorack modules borrowed from Erica Synths.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

Finally, based on the musical material I planned to play, I determined the configuration of synthesisers to use: 4 analog keyboard synths, an MPE MIDI keyboard and a drum machine. In the preparation phase I did not know exactly what modules were installed on the wall in the Erica Synths studio- my plan was to run the 4 synthesisers into the wall as sound sources, and patch effect chains controlled by the brain between the synths and the final outputs.

When I arrived on the first day of the residency I plugged it all in and began exploring how the synths on the table and the modules on the wall react to my EEG signal. I had a wonderful time experimenting the whole week- trying to remember to always remain focused on the original artistic vision despite many temptations to go down different tantalising directions that opened up in the process. To make the BCMI control very obvious, I additionally mapped the Neurosynth Blue Ball control value to control the colour of the DMX lights in the performance space. Lights turn blue when expressive intentions are calm, versus red when they are intense.

I knew it was working when I began to hear clear changes in the sound of the output as I changed focus. When I was in a seeking mode- changing between musical instruments, modules, or modes of play - the master tempo increased, cutoff and resonance opened, and the lights tended to turn red. When I was focused or in a flow playing a single instrument or module for a longer time, the tempo stabilised, reverb increased, the ambience became thicker, and the lights turned blue. Once things were working as intended I began to have fun rehearsing the set.

On the day of the performance, visual artist Martins Dabolins provided a lovely visual he originally developed during the testing and evaluation stage of the BCMI design created during my PhD research project. He used a camera to track the position of my head and a video projector to project a visual he created resembling a colourful spot of light following my head. The spot of light was programmed in cables.gl and VDMX to ripple and move like water, and also change colour according to my brain activity via a MIDI connection sent from Neurosynth on my computer to Martins’ computer.

While many modulations controlled by the brain were taking place simultaneously across all 4 synths and the patches on the modular wall, I believe the most salient parameters from the viewer’s perspective were the colour of the lights and the master tempo.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-One of Erica Synths main mottos is that physics can't be left in the formulas, it has to come to life through understandable manifestations, in the best case scenario - through something beautiful, for example, music. How would you describe the connection between sciences and arts in your work? Can you elaborate on how your scientific expertise influences your artistic process?

JP: The motto certainly resonates with me. In my case it would be that biophysics can’t be left in the research articles, it has to come to life in musical practice. Neuroscience expertise has been the greatest influence on this particular artistic process. For my PhD I studied systematic musicology, not neuroscience- but systematic musicology is inherently a multi-disciplinary field where music is investigated using scientific methods- in my case neuroscientific methods.

The research involved training with neuroscientists at Vilnius University in Lithuania and the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, as well as consulting with computer music scientists at Plymouth University in the UK and Colorado University Boulder in the USA. During that time I met many people who had tread this path before and learned all about the inherent technical challenges of obtaining a quality EEG signal from a person in motion. 10 years ago this would have been impossible, but thanks to advances in technology we are now able to overcome or at least mitigate these issues sufficiently for the purposes of playing a musical instrument and reporting scientific outcomes.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

Whenever I meet a neuroscientist and tell them that I’m using the live EEG to create music they usually respond with a healthy amount of skepticism. It really isn’t an easy thing to do outside the lab and past examples have tended to disappoint in terms of the efficacy of the interaction with the interface, or coming across as gimmicky or random - with an unclear mapping strategy. However, if I manage to speak with a neuroscientist a bit longer about how the research directly tackled the technical challenges, they usually begin to get inspired with ideas of how they could use music interaction as a framework for investigating questions that were previously unapproachable with the EEG method- questions concerning the neurological underpinnings of co-creative processes and flow, and how data describing inter-brain dynamics could be visualised in real time.

The EEG is a beautiful and complex signal to work with to make and shape music- much more dynamic and fitting than other types of biosignals like the heart rate and breathing. It’s also a very fragile signal- the voltage that is being measured originates from electrical potential differences between electrode sites and a reference site and is measured in the microvolt range, typically up to 100µV. Anything above 100µV normally originates from the body or some external source, not the brain. A blink of an eye alone can result in a spike of 200-300µV in the frontal electrodes. Touching the metal casing of a laptop can result in a chunk of noise obscuring all channels. Thus, to take the EEG onto a modern music concert stage filled with electronic equipment is a serious physics project. I learned to be careful with my head movements and facial expressions, and to touch only plastic and wood. I also learned to be healthily skeptical of my own work - and to check 10 times if what I’m observing is true.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-What would you consider the core principles or fundamentals of your work? Are there any ongoing patterns or themes that have stayed from the beginning till now?

JP: Fairytale author George MacDonald said the role of the artist is to clothe the truth with beauty. A scientist on the other hand aims to present the absolutely naked truth. I believe both artistic and scientific work must be a true and honest endeavour that uplifts the human spirit and makes the world a better place. Even if dealing with highly intellectual or deeply painful topics, the artist should not become so formalist or elitist they forget that the point is to capture the ear or eye with beauty, and to express their truth in their own unique way. I also think its important to be able to have an objective response to art, as well as a subjective response to science. This way fact and fiction can inspire each other to invent and create better things.

-Do you have a musical mission?

JP: Perhaps music is more like a tool on a mission. Music is like a spiritual vehicle - it transports your spirit. As a music scientist I hope my work would make the earth a more bearable place. BCMI may have wonderful benefits for the physically disabled to participate in music creation. As a musical artist, I only hope my work would direct attention heavenward, and withstand the test of time.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-What was your weapon of choice in this studio?

JP: I would like to say the human brain! There were a couple of aesthetic choices made before coming in: 1) Sources: All sound sources come from analogue instruments to maintain the voltage-to-voltage concept, 2) Controllers: Use the Neurosynth BCMI to replace the typical MIDI controller, and 3) Modifiers: Use only modular synths and a mixer for effects, avoiding the use of a DAW.

To obtain signals from the brain I used an 8 channel clinical grade EEG device with a 500Hz resolution from the lab at JVLMA connected to a laptop running the Neurosynth software. This mapped EEG to MIDI output to a splitter box distributing controls to 4 analog synthesizers and 4 MIDI-CV converter modules. The MIDI-CV converters distributed controls to patches involving 9 additional modules, 7 of which were made by Erica Synths. Additionally I used an MPE MIDI keyboard and some pre-composed MIDI scores to trigger notes on all 4 synths.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-Are there any elements or techniques you have adopted in this stay, that you will carry forward into future projects?

JP: I plan to further develop the Neurosynth software for BCMI in live performance. I also hope to develop hardware someday, to make it easy for anyone to play synths with their brains. This is currently an ongoing project with an active team under the banner of “BrainMusic Innovations” together with music scientist Valdis Bernhofs and visual artist Martins Dabolins in Latvia, and biochemist Kent Langel and hardware engineer Reza Sobhani in Estonia. I’m excited to see what becomes of it!

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

-How was your live performance - did everything go as planned?

JP: Things didn’t go as planned for the first two pieces I played. My grounding wire was tangled in my hair, and as such, most of the EEG signal was noise. At the beginning of the set I was confused at why the lights and the instruments didn’t seem to be responding as they should, but I attributed this to nerves and continued playing while trying to isolate the issue. Finally before the third piece, I discovered the problem and corrected it. Everything worked as it should then. At first I felt devastated that the EEG control during the first two pieces were technically faulty. However in retrospect I understood that it was valuable in the sense that there was a recording of the difference between when I was not in control and when I was. If you watch the concert video, you will likely pick up on the difference as well. The changes in the Neurosynth-controlled lights and sounds are much smoother and in line with my expressive intentions during the third piece. Other than that rather central technical issue, everything else went swimmingly well.

Photo By Linda Dambeniece-Migliniece

JP: Thank you for the space and opportunity to do this residency, and for the technical support throughout the week. It was wonderful getting to know the Erica Synths team and to have the rare chance to dig deep into the modular synth patching process. I already look forward to when our paths may cross again!