Fusing a cosmic shower of styles, Danny Turner dissects Ash Walker’s ‘anti-engineering’ approach to his latest album, Astronaut
Upon the release of his debut LP Augmented 7th in 2015, Londonbased musician Ash Walker gained recognition from DJs and critics alike for the album’s skilfully assembled melting pot of styles. Further albums Echo Chamber and Aquamarine have since cemented Walker’s reputation for eclecticism, underpinned by his deep love of jazz, reggae and dub. This has led to diverse collaborations with the likes of reggae icon Lee “Scratch” Perry and Nikolaj Torp Larsen from two-tone band The Specials.
Strongly influenced by Jamaican mix engineer King Tubby, Walker has referred to his recording technique as “anti-sound engineer” – an approach that couldn’t be more evident than on his fourth album, Astronaut, where his murky, dub-inflected style has rarely sounded more authentic and immersive. In making the album, Walker developed demos in a variety of locations with a plethora of session musicians and collaborators, including Amp Fiddler and Lamb vocalist Lou Rhodes.
In what way did Philip Glass and Steve Reich’s philosophical or compositional approaches make you think differently as a producer?
“I’m very much stuck in my own world and make music in a particular way, but listening to a vast palette of music has definitely had a subliminal influence on my sound. In the case of Steve Reich, I found that his music had a lot of cross rhythms working against each other that somehow pulled together to create something coherent. His work had a lot of unconscious similarities with producers like J Dilla from the perspective of things moving out of time, off the beat and to a place where people might say that something doesn’t sound right conventionally. Even though I work within a grid system, I’m fascinated by moving things away from the grid and going against the grain in a way that gives a sense of character and flavour to my music.”
You’ve also mentioned Quincy Jones. Not many could emulate his genius, so is it more about setting a bar and coming as close to that as you can?
“No one in my lifetime will ever be able to emulate Quincy Jones, but you’re right in terms of trying to emulate the quality of his productions, level of output and having a hunger to finish as much quality music as possible. I never really want to start making something that I’m not going to finish. Whether I come back to something I’ve created one week or three years later, I’m forever digging in the vaults to consciously complete or get something to a point where I’m satisfied with it.”
From that perspective, nothing is ever wasted…
“Definitely, and that’s a massive part of how the new album Astronaut was made because it was almost finished in 2020. Going into 2021, having had a whole y
