Name: Yoni Mayraz
Occupation: Pianist, producer, composer
Nationality: Israeli
Current release: Yoni Mayraz's Dybbuk Tse! is out via Astigmatic.
Recommendations: It’s a classic book, but I just read it again some time ago and was amazed by the masterpiece of it - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Open, to love by Paul Bley is one of my favourite solo piano albums and I highly recommend listening to it to everyone who is a fan of the instrument.

If you enjoyed this Yoni Mayraz interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.  



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

When I’m really into the music I'm listening to, there is a kind of elevating feeling, as if I suddenly understand something that didn’t make sense before, a new feeling.

That most likely would happen with my eyes open during a live performance, watching and connecting with the people around me.

What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

My first steps with music were first of all through listening, and then approaching the piano at my home without really knowing anything.

When you reach an instrument with zero knowledge, you are completely “innocent” like a blank page. You are 100 percent original. When you gain more experience you inevitably lose something along the way. Your conscious mind is always active.

A big part of my creation process is “deactivating” the conscious mind, and reaching a deeper level of being.  

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music meant to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

I couldn’t agree more with this statement. At that age, music was a liberating force for me. It painted reality with whatever colours I wanted, and expanded my vision.

Since then, that is the kind feeling I’m aiming at when I make music - to break free from everyday life, reaching a higher state, a wilder state, where everything just shines brighter.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?

I had years when I was just writing songs and melodies. I had times when I was really into production and working in the studio. For several years I dived into the richness of the piano, practising it diligently. And along the way I was always into playing with other musicians and appreciating the force of live played music.

All these steps along the way shaped the music I’m doing today - it has a lot of focus on compositions, it integrates ideas of post production, the piano and keys plays a major part, and it is played live with the moment being a key player.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

The key ideas behind my music are mostly based around improvised music and modal jazz harmony. I take these elements and create my own original music, infused with sounds from my upbringing, my musical taste and influences.

These combination of styles and influences merge into a hybrid sound which I feel is my own, and that motivates me to create more. This is my unique voice in this world.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

I feel the same. When I listen to my music or any kind of different music, I first of all feel it, without analysing anything. Only after a few times I can see why I felt what I felt and what are the technical ideas behind the music.

In my own music I think one can find a strong emotional output that is superior to the technicality of the music. The emotion would definitely be the driving force behind my music, with the mind following close behind.  

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

It’s funny you're asking me this question, because there was one day, a few years ago which I clearly remember - I was walking in the park around my home at that time, when I heard a couple of birds making the most complex and beautiful rhythms. Not less musical than some of the best human drummers out there.

It made me wonder about the evolution of rhythm in human culture. How it began. How the first seed was planted.

I’m pretty sure it began by some folks imitating bird sounds and feeling their groove. Birds are the most groovy animal out there. For sure.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I like when music goes all the way. It can be hard core punk, noise, avant garde ... It can also be extremely minimalistic and long.

I appreciate musicians who push boundaries. I think a piece of art can evoke a “negative” response if that's what the artist intended, because art reflects the world, and as we know - life is not only fun.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

This topic is actually one of the musical aspects which most interest me as a creator. I try not to fall into basic structures, and be aware of whatever the piece of music is asking for. I try to create tension in the music.

There is the micro perspective of each tune, and the macro of the entire album. It is not just a bunch of songs - they complete a certain cycle. Same thing goes for live shows, I try to feel the entire progression of the set and not just looking for each song individually.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

My latest album Dybbuk Tse! was born out of an idea of positing emotional exorcism through music - but doing it with a dark yet light hearted approach. It wasn't easy but I feel like I managed it.

I took inspiration from 90s hip hop albums where darkish themes were applied to music that wasnt that dark on an overall perspective. Taking that with my natural influences and a jazzy setting was something I was really curious about.

Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I do sometimes approach the instrument in a mathematical manner. It creates a different kind of sound. Might be described as cold.

I might take some interval and move it around with equal steps, or in a cycle. I feel like this approach sometimes evokes different aspects of composition rather than going with the ear alone, it completes it.

Many composers along the years used these kinds of approaches - from Bach to Schoenberg and to these days.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I think when creating music you must think “outside of the box”, otherwise you won’t sound original. I guess that same principal goes on life itself.

If you just go on the paths that are known and easy for you, you wouldn’t find new grounds. You got to always think by yourself, and question everything. That is a principle I am very much applying in everyday life.

Another principle would be going all the way through. Being total. No other way in music, and I guess no other way in life as well - the highway is for gamblers.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think every form of art is a gateway to express different things. There are feelings in poetry that cannot be present with music alone, and vice versa. Same goes for literature or paintings and all other forms of art.

I think music is best for expressing feelings that cannot be achieved by words alone. Music is a whole different language, with a lot of subcultures inside of it. It’s kind of a parallel world to the language of words I guess.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

A Love Supreme by John Coltrane is a piece of music that affected me deeply. I think it was the first time when I felt a real spiritual journey through a piece of recorded music.



Until this day I believe that this album is one of the strongest influences on my music. Not necessarily in sound, but rather in vision.

I think you can find a lot of it in my new album as well, which shares some of the same spiritual motifs, but with a different approach.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I think something that would really excite me about the music of the future would be new instruments.

I think the musical instrument itself is shaping a lot of the musician's input. Music you would write on a piano would come out different than music you would write on a guitar.

If a whole new instrument would be invented - new music would be invented as well, and new horizons would reveal. It can go in so many different directions, and that's what is so interesting about it.