Name: Sage Hatfield
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: American
Current Release: Sage Hatfield's new single "Wet Brick & Roses," featuring Jonah Siegel and Gia Calabrese, is out via Oak Honest.

If you enjoyed this Sage Hatfield  interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram.



How important is sound for our overall well-being and how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

Well, I’ve thought about this and researched it a little. Obviously the current world events and resultant national sentiments largely inform the content of music over time, it always changes in times of political and social unrest and transition, which makes perfect sense.

On the other hand, it’s very conceivable that whatever you consume shapes your reality, whether it’s junkfood, organic produce, Beethoven or Drake. I think that’s overlooked a lot, and a lot of people probably don’t consider the notion that they’ve been conditioned to enjoy a certain type of music, with a certain emotional and conceptual message or level of sophistication.

I’m not saying there’s anything inherently wrong with mumble rap or death metal, taste is totally subjective, but I hate to think that a lot of people just let their taste in art be dictated by whatever contemporary zeitgeist they were born into, without considering how it affects them personally on a health, or taste basis. Classical music makes plants grow stronger and faster, heavy metal retards their growth, it’s just science.

Vibration is an inherent force in everything that exists, theoretically you could cure cancer by inundating cells with a vibration that entrains a homeostatic state, just the way you can use various rates of wavelengths to entrain alpha, beta and theta brainwaves.

Music has been a healing tool in almost every culture, even if it’s just drums and chanting. It’s a beautiful thing.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

I take this fairly seriously, I try to mix at lower volumes and avoid using earbuds and headphones. Compulsively checking volume outputs on all my gear is one of the first things I do when I start getting into the process of listening in any capacity. If I’m at a show that’s getting painfully loud, unless I can’t pull myself away from it, I just step away for a bit, or move farther to the back.

It should be illegal how much louder commercials are than TV, I think there should be a standardized worldwide limiting and DB regulation, I can’t imagine the resultant hearing loss we’re about to start seeing as a world, just because Geico decided they needed to scream at you and tell you what you want so loudly that you’re incapable of ignoring it. That’s unethical on so many levels, and an obvious form of brainwashing, repetition and consistent normalization, it’s a classic propaganda technique.

Nobody bats an eye at a mass shooting on the news anymore, or the way pharmaceutical companies shove poison into our eyes and ears, then our bodies, or the volume at which both are volleyed at us.

We can surround ourselves with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that in yourself and what importance does silence hold?

I have become guilty in the last few years of fairly constantly inundating myself with sound, whether listening, playing, mixing or analyzing. For me part of it is absolutely psychological avoidance, but music is also my greatest joy in many ways. I think it’s healthy to the degree that it is pleasant and uplifting, and unhealthy at the point that it becomes compulsive, avoidant, or just a mindless pattern.

Silence, on the other hand - silence is a virtue in my mind, a very high one. Silence is closer to the truth. Stillness and silence have been greater teachers to me than almost anything, whether internal silence leading to external silence or vice versa. Silence is a language spoken by the divine force that flows through and sustains all things, we are born from it, and return to it again and again. Everything seeks entropy, silence and stillness are the end of the line as far as anything goes.

I like to think I’m semi-fluent in silence, but I wish I could speak it better.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

I wonder about this, what is the world like to Stevie Wonder, or Roy Orbison? Certainly less vain and trivial in some ways. I’m sure neither of them spend much time in front of a mirror, or judging people based on their looks and fashion choices.

Listening to someone is more pure as a form of communication I’d say, you can’t tell how kind a person is by looking at their body - though the eyes can be a good indicator at times. Our world would probably be more interpersonally appreciative were this more the case.

The visual aspect of life would be a terrible thing to disregard wholly, the world is full of unimaginable beauty and I can’t bear the thought of living without my eyes, but a world free of visual vanity would definitely free up a lot of time and resources. No more status symbol cars and watches, Prada and Sephora stores, (I hear they’re having a sale on self esteem and identity concepts right now). No more bloods and crips (maybe), and I wouldn’t have to stare at and judge hideous art lofts and modern condos. In a world veering rapidly toward ‘blandification’ and an utter disregard for intricacy, craftsmanship and lasting beauty, maybe that is the direction we’re headed in.

There’s a lot of controversy over looks, the appropriateness of how people dress, and the cultural impact thereof, the growing embrace of casualness at the expense of decorum and formality. I fall into a lot of these mind snares, but at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter. If nobody had eyes, it would level a lot of playing fields, but it would also dull a lot of artistic expression.

Who knows, maybe there would be a new form of art based on textures and fabrics, and people would judge each other based on the texture of their sweaters. We always find a way to both find conflict through duality, and appreciate things, there’s just no avoiding the human condition.

In my heart I know everything is exactly how it ought to be, even if it doesn’t feel like it at times. I think part of the game of it all, is to just accept that, and balance how you respond to and approach it. We have all of our senses so we can experience pleasure through the contact of the senses with the objects of the senses, but we can be bound in that and lose sight of our higher capacity, that’s a bit of wisdom from Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

It’s also stated in there, that to completely abnegate these tendencies isn’t really a valid path, one should use one’s gifts and nature as a service, an act of love. I’m good at music, so that’s my offering, however insincere it may be at times. Some peoples’ gift is sewing and fashion, others, carpentry and architecture. Everything has its place if it’s approached sincerely, with less attachment to the results, and more heart in the endeavor itself. Ears are great tools, so are eyes.

Neither are more or less valid to me, I just really happen to enjoy music.