QUESTIONS BY: Monica Khemsurov (Sight Unseen)

ANSWERED BY: Alexis Georgopoulos

EDITED BY: Monica Khemsurov

Where do you live — and why?
New York. Possibility.

What inspired you to become an artist/musician?
A compulsion to color the air.

Who’s your creative idol?
Chopin. Eno. Gainsbourg. Grace Jones. David Mancuso. John Cage. Arvo Pärt…

What’s the first thing you ever made?
Decorum dictates this not the proper context to say.

What’s the last thing you made before coming here?
A score for a choreographer of modern dance.

Three key items you brought with you to the Villa:
1 — A Jupiter 8 synthesizer
2 — A willingness to let go of expectations
3 — Swimming trunks

What material, idea, or process did you come here hoping to explore?
The landscape.

What material, idea, or process did you end up exploring unexpectedly?
The light.

How does what you made at the Villa relate to your larger body of work?
It’s the next step.

What will you be leaving behind at the Villa when you go?
A few melodies drifting through the air. Two songs on a forthcoming album were influenced directly by life at the Villa.

What will you be taking back home with you?
Things that can’t be folded into a suitcase.

Favorite place or object you found at the Villa:
The stairs behind the villa, where I wrote almost every morning.

Most inspiring person you met at the Villa:
The photographer Joel Meyerowitz — though technically we met in Montalcino.

Top tips you’d give someone coming to the Villa for the first time:
Enjoy the idiosyncrasies.

Favorite place to visit close to the Villa:
The winding drive between Toiano and San Gimigniano.

Nature is… nurture.