Travel and Music
DP: As far as travel goes, what’s your favorite city or vacation that you’ve been on?
Mike Posner: Telluride, Colorado. The peaks perched over the tiny town remind you how small you really are. Most people go to ski in the winter, I prefer the summer. Allow for a day to adjust to the altitude.
Marina Abramovic is one my favorite living artists. She says:
An artist’s relation to solitude:
An artist must make time for the long periods of solitude
Solitude is extremely important
Away from home
Away from the studio
Away from family
Away from friends
An artist should stay for long periods of time at waterfalls
An artist should stay for long periods of time at exploding volcanoes
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the fast running rivers
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the horizon where the ocean and sky meet
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the stars in the night skyTelluride is a good place to do these things – except for seeing exploding volcanoes of course!
DP: When you tour do you make sure to take time out to explore each city as much as possible? What are your favorite things in a new city?
Mike Posner: I make sure to spend time behind the piano each day. We don’t explore as much as possible, but when we do we usually go to museums. My friend Matt and I go there together and then we split up and explore the museum’s alone for a few hours and meet back up in the lobby.
I love Renoir because many of his paintings are happy and sad at the same damn time. I first saw this in action at Musee D’orsay in Paris and I saw this painting that I think is called City Dance. It’s a painting of a bride and groom embracing each other. The groom is facing away from you so you see the back of his head and the face of the bride nestling on top of his shoulder, looking right at you. He captured this expression in her face that says what we all want to say, “I’m scared right now. I think I’m in over my head. I’m not sure if this is the right thing.” The groom can’t see her face saying this. Only you can. The funny thing is, if we could see his face, it would probably be saying the same thing.
Recently, I had a pretty magical moment at MoMa on the 5th floor, room number 9. If you’re ever there, go to that room, I won’t tell you what’s inside except for magical moments.
DP: Have you done any traveling specifically to write or record new music?
Mike Posner: I go to London usually once per year to write and record with Labrinth. Honestly, it’s difficult because of the time difference, but the reward is so great with him that I keep coming back.
London makes you value the Sun because you rarely see it. The Sun is really a remarkably beautiful contraption and the people in London know that. In L.A., we forget. Ironically, I get more writing done when I’m not supposed to be writing. Again, limitation can be the greatest muse of all.
