In all the collaborations you’ll present at Bozar, rhythm is the driving force. What draws you so strongly to this specific parameter? 

Jlin: “Rhythm has just always been there since I was a kid. I grew up in a household listening to a lot of different genres of music. My mother loved all types of music: Bootsy Collins, Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan... And my father loved jazz. Thanks to him, I listened to Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, but also to Tito Puente and Pete Escovedo. Growing up in a space like that, rhythm was something so vast and infinite, and it just resonated with me. It really took a hold of me and shaped me as a person. 

My father used to play the bongos and the congas. So I kind of grew up with this, and I just think it was innate in me. I wasn't aware of it at the time, being so young, but as I got older and actually started to create and understand music, I was able to tap into that space. I love marching bands, taiko drumming, Middle Eastern drumming, Persian drumming, Indian drumming and West African drumming especially – they all just resonate with me.” 

Rhythm is also closely related to the body. 

Jlin: “Oh, absolutely. I love movement, I love dance. When I was a kid, after church on Sunday, my parents and I listened to records and danced. So music and movement have always kind of gone together for me. I also came to love the movement of bodies in martial arts: how the body can take animal shapes, like that of a snake or tiger. I try to implement or embody that in my music as much as I can, especially if I'm working with dance.” 

For your collaboration with the Kronos Quartet on Little Black Book, you created an electronic demo track that was then transcribed for acoustic instruments. Listening to both versions, there are some striking differences: the demo is much longer, and a lot of specific electronic sounds disappear in the acoustic version. Do you see a gap between the two? 

Jlin: “I don't see it as a gap. I think that they were expressing themselves as Kronos Quartet to the fullest. And with any collaboration, I don't think that it's losing anything. I think it's an expression of the artist, and that is what I wanted Kronos to do. I wasn't looking for them to do it exactly how I did it, but wanted them to interpret what I did in the way that they saw fit. It was two perspectives that came together, creating a derivative, like you have in math: you start with the original and then there's a derivative and another one. There’s a beauty in that to me.” 

Looking more closely at the projects you'll be presenting at Bozar, does your collaboration with Ictus follow a similar approach? Are these pieces also electronic demos translated into acoustic compositions? 

Jlin: “They're translations, but not necessarily translations of demos. They're fully developed pieces, because sometimes the translations go so deep that the music takes on a whole new life, ending up as a co-written song. I love it when I don’t know what I’m walking into, getting the max out of everything. I love being in a space where I have to adapt and let go of everything. To me, there’s nothing more fulfilling than surrendering. Working with Ictus, with its 12 musicians, is exactly that kind of experience." 

I don't think many contemporary composers share that approach. 

Jlin: “I know what you mean, but I love surrendering. I think there is a real beauty in it. Whether we're performing together or someone’s playing a piece I've written, I want them to enjoy the music. Because I know that’s when everybody brings out their best, rather than when I'm being uptight and micromanaging everything. I didn’t create my work just to dictate how it should be performed. I have to respect the fact that I'm simply a vessel through which the music passes. And the performers are vessels too, so I let them do their thing." 

Is there a difference between writing for a percussion ensemble and writing for an ensemble with melodic instruments, given that rhythm is such a central element in your work? 

Jlin: “To me, all instruments are rhythmic. Flute, violin, viola, cello bassoon, ... They can do so much, oh my god! The only condition is that you have to be willing to surrender. So, let's see what we can do."  

I imagine that kind of surrender also requires a certain level of trust between you and the performers?  

Jlin: “Of course. And I establish that trust right from the beginning. Nine times out of ten, I've already listened to the work of the person or ensemble before we start collaborating. So, by the time I’ve decided that we’re going to work together, that trust is already there." 

Third Coast Percussion was one of the first ensembles to perform your acoustic compositions, and your collaboration goes back quite a few years now. How did it all begin?  

Jlin: “We must go back to 2017, when David Skidmore approached me about writing for Third Coast Percussion. At that time, I couldn’t do it because I was touring with Wayne McGregor's show and promoting my second album, Black Origami. But I never closed the door on the idea, you know.  

Then, in 2019, we revisited the idea and ended up working together. I went to their massive studio in Chicago, which is full of acoustic instruments, and we recorded as many sounds as we possibly could in an 8-to-12-hour period. Afterwards, I started writing pieces using these sounds. My EP Perspective is the result of that. 

And then, before you know it, David had this dream: wouldn't it be great if we performed together? So we made that happen! As part of that collaboration came the idea of me performing some of the acoustic pieces as well. And now here we are. It's really come full cycle, and I love working with them so much. They’re family."

Is that also what we can expect at Bozar, a concert in two parts, with different ways of performing together? 

Jlin: “Without saying too much: yeah. There are moments when I’m doing the melodic side electronically, while Third Coast Percussion is playing the percussion acoustically, and vice versa. So I might be creating the rhythms electronically while they’re doing the melodic parts on percussion instruments. And there’ll also be moments when I’m playing acoustic instruments myself."    

That sounds like a very playful approach, both on stage and in the way you create music together in the studio. 

Jlin: “Everybody I work with has something playful: Holly Herndon, Björk, Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass, ... With Holly, for example, we’d be at her house, joking around and experimenting until we stumble upon something we both liked. All while eating Pringles! (laughs)" 

Let’s talk about a rather special project. In January, your music will be played through the 80 speakers of the Acousmonium. How does this even work? 

Jlin: “I’ve done something similar before in Berlin, with 102 omnidirectional speakers. (editor’s note: the Symphonic Sound System designed by 4DSOUND inside the historic Funkhaus Berlin). We will probably be using existing pieces of mine and channeling them. I’m very excited to hear my music through all those speakers. I mean, what more could you ask for?"   

Just two years ago, you were one of the first artists to perform in our renovated Terarken Hall. Do you feel that traditional concert halls and multidisciplinary cultural centres are increasingly embracing electronic music, blurring the line between clubs and concert halls? 

Jlin: “Yes, and I love that this is happening. It's about time – or at least in perfect alignment of this time. An audience that becomes more and more open-minded gives musicians more flexibility and freedom. It pushes the composer, the musician and the conductor. Sometimes they might not even realize that they’re using their instruments in new ways. We’re moving towards this beautiful space where genres come together rather than existing separately. Classical music confined to a theatre? Avant-garde music confined to an exhibition hall? No, we can bring all of that together in one space. And I think audiences are ready for it."