Last week, we found out who the hell he was. Today, we chat extensively with the Brooklyn based artist. Enjoy the Q&A below. Visit BG at his official site.

1. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?

I like to say it’s the love child of Tori Amos & Trent Reznor but that’s a little too easy. Essentially, it’s a kind of electro rock: melodic & vulnerable but with a harsher, more digital edge. I write everything on the piano but layer guitars, synths & samples. Though I use an entirely electronic drum section, it’s never loop based. I play everything live with evolving riffs & a pretty dramatic sense of tempo & dynamics. I’m trying to bring a sense of humanity to electronic music while also updating what ‘rock’ is supposed to sound like.

2. Your influences are wide - ranging from Portishead to Elliott Smith to The Smiths to Aphex Twin. What in particular draws you to these artists?

I like music that shows a certain vulnerability in the artist: serious music, almost exclusively of the tragic sort, hence Elliot Smith & The Smiths. I like a lot of artists whose sound may be different from mine but who’s outlook and temperament are comparable. Lately I’ve developed more of an electronic taste but it’s almost more of a scholarly interest, I love the atmospheres but not always the songs. Portishead does a great job at bringing a tragic sensitivity to their sound but musically they still resemble a bit of a beat box sometimes, a little too stagnant for me. Aphex Twin has been a huge help in showing me that electronica doesn’t have to be predictable but can instead can have an improvisational feel, can use technology to not just mimic real drums but to create complex rhythms most humans couldn’t physically do. I’m also really drawn to singer songwriter types (Kate Bush & Fiona Apple) & even bands that are more front man driven, like Smashing Pumpkins & Radiohead.

Read the remainder of this interview AFTER THE JUMP…

3. There are seemingly many different layers within your core sound, was this intentional?

Sure, I mean the title is The Dissonance and that goes for harmonics as well as textures. I usually do this with sound collages, trying to make atmospheres from unrelated sounds. I love mixing the conventionally beautiful with the conventionally ugly. I’m really into production but am doing my best to not hide behind it. It seems that lately what sets an artist apart is their sound, not the arrangement of the songs, the performance or general merits of the composition so I’m really making an effort to not only write substantial stuff but to perform it well.

4. Your debut EP (The Dissonance) is available now. How did those songs come about and will any of them be included on your forthcoming full-length?

I started recording these songs in college as an exercise to learn how to use my new equipment and have been working on them since, they’ve been a huge part of my life for years. I won’t ever spend so much time on one set of songs again so as much as I can’t wait to move on, they’re my foundation, I’ve done everything alone so in some sense they’re more purely mine than anything I’ll do in the future, which will probably be more of a collaborative effort, if not with a producer other than myself at least with other musicians. It was originally out of fear I didn’t seek another ear but as this process has fledged on I’ve gained the confidence to attach my name and fate to these songs and am proud of them. As I approach a full release, I intend to flesh out my sound to include a live drum set but I’m bringing the kids with me, for sure.

5. What can one expect from your live show?

Depends on the venue. If I can have access to a good piano, I prefer to do acoustic shows at this point, it allows me a sense of improvisation, to play more with tempo and dynamics, something the studio dulls. I would like to work with a full band in the near future but for now this is the best introduction to myself as an artist as well as a test of my songs. Do they stand on their own? Far too much music, if stripped of it’s production is just a rhythm and a simple hook whereas I’m shooting for not just chordal progression but melodic progression in a track. If I can’t recreate the songs basic content with just a piano then I’ve failed.

6. Whom would you consider to be one of the most underrated acts in recent memory and why?

Well, I’m privy to no insider news around here so if I’ve heard of them they’ve had to have reached a rather high level of success. If anything I’m more conscious of the overhype of the underachievers.

7. If you were forced to choose the biggest loss to the NYC music scene over the last decade, what would you select?

I have to admit that whereas making music is my life, I’ve never been involved in the scene and can’t much comment. I do miss Kim’s in the sense that I loved their selection but their attitude was one I never cared for. Sorting music between ‘Indie’ and ‘The Establishment’ is obnoxious, elitist and shows a disdain for success. If there’s any sign of the the times it’s how few places there are to play. The Continental on 3rd Avenue was a viable venue until it bought a jukebox and began advertising 5 shots for 10 dollars. A great deal but beside the point.

8. Care to pass along any slutty advice to our readers as we enter the middle of spring?

Spring is in the air, why aren’t your ankles?

MP3: Brett Gleason - Dokter