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It's difficult to distinguish what sounds on the album originate from computers and synthesizers, and where the instrumentation is organic. "You're the first person to really mention that. What I'm most proud of [about] the record is that I use computers to work with completely organic sounds. There's only two parts on the whole record that are electronic at all. I would sample something, but I always sampled real things, like a chain gang or Gregorian or Tibetan monks. I would sample myself a lot of times. For instance, I would take an acoustic guitar and tune every note to the same note. Then I would strum it, put it in the computer and have it play backwards. You can't do [that] live but, in a sense, it's completely organic because it's not like there's any synthesizer involved...you're using electronics to make it exciting." The above is an extract from with Jon Crosby by Gail Worley. |
 After the release of the 30 second teaser for The Beach in mid-May, many people were asking about the music on the soundtrack. Well, it comes from a track called "Touched" by Jon Crosby on the album VAST. However, it should be pointed out that this music might not necessarily be featured in the final movie as they are still working on the soundtrack. Also, the trailer was put together by Fox executives in Hollywood and not by the film-makers in London. You can read about Jon Crosby on this page. Click here if you want to download and listen to an audio clip of Touched.
The album, true to the origins of its title (VAST stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater), features an 18-piece orchestra, samples from the Bulgarian Female Choir and the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Mauer, Cleraux. Drummer James Lo of the band Chavez performs on the album. Crosby's songs are both luminous and barren. They reflect his upbringing in rural America. "I grew up in Humboldt County, California, which is about as isolated as you can get," Crosby says. "It's a town of 7,000 people, but there were literally no clubs or places you could see music. I think the only artist who ever appeared there while I was growing up was Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was MTV or nothing." When as a child he saw the film Amadeus, Crosby knew he wanted to be a musician. And he was hooked on classical music. Then one day, he recalls, "I met this girl named Michelle, and I decided I wanted to learn how to play the Beatles' 'Michelle'." "So I picked up a guitar and learned it. It had just enough diminished chords--similar to classical music--for me to get into rock. After that. I became a huge Beatles fan." Crosby would not stick to any one sort of music. He became a devotee of Metallica, and then progressive guitarist Joe Satriani. After he and his mother moved to San Francisco, he joined a guitar workshop and passed a demo tape of his own work to the president of Shrapnel Records. That demo earned him that mention in Guitar Player magazine. "I was only 13 at the time," Crosby says. "It blew my mind. But I was never that popular in school because I had long hair and stuff, so the kids gave me a hard time about being in the magazine." Further information:
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"VAST
is not an adjective about the music or myself. It is an adjective
for life through my eyes." That is how Jon Crosby, the artist
behind VAST, sums up the songs that appear on his haunting and
inspiring self-titled debut album, which originated with his
own personal struggles. The 21-year-old Crosby, who at the age
of 13 was tagged one of the young guitarists to watch by Guitar
Player magazine, has produced a collection of songs that draws
on multiple influences: goth, metal, classical music, electronic,
and pop. His talent attracted a first-rate team to this first
album. Fred Maher (Lou Reed, Luna, Information Society) produced
the disc. Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Slayer) mixed
it. Lars Ulrich, the drummer for Metallica, praises VAST as "one
of the best debut albums I've heard in a long, long time. It
hits you on so many levels. It's been a record I've been listening
to over and over."