INTRO

Guitar instrumentals have provided some of music’s most exciting moments. This month, as his progressive metal outfit releases a new album, Circadian, Jason Sidwell caught up with Intervals’s guitarist Aaron Marshall.

Aaron Marshall from Toronto progressive metal band Intervals

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals?

AM: I love the guitar, but I also love all music in general. So I suppose my passion for guitar-driven music is a product of wanting to compose and complete fully realised pieces that don't rely on another element to feel complete. It's not a preference, but perhaps born of necessity, rather. I like knowing that I can paint on the canvas without limitation, or compromise.

GT: What do you think an instrumental can provide a listener that a vocal song can't?

AM: There is certainly more room left for interpretation from the perspective of the listener. Instrumental music doesn't pander politically, religiously, or even emotionally from an explicit standpoint. Music itself is a universal language that is subjective and I think there is something very special about that.

GT: Any tendencies that you aim to embrace or avoid - rhythms, harmony, approach, tones?

AM: Aspects I embrace are the intuitive use of themes and motifs. I used to fight these, but the more I write songs, the more I realise those things happen for a reason. I think they can become the hallmark, or signature, for artists in this space, and I really enjoy being able to link varying compositions through this method. A tactile use of repetition in general is something I wholeheartedly embrace, counterweighted by decisive variation, or embellishment, of course. I'm not sure there is much I actively avoid, as I'm trying to be more in tune with my intuition. I'm not sure deliberately avoiding anything is productive, aside from a deliberate use of omission or limitation as a writing tool. But that's more at a micro level, versus the macro perspective.