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Magic Number is Ross Hillard, a slow-paced, orchestral composer whose engineering and bass playing can be experienced across a variety of releases. Among others, these include Louie Vega, DJ Spen, Kerri Chandler, Lay-Far and Atjazz, the founder of Mantis Recordings and the eponymous label behind this release. 'Badly Written Songs' is, of course, an ironic title. It comprises a variety of carefully structured and well-produced compositions, topped with live instrumentation, commanding vocal performances and high-level production – the result of years of experience in sound engineering and music production. The album features the voices of Sophia Marshall, Clyde and Angela Armstrong.
We have had the pleasure of interviewing him and this has been the result.
How would you present your work to someone who doesn't know you?
Naked……. It’s always a good ice breaker
And your last job? Where is it born? And where do you want to lead?
Engineering for Louie Vega in the town know as London
What message would you like to convey to the public?
No messages….. it’s too dangerous these days. Seriously, there are some nice messsges on the album regarding social media and loving each other. The animated videos for Good Morning Sunshine” and “Better” are fun with some nice messages about living life and limiting social media.
It's meant to be fun so I hope people would take that from it. From the title of the album “badly Written Songs” to the “Good Morning Sunshine’ and “Better’ videos the idea is that it's all very playful. There are some serious undertones, good morning sunshine is built around major melodies, but talks about living your life and doing the things you want to do now before it is too late, again it's done in a tongue in cheek manner so sounds and looks very positive. The feedback from this song has been wonderful. I get people randomly contact me via my socials every week saying it’s cheered them up and made their lives a little nicer that day which is just lovely and makes me very happy. Obviously, the “Better” video looks at social media and how it's killing people's heads, but again, I've tried to keep that playful and fun. I'm really proud of the animated videos. They were great fun to write and the company made by Marshall did an incredible job of bringing my ideas to life. I think they're a really nice thing to leave in the world.
How was your last project born?
In South Africa I was on tour with atjazz and everyone kept telling me how big my song “Fly Away” was from our first record “That Day” I didn't know this because no one gets any PRS payments from South Africa. So I decided when we returned to right a new Magic Number. I'd stopped doing music as I was running my studio “The Paddocks” full time and also got really burnt when the music industry collapsed. It was great to find out that my music was soo loved by people somewhere in the world and that inspired me to write a second album. I then wrote the second album, hated it, and binned it. Literally all ten where binned haha. I picked it up again a couple of years ago and wrote 9 new songs which you can now hear on our new record “Badly Written Songs” my tongue in cheek title about releasing songs in the disposable world of electronic music.
What do you want to convey in this work? What is the concept behind?
It's meant to be fun so I hope people would take that from it. From the title of the album “badly Written Songs” to the “Good Morning Sunshine’ and “Better’ videos the idea is that it's all very playful. There are some serious undertones, good morning sunshine is built around major melodies, but talks about living your life and doing the things you want to do now before it is too late, again it's done in a tongue in cheek manner so sounds and looks very positive. The feedback from this song has been wonderful. I get people randomly contact me randomly via my socials every week saying it’s cheered them up and made their lives a little nicer that day which is just lovely makes me very happy. Obviously, the “Better” video looks at social media and how it's killing people's heads, but again, I've tried to keep that playful and fun. I'm really proud of the animated videos. They were great fun to write and the company made by Marshall did an incredible job of bringing my ideas to life. I think they're a really nice thing to leave in the world.
Magic number is meant to be fun and playful, there are some serious undertones even in Good Morning Sunshine which is about enjoying life now and trying not to get too stressed in the world. You can hear this in the music and you can see in the wonderful animated video we had done which takes you on the journey of the three characters a boy, a girl on the skeleton.
The serious but playful undertones continue in “Better” which is about someone I dated that was always on their phone and how they missed the entire world by doing that, Again this can be seen in the brilliant video that made by Marshall made for us where comically the girl is on her phone throughout the whole thing, the boy is just having some fun, until the aliens invade and him in the skeleton beat off the invasion which she completely misses as she's on her phone. As shes doom scrolling social media as it does rolls into a negative feedback loop and all turns nasty, she's missed the world regrowing and dies in a comical way.
As for your studio, what is it currently composed of?
All the things! I can send a list but it’s very silly. I own a studio called the paddocks. It has lots of synths and lots of things.
What is the one instrument you would never get rid of, no matter what?
I love them all haha, there’s a couple of basses, my double bass, my piano and synths I just couldn’t do without.
What was the last record store you visited? And what did you salvage from there?
BBE in London. Was djing there with Atjazz. Bought some old Mantis stuff actually a Brooks track I Loved calle “Color Me Bad” great quirky house record. Last record bought for me was a first pressing of Miles Davis “A Kind of Blue” by a beautiful friend of mine.
Do you have hope for the future of music? How would you like the future of the music industry to be?
I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t. It’s beautiful. I'm not going to worry about the future and things I can't control it's always seemed to do at the minute. I want to focus on now the amazing people I have in my life and having fun writing music.
Can you reveal some future projects to us?
I have a jazz record I’m working on. Very 1950’s sounding. Two other electronic projects under a different name. The third Magic Number is nearly written. We are doing a live Magic Number album in my studio “the paddocks” I’m doing the music for a documentary on the history of Broadway I also have three downtempo projects I’m currently writing and producing.
What makes you happy?
Synthesisers, bass guitars, collecting computer games, pottering in my house and studio, a cup of tea and my wonderful friends and family. I’m a simple boy.
What bothers you?
Negativity, social media and the negative feedback loops we create on it. Purple broccoli, Milk, wilko closing down (really upset me, where does one buy scourers from now days?) the alarm in my electric car that tells me I’ve deviated from my lane. People lane on the motorway. People not flushing the toilet at my studio. The prices on Ebay. People that take music and themselves too seriously. The price of vegan chocolate. …….. not much really hahahahahaha
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