Meet Brian Horsfield | Musician & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Horsfield and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I’ve always been interested in the creative process which, for me, translates into making music and making art.. The creative drive is not something I have to work at maintaining, its ever present. In fact, the opposite is true. I have to work to ensure my drive to create doesn’t overtake other important activities such as career, family and friends.
in the past this meant that i would need to carefully determine what the priorities were for that stage in my life. Sometimes (for a long time) that would mean i would sacrifice the urge to create so I could focus on developing my career. This was important to me. For instance,I had specific goals to move from my place of birth (England) to the USA. I knew this could be done but would require 100% attention on my career and, as a result, for quite a few years music and art took a backseat in terms of daily activity, Of course, I still spent some time making art and music when I could but I understood it had to fit in with other priorities.
Fast forward to today, I was fortunate enough to retire from corporate life a few years ago and my sole objective was to spend more time with family and dedicate as much time as possible to music and art. I still find it difficult to accept taht i can wake everyday and look forward to spending time on whatever creative project is currently occupying my thoughts without having to put it off to dela with career related matters.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been writing and performing music for many years. Originally, I was in Nottingham in the United Kingdom where i started writing electronic music with friends and had some success in the 1990s releasing CDs that were well received by the electronic music community. At that point i wasnt playing live, simply composing and recording / releasing music into the market. This is all pre-streaming services so it was necessary to work with record labels to get your work recorded and released into stores.
After moving to the USA in 2000 I decided that it was probably time to put music on the back burner to focus on career in the Telecommunications industry. I sold most of my music equipment. However, fate intervened and, by accident I won a competition where the prize was $20,000 worth of music equipment of my choice so I took this as i sign that I wasn’t destined to get out of music.
Over the past few years I have become more focused on the type of music that ive chosen to create and I also decided i would like to get out into the world to perform my music in a live environment.
I became ‘The Aefonic’, a solo electronic music composer and performer. I write all my own material and i love to perform it whenever i get chance. Sometimes the venues are clubs where my sets will focus on EDM type material and sometimes its more intimate venues such as galleries or small bars where I can focus on music that rewards deep listening. Recently I’ve been invited to spread my wings a little further with gigs in LA, Chicago, Alburquerque and as far afield as London.
At the same time, i try to ensure taht ispend equal time recording and relaeasing my songs so that it has a life outside of live performance. Ironically, even with the easier methods of streaming distribution these days, i still find it challenging to get it all recorded and released.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I quite often have friends from the UK coming to stay. I like to show them a fun time and, of course, theyre all interested in music so we have lots of interesting things we can do.
First off we have to get to see a little more of Boulder where i live. Im fortunate to live within walking distance of Pearl Street so we can walk down into town to partake of food and drink in places like 1010 Brasserie and Postino. There arent a lot of casual live music venues in Boulder and none that focus on electronic music. We would definitely take in Boulder Theater or The Fox if there’s a great band playing. Smaller venues like The Velvet Elk have been doing a great job of expanding daily live music availability in recent years so we’d go along whenever we could.
No trip would be complete without a visit to one of the meetup events help by Rocky Montain Synth Meetup group or Colorado Modular Synth society. RMSM often holds face to face events at Boulders ‘Junkyard Social Club’ which is an excellent, friendly venue. CMSS hold a monthly ‘open mic’ modular synth evening at Ft Greene in Globeville, Denver. this is always well attended and always a fun event with unusual, unexpected performances.
Depending on time of year we usually get a little roadtrip in. I love Steamboat in both winter and summer. Its always a rewarding place to visit and always has something new to see. The drives from Boulder is also great.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
As a musician i have always gravitated towards individuals and groups that share an interest in genres of music that im interested in. In particular, I love the intersection of music and technology so it was always a given that id get deeply involved in the electronic music scene. Its always fun to find friends and groups focused in this area and fortunately Denver & Boulder is well supported with groups like Rocky Mountain Synth Meetup and Colorado Modular Synth Society that are very active and well attended with like minded members. The live performance scene is an imprortant element of electronic music. There are a number of regular events such as ‘Freq Boutique’ (Every month, Ft Greene, Globeville, Denver) that specialize in encouraging new and established performers to play live.
Recently ive been exploring more options to share my artistic creations by joing the ‘North Boulder Art District’. This is a very supportive, highly active group that encourages a wide range of art activities and provides a number of dedicated galleries to show your work.
I should also mention my long suffering wife, Helen. As a musician she has heard every note that ive ever composed over several decades. There hasnt been a day that she hasnt heard me make some weird noise on a synthisizer or guitar or drums and shes supported alll of it.

Website: https://theaefonic.bandzoogle.com/home

Instagram: the.aefonic

Linkedin: Brian Horsfield

Facebook: https://facebook.com/theaefonicmodular

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAefonic

Other: Bandcamp: https://theaefonic1.bandcamp.com
Spotify: The Aefonic
Apple Music: The Aefonic

Image Credits
None