" I’M A SHY STUDIO recluse, " says producer Morgan Page. In the next breath, he says nervously, " No, wait, cross that out. I didn’t mean that. " As a producer, Page is perhaps too aware that some things don’t always sound right the first time around. He starts again: " Well, I spend an enormous amount of time on the music, to ensure a sort of quality control so that nothing leaves the studio until I’m 100 percent happy with it. If it isn’t something that I feel has a place in the public realm, I’ll erase it and start from scratch. " Throughout his body of work, which includes over a dozen releases and a new full-length album, Page’s obsessive attention to detail and editing is wholly apparent. His quest for perfection is so strong, he even edits what he says about his music.

His new album, Drifting into View (Nordic Trax), is a culmination of all his work to date. The album drifts softly among house, ambient, and downtempo, consistently punctuated by organic, live sounds. It demonstrates Page’s penchant for absorbing his surroundings and turning them into music. " The intro and outro of the album showcase two different sounds. They function as these sort of ‘bookends’ that present a timeline of my musical work, " he says. " I started getting serious about music when I interned for a record label in NYC. The intro contains sounds from that summer — recordings of cicadas in the middle of a sweltering July and August. The outro is actually a recording of the Kendall Square T stop. It’s there to show current time, how I now live in Boston — and the city has made an enormous impact on the sound of my work. "

That work reflects the highly developed understanding of machines and music that Page acquired at a very early age. He started " messing with machines " when he was only 12 years old. When he was 16, he landed himself a college-radio show at the University of Vermont. During the following summer, he interned at Plastic City in New York, where he met Rick Salzer. The latter introduced him to the music of Timewriter and other producers who helped influence him and inspire him to become more serious about making music. Soon, Page’s " messing around " began yielding actual recordings, and by the time he was ready for his freshman year at Emerson College in Boston, he had an EP ready to go.

Page released his first EP, Maple Grooves, on Fiji Records in September 2000, and a second EP, Pathways, on Nordic Trax in November of the same year. Recently, he has been commissioned to do remixes for house legends like Terri Lee Brown Jr. and Nigel Hayes. In addition, he’s recently released records on Amherst-based label Magnified Records and UK label Toko.

Though most of his work is dance-floor-friendly, Morgan’s goal is to make quality music that translates to a wider audience. Perhaps the best example of his talent for melding the dance floor and the mainstream is the remix he just released for the Grammy-nominated band Wax Poetic. The remix of the track " Angels " leans heavily toward the dance floor, but its soundscapes, punctuated by a striking vocal, are rich enough to sustain its life outside the club. The record, which features a second remix by Portobello (Steve Porter and John Lobello) on the flip side, is due out this month on the Amherst-based label Mother Tongue. " Basically, the DJ market is limited, " says Page. " It’s perfectly fine to make music that works best in clubs, but there are so many other ways to enjoy music. In the car, the bedroom, on a Discman, and so on. My new album shows how music can thrive outside of a club setting. Some of it was made in the country, some in downtown Boston. It’s a listening album, but there are a handful of tracks that fare well on a big nightclub system. "

Page’s need to translate his music to a wider audience has led him to Boston’s airwaves. As a former station manager for WERS, Emerson’s College’s radio station, Page has seen firsthand how electronic music has many different audiences. He currently hosts the electronic-music show Revolutions, which allows him to hear and take in many different styles of music. In the future, Page plans to incorporate different sounds into his work. He is currently working on his next album, which he says will sound a lot more diverse than the last. " I never conform or cater my music to a certain camp or style. It just doesn’t mesh with my creative process, " he says. " I go into the studio, and what emerges is a product of the moment, not a result of intention or premeditated thought. " Perhaps this spontaneity is the reason for his keen editing skills. Page will celebrate the release of Drifting into View with a live performance of his work at the Phoenix Landing on May 22.

Issue Date: May 7-21, 2002