Another Recap — Complexity Over Compromise

On Rosalía, Nicolas Jaar, and the Return of the Orchestra

Nov 04, 2025

YES! Ten issues in and almost 2k subscribers... So good to have this place back to share our thoughts, half-formed ideas, things we’ve discovered that demand to be passed on. And so good to have you here! We’ve talked about Presence over Performativity, Connection over Correctness, Opening Doors Over Closing Them and much more. In this weeks issue I explore something personal: classical music, Rosalía’s new single, and what my kids music lessons are teaching me. If you enjoy this, please share it with someone who will too.

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Last week, Rosalía dropped ‘Berghain’ and I listened to it on repeat for many times (can’t wait for the full album!). The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Bjarnason. Baroque tempo markings. Operatic vocals in German, Spanish, and English over strings that evoke Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’. This wasn’t decoration; it was architecture. The classical elements are the song.
Raised with classical music around me, having played cello for years (and still a little), I’ve always fallen instantly in love when musicians in popular music genres incorporate classical music in a proper way (beyond synth strings, I mean). Its all about celebrating complexity, harmony, nuance. Classical music is, in my opinion, above all genres a medium of storytelling. Not literally with lyrics, but with intonation, dynamics, the space between notes. It’s what can drive me to tears, what I can listen to endlessly on repeat. (My most played album for years was for instance Canto Ostinato for four pianos by Simeon ten Holt).
What feels like ages ago I discovered Nicolas Jaar’s remixes, where he mixed classical music effortlessly with electronic, pop, hip-hop, any genre you can think of. He showed me it was possible. That you could take these two worlds and not choose between them. This BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix became my all time fav and the proof of concept: classical music didn’t have to stay in concert halls to maintain its power. I was raised with the idea that classical music is something higher/better than the rest. But it’s not; it’s something different.

Back to now. Where my son learns cello through the Suzuki method. A big part of this is learning by ear first, listening to me playing daily, playing by memory before notation. Watching him approach the same instrument I learned with such different joy reminds me that access and rigour aren’t enemies—they’re partners. (And practising classical music might even be the perfect antidote to our brain rotting future)…
This is what Jaar and Rosalía understand. They’re not diluting classical music; they’re removing the gatekeeping while respecting the complexity. Rosalía bringing in the LSO isn’t a gimmick, it’s an invitation. For people who might never set foot in Het Concertgebouw or the Roy Thomson Hall, who’ve never experienced the physical impact of a full orchestra, she’s creating that doorway.
And the physical impact is real. Studies show that classical music affects our cardiovascular system through the vagus nerve, which responds to musical vibrations by triggering our bodies to relax. It synchronises neural oscillations between our auditory cortex and emotional processing centers. Mozart and Strauss demonstrably lower blood pressure and heart rate in ways pop music doesn’t. The complexity matters—tempo, dynamics, harmonic progression create synchronised patterns of brain activity that are strongest when we actually enjoy what we’re hearing.

Throughout my career I’ve worked with classical musicians, violin builders, concert halls. We collaborated with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (and will collaborate again in January!), worked with conductor Gustavo Gimeno and CEO Mark Williams. And it’s always so inspiring and challenging to work with people in this field.
What we tried, what Rosalía is doing, what Jaar did years before, is making that craft accessible without dumbing it down. When those LSO strings hit, something measurable happens in your body. Your heart rate changes. Your brain synchronises. You feel it in your chest.
That’s not metaphor. That’s classical music doing what it’s always done: telling stories without words, creating complexity that our bodies recognise as beauty, offering something that transcends the moment.
It’s what brings me back, again and again.

Below in the music section my fav classic pieces. Enjoy!

Here’s what was good last weeks

Just this. Wow.

🪟 Open windows

Equator is live now.

Dirty clothes by Fantastic Man. Love it!

Denim is having its moment (again, and again, and for always again).

The Visual World of Anthroposophy.*

We’re fan of VIPP too.

This Totebag is a must cop

Grimes on Doomscroll

Mr Scorsese on Apple TV

Emergence Magazine Vol 6: Seasons

*The Visual World of Anthroposophy. Wala Medicine original label design.

💿 On repeat while reading/traveling/working

Heroina by Svedaliza

West End Girl by Lily Allen

Wie de fak is Sophie Straat by Sophie Straat

My fav classic music

& keep streaming and supporting Radio Hara 🍉

(And as always, more on Record Club)

🔟 Times

To revive this little project of ours: In this section we’ll share 10 links, projects, people, books, or whatever it can be, that captured our attention over the last weeks.

We collect them all here (also with additions of friends, and yours if you like. Just let me know if you’d like to receive a pack, happy to send a few out again!)

This week: 10 fav newsletters