Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

Thomas Dolby took a decade or so away from music to spend some time in Silicon Valley. Now he’s back making music again. What was it like to come back to music after the hiatus? “…like Austin Powers who went to sleep for a decade and woke up to all these shiny new toys.”

From what I’m hearing in this NPR interview, Mr. Dolby back in the lab is a good thing. Personally speaking — that means my professional branding hat is off, resting on the chair — I find this not just good stuff, but transformative and spine-tingling.

Back in high school in the 80s I spent my Saturday mornings spinning records at all-new-wave WIRQ in Rochester, NY. And thus, I was exposed to a lot of good and bad music, all of which I loved at the time, and most of which became the soundtrack of my teenage years. Dolby’s work is part of that. My tastes have wandered after spending time in New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco, but even today Dolby’s music is something I can look back on and smile about, rather than cringe. (Unlike exhibits A, B and C.)

It’s nice hear this stuff again, but it’s also great to know that years away from the studio hasn’t sent Dolby into the land of milque and toast. The latest work is a nice bow on the arc of a career that Thomas Dolby has made for himself. I’m game.

Okay, that’s enough whimsical yearnings for 1986. Fast forward to 2007. Dolby will be performing live at TED. We’ll take your ticket in case you can’t make it.

– Noel Franus