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Improvising with Producer and Saxophonist Anenon

To see more from Anenon, check out @brianallensimon on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

Brian Allen Simon (@brianallensimon), better known by his musical pseudonym Anenon, tends to base things off improvisation. Why sit around writing chord changes when you can play with a few friends and figure it out along the way?

“We just recorded a half-hour long improvisation,” says Brian, about the recent session that led to his upcoming record, Petrol. “And I basically just took that recording and made an album out of it.”

The on-the-fly affair shouldn’t be a surprise for someone who picked up his current instrument so late in life. While most professional musicians begin as children, Brian started playing the saxophone at the age of 22. But he had plenty of friends to help support and push him along the way.

“I think the sax is very vocal sounding. And I’ve always had trouble singing — something I’m trying to work on right now as well,” he says. “The sax is sort of my voice. And I think that adds a lot of personal character to my music — that I’m not just another dude playing synth.”

Another dude playing synth wouldn’t be working on Brian’s current project: a yearlong series with fellow producer Nick Malkin at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, which pairs live performances of L.A.-based musicians with specific works and galleries. There isn’t quite the level of improvisation involved, but it still relies on instinct, something Brian has in spades.

“I’ve gotten to the point where I kind of just trust my gut,” he says. “And whatever direction some voice inside my head or heart tells me to go I kind of just do that.”

—Instagram @music