"I'm into music for all different sorts of purposes"

Tom Jenkinson’s assertion that he is into music for “all different sorts of purposes” reveals the multi-dimensional relationship an artist or listener can have with music. It suggests that music is not confined to a singular function or experience; rather, it is a fluid medium that can serve a broad spectrum of needs, emotions, and intentions. For Jenkinson, who is known for his experimental approach as Squarepusher, music is both a material for creative exploration and a channel for personal expression, experimentation, and communication.

There is the notion that music can fulfill emotional or psychological needs. Sometimes, it provides comfort or catharsis, acting as a refuge or a means of processing complex feelings. At other times, it is purely intellectual or technical, a puzzle to be solved, a field in which ideas about rhythm, timbre, and composition can be tested and pushed in new directions. This duality is evident in much of Jenkinson’s own body of work, where a frenetic, almost mathematical, approach to sound design sits side by side with passages of genuine emotional resonance.

Furthermore, music’s multiplicity of purposes extends to its social role. It can facilitate connection: between performer and audience, among members of a community, within the network of like-minded creators. It can serve as background or as focal point, a carrier of nostalgia or a testament to the present moment. For a musician like Jenkinson, whose influences span jazz, electronic, classical, and more, each piece or project might be undertaken with a distinct purpose in mind, sometimes for sheer exploration, sometimes as a challenge, and sometimes simply for the joy of making sound.

This philosophy implies an openness to possibility: the willingness to allow music to become what is most needed in a particular context, without being confined by expectations. In this way, music is essential, not only as entertainment, but as a vehicle for freedom, discovery, and meaning.