Halo Jones expresses the dark and light sides of his spirit through music and art.

By Aaron Burkhalter

The walls of his home look like they are taken from an eccentric art gallery. A figure on one wall stitches his chest together with thick black twine. Bright colors adorn every corner of the house. Halo’s own art projects, mostly purple pastel and covered in butterflies, lean in piles against the wall and hang on every surface in his pastel purple bedroom.

Jones studies massage therapy at Lane Community College and takes courses in Reiki, a therapy method based in touch but more focused on spiritual issues. Reiki methods maintain that touch can transmit healing energy to another person.

“It has to do with Earth’s energy field,” Jones says.

Jones tends to follow his spiritual aspirations, whether they lead him to artwork, music, Reiki or massage therapy.

Halo Jones shows his painting titled "God," which he created out of cardboard scraps and leftover paint from his job at Home Depot.

“I went to church when I was younger,” Jones says. “I’m not into religion anymore, but I feel like I still have a spiritual walk.”

However much of his time has been spent on music, balancing time between two projects: a more conventional rock band called Simple Man, and his solo electronic experiments.

Jones says his music is spiritual and personal, working out inner angels and demons in various forms. He calls much of his music a "horror music soundtrack," but scary or otherwise, for Jones the music is about the expression of an inner spirit.

Simple Man falls more along the demon category. Jones cites Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Godspeed You Black Emporor and Smashing Pumpkins as stylistic influences. Jones describes his music as “intense.”

“Our trick was combining sadness with anger,” Jones says. “It gave us a unique sound.”

Jones writes the music with melodic vocals but harder-driving guitars.

"Whenever I play heavy music I'm letting go of my demons, but whenever I play beautiful music I'm worshipping life."         ~Halo Jones

The group is just a duo currently. Jones writes most of the music and performs with roommate and friend Jason Starshine. However, without their original bassist, who moved to Hawaii, then to New Mexico, they have to switch instruments frequently. They still play shows occasionally, but Jones has focused more recently on his own electronic projects.

When Jones records his electronic music, he does not enter the studio – in this case his friend’s laptop computer in the basement of his house – with a composition in mind. It starts with a rhythm, or a sound, or a repetition. Then, piece-by-piece, Jones adds layer upon layer over the ambient, droning and quiet music.

On his piece titled "Deep Sleep," Jones starts by looping electric keyboards and synthesized percussion, then adds echoing vocals in the background. Jones says the lyrics of the song are “I used to love,” but to the casual ear the words are indistinct.

On another piece, titled "Worship," Jones recorded layers of his voice several times over, creating an unusual and distant chorus of chanting. But even as the spiritual, prayer-like chanting continues, the dark beats return to the “horror movie soundtrack.”

Halo Jones shows a painting that represents some of his own inner fears.

The music, whether sounding like chanting monks or the type of music Hal 9000 would listen to, relates to the spiritual strain that runs through all of Jones' craft.

Jones isn’t seeking a career in music; it serves mainly as a tool for his own spiritual life. He worries that pursuit of a career would distract him from the real purpose of his music

“One of the most important things to me is how most people are playing out of their ego,” Jones says. “They want everything to sound perfect and sound right. And they lose their attachment and lose the reason they wrote the music in the first place.”

The music is personal, and even though he performs with his band in front of an audience, it seems the music is as much for himself as anyone else.

“Whenever I play heavy music I’m letting go of my demons,” Jones says. “But whenever I play beautiful music I’m worshipping life, just being alive and celebrating everything that’s inside of me.”