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<\/a>Where does one even begin when introducing Mr. Thomas Dolby? We all remember him from his catchy 80’s electronic hits, “She Blinded Me With Science” and “Hyperactive!”, but Dolby is far more than an MTV sensation. He’s also the musical director for the prestigious TED conference, a producer, and an incredibly intelligent entrepreneur who has spent the better part of two decades in Silicone Valley. \u00a0Dolby\u00a0founded the company \u00a0Beatnik that invented the technology that first allowed mobile phones to play polyphonic ringtones. In fact, at one point, two thirds of all the world’s phones contained his chip!<\/p>\nAfter a twenty year recording hiatus, Thomas Dolby is back, and his latest effort is a massive work encompassing not only an album of new originals, but it is accompanied by a video game and a tour complete with a steampunk time capsule in which fans can record messages to the future. Did we really expect any less? Read on to find out what inspired his latest project, A Map of the Floating City<\/em>, what he thinks about the evolution of the music business since he first started, and just what he’s planning to leave in his time capsule!<\/p>\nCP:<\/strong> What inspired your latest project, \u201cA Map of the Floating City\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\nTD:<\/strong> Well, it\u2019s been quite a long time since I\u2019ve made an album, and I had some ideas brimming over. I moved back to the UK after 23 years of living in California. It was a really good time, but it was nice to get back to my homeland. I live in a tiny village with twenty houses and no shops, and I\u2019m facing the North Sea towards Holland. It\u2019s a very tranquil and inspiring place to be. I do my work in a converted lifeboat in the garden, and it\u2019s thrilling to be able to have the material to put a new album together.<\/em><\/p>\nCP:<\/strong> When you first started writing the music for the record, did you have the concept for the video game portion as well?<\/em><\/p>\nTD:<\/strong> No. As the songs came together, they were just naturally falling into three categories. I had the title of the album in mind for many years, and I came up with the idea for these three metaphysical continents. \u201cUrbanoia\u201d was a really complex look at living in the city, while \u201cAmerikana\u201d was a real look back at my time in the states, and then there was \u201cOceana\u201d, which was about coming back home to England.<\/em><\/p>\nI thought at one point that I would release them as three EPs. In the end, I decided that rather than just do three EPs, I would do this video game and release the album. I really did it because I wanted to sort of reach out to a new audience who has maybe never been aware of me or were just too young to remember me from the first time around. I think the game really succeeded in doing that because a lot of people aren\u2019t out buying albums anymore. They\u2019re playing games and spending time on social networks and stuff like that. A lot of the new players in the game had never heard of my music before. Because they had to solve problems collaboratively in the game, they basically had to talk to hardcore Dolby nuts to figure out the answers to some of the questions about my music. It expanded my audience in a very gratifying way.<\/em><\/p>\n