As Gossamer, Los Angeles native Evan Reiner creates an ambient soundscape laden with melodic guitar hooks and beats. Growing up listening to hardcore/punk and hip-hop, Reiner turned to electronic production after attending Boston's Berklee School of Music. Automaton—out this month on Innovative Leisure—is a testament to the producer, guitarist, synthesizer wizard. Reiner collected field recordings from Tokyo to Pasadena to create set. His process? "Gather sounds, throw shit on canvas, fine tune." Reiner talks to Myspace about his aesthetic, how his monicker has Space Jam roots and why Los Angeles is paradise.

Hometown and homebase: Los Angeles

Where did the monicker Gossamer come from?
I was always watching Space Jam as a kid and would fake [being] sick from school just to watch it all day. One of the character extras I would see in the movie was this big, red, heart-shaped, chicken-nugget-looking, monster thing. The image of him would come back to me whenever I would think about that movie. I am somewhat of a throwback nerd so this was often. One day I was like “Who the fuck is that?”

How did you evolve from liking punk rock and hip-hop to producing electronic/ambient music?
By smoking weed and realizing that making music with a computer is like having a band or ensemble at your fingertips.

Is that why your debut is called Automaton?
An automaton is a self-operating machine. It is built usually to perform a specific duty. I do not know why I like to make things, I just do. I know that it’s what I am meant to do, what I was brought into this world to do. There was a period where I read about the industrial revolution and how bringing machines into the workplace changed man’s relationship with rhythm. The fact that this advance in technology could subconsciously affect the world so powerfully made me realize how powerful the subconscious is. It helped me understand that you can still believe in, appreciate, and live with things you do not fully understand. An automaton does not know why it does what it was built to do, it just does.

What is your favorite instrument to play?
Guitar, turntables.

And you did grow up liking punk and hip-hop, playing guitar. How do all of those elements come out in your music now?
I guess you could say a lot of my music is beat-driven. Maybe this comes from being rooted in hip-hop and funk, I have no idea. I play guitar in most of my music. It’s the instrument I know best and has become a useful tool for me. You could say that the fact that the stuff I make comes from raw emotion is related to the idea of something being what we have come to label as that of a “punk” mentality. I think focusing on that aspect is kind of pointless.

Describe your music to people who haven't heard it before.
It depends on who I am talking to. Also my sound doesn’t really stay the same. If I had to pull an explanation out of nowhere immediately I would say “Loop-based kind of beats sometimes beat-less with a lot of bass usually. Dreamy, full sounding and mostly on the slower side. I try to make things that help me relax or cope with something that is emotionally difficult or overwhelming to go through, from anger or sadness to excitement. ”

Does living in Los Angeles help you create music?
There are things that inspire me and things that do the opposite. I’ll start with the latter, better to end on a positive note. Los Angeles is one of the creative industry capitals of the world. A lot of amazing things have been made here, and many people flock here to get inspired. The frustrating part about this is that it creates saturation. You don’t need to move somewhere where people are making awesome things to make awesome things. If you have it, you have it. I usually take a short trip somewhere far away if I am feeling uninspired. It tends to do the trick for me, gives me the perspective I need to assess whatever the problem is. Then I come back home and it feels great to do so. This brings me to what I love about Los Angeles. It is the place that will always be there for me, where I always return to. It is where I go to recover and reconnect with my roots. Aesthetically it resembles what many envision as a modern paradise. The weather; the way its urban features intertwine with nature; the amount of different types of nature in such close proximity to each other; the amount of culture and how open people generally are to new things because of that.

What was your first memory of liking music?
My parents and my cousins [turned me] onto a lot of stuff—Beatles, Ramones, Hip hop, nu-metal. Millennial shit. Hardcore and death metal came a bit later. My dad and uncle took me to this crazy festival called inland Invasion when I was 12. Pops had been feeding me his old punk records a little bit before that. So many amazing bands played that day. I had never seen that type of chaos in my life. Thousands of people losing their shit harmoniously. It opened my eyes to a whole new realm of impact that music could have on people and ultimately the world.

Who were your childhood heroes?
Dr. Dre, Eminem, DMX, Beatles, Ramones, many punk and hardcore bands.

What's the craziest story you've ever heard from a fan?
Sent me a personal message saying they were robbed at gunpoint the night prior and that one of my songs on repeat got them through the night.

Who would you love to collaborate with?
Dickie Landry, Grimes, Grouper, Earl Sweatshirt.