Meet Sam Saunders | Composer, Pianist, and App creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam Saunders and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam, how does your business help the community?
The rise of smartphones and social media has impacted not only our ability to focus, but also our mental and emotional wellbeing. Modern life overstimulates the mind, and by doing so, disconnects us from emotions. In response to this epidemic, mindfulness practices such as meditation have gained popularity – unfortunately, these tools leave out many people. 80% of the people who try meditation don’t end up developing a consistent practice.

The other problem is that most therapeutic tools operate through the mind, intellectualizing the emotional experience. Talk therapy, meditation, wellness apps – they can be helpful, but they also keep us analyzing instead of feeling. I wanted to create something that helps people drop out of thought and back into their bodies. Especially in the age of AI, which will soon replace most of our analytical capacities, it is more important than ever to preserve what makes us human: the felt sense.

During an Atoon journey, the music slows the listener’s brainwaves and helps them access deeper states of consciousness. They’re able to drop into dream-like states of deep rest, transcendence, and profound presence. They’re able to reconnect with felt sense in a way that is usually otherwise inaccessible. Many listeners report having subconscious material come up – memories, dreams, or images.

The app, Atoon, grew out of recognizing that if we can help people reconnect with their capacity to feel deeply through something as accessible as putting on headphones, we’re addressing something much bigger than personal wellness. It begins to help us restore what makes us fundamentally human.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started playing piano and writing music when I was nine. It became an emotional outlet for me, a way to process things I didn’t have words for. It brought a little more color into the world around me. I’d spend hours lost in it. Growing up in West Virginia, being a classical musician wasn’t really on anyone’s radar, but I knew it was my path.

After studying at the University of Michigan, I built a career as a concert pianist and composer. For years, I’ve been imagining what the “the sound of the future.” might sound like. I wondered what Bach or Beethoven would be writing if they were alive today. Something that lives between the concert hall and the digital world, between the heart and the machine. That bridges emotion and technology. That question pushed me to start blending classical and electronic music, trying to bring those two worlds together.

For years, I was chasing a sound that only existed in my imagination. For a long time it felt like no one “got it.” But I kept refining, learning, and imagining.

Then one day I composed this piece, titled “Angels” in the app. It just came, sort of out of the blue. And I knew – this was it! This was the sound. It felt like finding a piece of myself I didn’t know was missing. Once I had finally heard it, the music flowed out of me. I went from years of being creatively blocked to finishing a new piece of music every two or three days. All those years of searching, studying, imagining – it had all prepared me for that time.

I began composing these musical journeys that combine hundreds of complex, layered instruments with spatial audio technology for a truly immersive experience; an experience that nudges the mind into surrender, creating space for emotions to arise. The music becomes a container to help listeners be present with what’s arising and creates a sense of safety in their nervous system so they can feel whatever is asking to be felt.

I showed a few of these to friends, and they had a much deeper and more enthused reaction than anything I had ever shared. I felt like I was on to something, and I decided that an app would allow me to curate journeys for people based on how they feel and what they need, while also providing a new container for deeper listening: listening with eyes closed and headphones. And thus, Atoon was born!

I’m also a producer, and this year I have produced songs for John Legend, Offset, and Trey Songz (among others). I find it a lot of fun to collaborate with other artists. I spent several weeks in Dubai working with Trey, which was an incredible experience. But my truest musical expression lies in creating music for Atoon.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite part of living in LA is how accessible all the nature is. It’s so special and unique to be in a big city and be able to easily go to the ocean or the mountains within 20 or 30 minutes. I would do a mix of taking them to great restaurants and then out into nature.

The hikes over in Topanga and Malibu are beautiful, so we would spend a day over there hiking, and then eat at Cafe 27 in Topanga or on the Malibu Pier and catch the sunset on the beach.

I love mountain biking, and think the greater LA area has some of the best mountain biking in the country. When friends that bike have visited, I show them the goods up in Rocky Peak, and then maybe go down to Laguna to do some shuttle laps.

Other than outdoor activities, we would focus most of our energy on eating our way through the city. For more casual lunches, we’d hit Mizlala and a couple spots in Sawtelle. For dinner, we’d go to Joy over in Eagle Rock (so good!), Spoon and Pork in Silver Lake (the Kare Kare is one of my favorite bites in LA), Bavel, and then maybe my favorite spot of all – the little taco stand on the corner of Washington and Centinela. I don’t even know the name of it, but I’ve eaten there at least once a week for the last 4 years and it hits every time. Everything there is good, but the Carne Asada quesadilla is my go-to comfort meal.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mom and dad, for always supporting my decision to become a musician and never pushing me towards a “safer” career. My girlfriend Julia, for believing in me, pushing me to grow, and helping create Atoon with me.

There have been several places that have shaped who I am: West Virginia, Detroit, and Baltimore. There are too many people along the journey to list here, but I feel lucky to have grown up in West Virginia. Despite all of its struggles, it is a beautiful place, and I spent much of my youth exploring the woods, mountains, and rivers.

I lived in Detroit for much of my twenties, and was inspired and challenged and taken care of by so many people there. It is a wonderful and unique place. I am particularly close with many people in the Brightmoor neighborhood, which is where I spent most of my time. Brightmoor feels like a second home to me, and helped shape who I am today.

I was also shaped by my time in Baltimore, specifically West Baltimore and the Westport neighborhood where I lived.

To Bach and Beethoven, of course – but specifically to the 3rd movement of Beethoven’s Opus 132 String Quartet, which I think is the most beautiful piece of music ever written. It constantly inspires me, and gives me guidance and direction in my life. I have the opening bars tattooed on my arm.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samsaundersmusic/