For Nathaniel Mann, collaboration is not secondary to composition — it is composition. His work consistently unfolds through encounters with specialists, communities and makers whose knowledge shapes the final sound.

This includes collaborations with filmmakers, curators, academics and visual artists, but also less expected partners: a swordsmith, a pigeon fancier, ex-Gurkha musicians and archivists. These exchanges become integral to each project’s structure, informing not just the content but the very methods through which the work is created.

His involvement in Dead Rat Orchestra and Hack Poets Guild demonstrates this collective ethos. Their debut album Black Letter Garland was named one of the year’s best folk releases by The Guardian, reflecting a shared commitment to reimagining traditional forms through experimentation.

For Mann, music is never isolated from the relationships that create it. Each work exists as part of a wider ecology of people, histories and places. Through this lens, collaboration becomes more than process — it becomes the medium itself.