St. Vincent and Peter Gabriel are advising Marko Ahtisaari’s ambitious medical music initiative, The Sync Project

Jamieson Cox in The Verge:

Peter Gabriel, St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark), Jon Hopkins, and Esa-Pekka Salonen are going to help The Sync Project — the initiative headed up by former Nokia design head Marko Ahtisaari — explore the future of musical medicine. The four musicians are joining the collaborative venture as advisors, roles that'll necessitate working with the scientists researching music's therapeutic properties and helping to raise the project's awareness. While they represent a wide range of musical styles and experiences — Gabriel and Clark are art-rock veterans, Hopkins is an accomplished electronic producer, and Salonen conducts the London Philharmonia Orchestra — Ahtisaari is more interested in their value as thinkers than their musical bona fides.

“We're very much looking for musicians and creators who have an active relationship with technology,” says Ahtisaari. “I felt that was a common denominator for everyone, in slightly different ways… It wasn't so much about the contents of the music, or to commission any work. These are creative thinkers — let's involve them.” Ahtisaari had preexisting relationship with Gabriel and Salonen that facilitated their involvement, and he reached out to Hopkins and Clark after consulting with Gabriel, Salonen, and others. “We meet regularly to discuss the product, we show prototypes, we design together. We're engaging them as creative product thinkers.”

The product in question is wildly ambitious: musical treatment programs for medical conditions that match the efficacy of drug-based treatment without subjecting patients to the dangers and side effects of pharmacological programs. Ahtisaari cites treatment for Parkinson's disease as an example.

More here.