The Minor Arcana—pseudonym of one Mr. Matthew Landis—had a mind to absorb gobs of music from a very early age, and the good fortune to be exposed to a breathtaking panoply of it. Before entering kindergarten, he soaked in Bach, Vivaldi, Brubeck and Amhad Jamal from his father and grandfather's record collections, while his mother fed him a steady diet of '60s soul classics; what's more, his older cousins were subjecting him to '80s rock as it emerged on MTV. At an age when most kids are learning to read, Landis was fast becoming fluent as a jazz & classical listener: obsessing over Stevie Wonder & Aretha Franklin; dressing up as Bruce Springsteen for Halloween.

Enthralled at age six by a pianist's rendering of a Beethoven concerto at a local concert, Landis demanded piano lessons; by his eighth birthday, he was deemed too advanced for the neighborhood's best teachers. He was already immersing himself in whatever rock music he could find with an audible piano part to bang out, drawn in particular to the early records of Springsteen and Elton John. His older cousins—now, his babysitters—took him in more divergent directions: one pointing him toward Zeppelin–Hendrix–Allman Brothers; the other, into punk, hardcore, & rap byways. His older brother steered him into Pantera & King Crimson, whose musical wild–goose chases delighted the nascent composer. His new piano teacher got him excited about Glenn Gould, and ignited his interest in Baroque and late Renaissance keyboard music—provoking an (inevitable) obsession with J.S. Bach. That same teacher was responsible to introducing a young Landis to legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans—& his impressionistic approach to harmony. At the same time, his young mind was also contending with early records by Nine Inch Nails, Bad Brains & NWA—& an (equally inevitable) obsession with The Clash.