A Chat with Jeff XR (06.08.2020)
Jeff XR is using an immersive sound to captivate with his debut single ‘Tremors’ featuring Slamzo. While releasing music has not always been his plan, his is looking to create connections with his songs. Combining this drive with his music, he is creating tracks steeped in nostalgia, loneliness and a sense of wonder. We sat down with Jeff XR and Slamzo to talk about the single, his creative process, music and much more!
OSR: You are studying how our brains perceive sound, how does this affect your music?
Jeff: I would say that at this stage, it gives me more food for thought and inspiration than anything else. Questions like: What makes a song catchy, or subjectively “good” at the neural level for a given person in a given context? If a deep neural net was able to generate a catchy pop song, what information would it need to be trained on and how would it be doing this, is it even possible? Will GPT-3 write good lyrics? What hopefully makes my lyrics better? Are some of the songs we listen to today on Spotify playlists generated by such systems and if not, what will happen when they are? Beyond that, I’ve wanted to incorporate interesting perceptual effects (e.g. the Shepard tone) into my work but it’s still early days on that front and still figuring out how this sort of thing would fit into my music and this more pop-oriented style.
OSR: What is your fondest musical memory?
Jeff: That’s really tough to say, there are a lot, but maybe in general, fun times with the first industrial band I was in Acumen Finite.
OSR: What drew you to your preferred genre?
Jeff: I’d say I’m fairly genre-agnostic. I always bounced around genres, but generally, if something is good, it’s just good. If it works and sounds nice to me that’s what I like and by extension, that is what I would like to create. There are some genres with such deep and interesting histories and sitting in a complicated social, societal milieu, etc., and I don’t want to downplay that as that is such a huge part of how we listen to and think about music. In all honesty and at face value, I just want to consume and create music that inspires a feeling, or is pleasant or evokes some kind of response. I don’t know that I’m there yet but that’s what I’m striving for at the moment with this project, however genre may fit into that I’m not sure.
OSR: ‘Tremors’ is your debut single, why this song and why now?
Jeff: With this pandemic, I have more time in many ways, less commuting, meetings. I’m busy like everyone and thankfully not terribly impacted, and this allowed me to carve out some time to refocus on music production. I’m really grateful for that, despite the craziness, and will continue to do that as much as I’m able to. I was backing up old hard drives to the cloud and was pleasantly surprised to come across the original vocals for ‘Tremors’, written/recorded over 6 years ago, and knew that with some work we could reignite this project and bring this to light.
OSR: What was the inspiration for ‘Tremors’?
Slamzo: Lyrically, ‘Tremors’ was written at a time when young adulthood’s many exciting, but often questionable, opportunities still felt enticing – independence, substance use, pining for ex-lovers, you know the type. I was balancing this excitement with my generalized anxiety and sought music as an outlet for the angst.
OSR: How did you connect with Slamzo and #sweatercore?
Jeff: Slamzo is a long-time collaborator and friend and we met in college at Penn State. We had similar interests in music (and squishy-faced dogs) and through that, we collaborated under the moniker #sweatercore, a project and aesthetic inspired by cool sweaters and the crisp fall air. We made mostly bootleg remixes and covers so this was really the first opportunity to officially release a track. Since it was written during those days, it felt natural for the #sweatercore tag to be attached to the project.
OSR: What is the one feeling you hope this song will invoke in listeners?
Slamzo: Oof. That’s such a tough question! Maybe, what it feels like to seek escapism. The feeling of being so overwhelmed that the only way things will get better is if you run away from everything.
OSR: What is your favourite and least favourite part of the recording process and why?
Jeff: I would say that right now I am really struggling with lyric writing and recording my own voice which I’m doing for some upcoming work. It’s something I’ve done in the past with more acoustic projects but I’m definitely not a vocalist so it’s hard and I hate it. I may or may not go that route or tap another singer into the mix. My favourite part is when inspiration strikes and something just clicks. In the “flow state” or whatever. Usually during the creating/writing process. But I do honestly kind of like mixing as well.
OSR: If your music was a colour, what would it be?
Jeff: Crunchy mottled deep blue/purple.
OSR: What are your plans for the next 6 months?
Jeff: Simply surviving is number one. Jokes aside, I’d like to release some more music, I have more ideas in the works at various stages.
Thanks to Jeff XR and Slamzo for chatting with us! You can find more about Jeff XR on his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
