
NMB har haft en sittning med Edmonton-killen Thomas som är hjärnan och hjärtat bakom Jaded Hipster Choir och som kommit att bli en favorit här den senaste tiden. Han är aktuell med ett album senare i sommar, vilket jag personligen ser mycket fram emot, så för att ta reda på mer om JHC:s dåtid, nutid och mycket annat slängde jag iväg lite frågor och fick utförligare svar än vad jag någonsin hade kunnat drömma om. Läs allt och kolla in lite mp3or nedan.
- I’ve been under the impression that Jaded Hipster Choir is you, Thomas, but also another person. What’s the story behind JHC?
For the longest time, and under alot of different monikers, it was always me, and probably always will be. I do write or arrange all of the songs, and I used to perform them all live. Recently, however, I managed to meet with a really talented vocalist who goes by the name of Franny Gurba, and while she isn’t a huge creative force in the song-writing process, she adds thousands of beautiful layers live. I usually end up writing the instrumental for a song, and then she writes the vocal lines and lyrics.
- Another thing I’ve catched up on is that you really do sing in choir. True or false?
Yes, this is true! I am a proud member of the Edmonton Youth Choir, and I’m a baritone, haha. Choir has been massively instrumental in learning about musical theory and styles, and in training my own voice as well. Singing alot of choral music also influenced how I treat my instruments in a song-writting setting. If you listen to most of my tracks, you’ll soon figure out I never use chords in my own songs, and rarely in covers. This half comes from the fact that I’m not that great of a musician, haha, and that I treat all my instruments like voices. Rarely in choral music will you see a composer ask the altos or the sopranos to sing more than two or three notes at a time, and due to technical limitations of some of my equipment (my pitch-shifter can’t handle more than one or two notes to harmonize with), I end up doing that too.
- Do you use your own vocals in any of your songs? If not, why not?
I used to have this big hatred towards my voice, mainly because I was like a really high alto or soprano voice for well beyond than when I was supposed to change. Which was great, because I could sing along to all my favourite songs, and do really crazy high shit. But in the past couple years, its dropped from an Alto 1 to a Bass 1 (1′s sing higher divisions when composers write in divisi, and 2′s sing lower), and I’ve had to learn to sing along on the radio an octave or two lower than the singer. Not to mention that baritone voices aren’t really heard as well as higher voices, just because lower voices need a shit-ton more resonance to reach the same volume than a shrill soprano. But Franny has this wonderful set of pipes, and our voices coalesce in a really weird and nice way. There are a lot of strange frequences that mingle really well together when we sing, so I’ll be singing a bit more on this album than previous ones. Usually I just sing on covers.
- The Canadian dream pop scene has been blowing up lately, with Memoryhouse and Teen Daze in the lead, closely followed by talented artists such as yourself. Why do you think that is? What’s in your drinking water?
Too much alcohol. LOL. No, I think it had a lot to do with the big re-emurgence of lo-fi 80′s AM Pop distilled into chillwave or glo-fi or whatever. I think really good artists take one element of a fad or phase or some genre, and shift or combine it with something radically different (see: GOBBLE GOBBLE, Owen Pallett, The xx, CocoRosie, Caribou, etc.) and I think thats how this new wave of dream-pop came about. I don’t really think I’m “dream-pop” so much as like classical music on shrooms at a rave.
- A while back you did a mix for NMB, with artists such as GOBBLE GOBBLE, Owen Pallet but also Robyn and Shakira. Many influences are of course normal, but what would you say is the big four?
I’ve recently learned that nothing is normal, but here are my top 5 (I couldn’t narrow it down!)
OWEN PALLETT // FINAL FANTASY (The first artist I ever really truly loved. And probably the last, too.)
GOBBLE GOBBLE (Hometown Heroes // CJ does stuff with music I’ve never even imagined was possible.)
KE$HA (There’s something to be said about someone so bold-face and shameless as Ke$ha. She can also write a banger like nobody else.)
AZEDA BOOTH (They created Flesh Tones which was one of the biggest influences in my style since I’ve heard it.)
BRAIDS (They write these incredibly complex and mind-melting jams, and their live shows is beyond comparison.)
- What is the place of computers in music, both live and in-studio?
In theory, computers are a god-send. Recording without a computer is pretty ridiculous (unless you don’t have one / love lo-fi), so think they are great in-studio. Live however, they are hands down the most crippling device someone can use. Unless you make up for it with a great live act (GOBBLE GOBBLE), or have natural stage presence (Baths), computers are the worst. No one wants to pay to support your tour if you are just checking your email for half an hour. I personally use a really convoluted looping system for live sets.
- Tell me about the album you’re releasing this summer!
It’s called PILL WEEKEND. My friend Breanne was just hanging out at the on-campus bar in Edmonton, but she didn’t really know anyone there, except for a classmate from Psychology. They caught eachothers eyes, and the girl asks if Breanne wants to sit and chill with her and her friends. She accepts, and they are hanging out and junk. Then the girl asks Breanne if she wants to go outside and smoke with them, and she accepts. As they’re chilling outside, one of the girls opens her bag, and its FULL of pill containers and shit, and they start popping up perscription pills infront of her, and saying “Pill Weekend” like some weird drug chant. The girl offers some to Breanne, but she’s like “uuhhhhhhh just kidding my bus kthnxbai” and flees.
And I was so inspired by that idea of youth being so overstimulated and oversaturated with pleasure that they’re seeking out the weirdest and dangerous shit to get them off. I was like “I’m making an album exactly like that.” So this album is going to be 8-10 tracks, featuring an all female-choir, synth jammers, clarinet/flute/trombone arrangements, instrumental jams, poetry by really old people, field recordings, the whole shebam. I want people to listen to this and be like “What the fuck am I listening to.” Like complete musical-oversaturation/explosion in a tasteful way.
- What’s next for JHC, besides the album?
I’m moving away from my parents house for the summer, to house-sit for my conductor, and he lives just off this nice cultural hotspot in Edmonton, so that’s pretty huge. I’m recording with Dylan from Kumon Plaza, I’m writing music almost everyday, and I’m also in talks to put out a 7″ with my good friend Amy from Bronze Leaf, and I’m doing some orchestral arrangement / touches to her side, and my side will probably feature an A-Side off Pill Weekend, and a collab track with Kumon Plaza.
- Your favorite music right now (besides your own)?
I think GOBBLE GOBBLE takes that cake. I saw them live, and by the time they played Lawn Knives, everyone was naked, and writhing around. It was essentially the best experience of my life. Not to mention Cecil has alot of new jammers that he hasn’t released into the public, AND ALL OF THEM ARE INCREDIBLE.
Jaded Hipster Choir – 2mbs
GOBBLE GOBBLE – Lawn knives
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