Hawa has announced her debut album, Hadja Bangoura, which arrives on November 4 via 4AD. The LP is named for Hawa’s great-grandmother, who passed away last year, and was primarily written in Guinea’s capital of Conakry in West Africa where she lived. The announcement is accompanied by the new single ‘Gemini’, which was produced by Tony Seltzer and Inef Coupe. Check out its Courtney Sofiah Yates-directed video below and scroll down for the album artwork and tracklist.
Hadja Bangoura will follow Hawa’s One EP, which came out in 2020.
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this best new music segment.
On this week’s list, we have ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’, the lead single from Weyes Blood’s new album, a beautifully heart-wrenching song that yearns for a break from shared alienation; Björk’s latest single, ‘Ovule’, a surreal, jazz-inflected meditation on love; ‘Bite Back’, Algiers’ gripping, madly chaotic collaboration with Backxwash and billy woods; another Backxwash-assisted track, ‘Heathens Call’, a hard-hitting highlight off LYZZA’s debut mixtape; Crooks & Nannies’ emotionally poignant, sonically dynamic ‘control’, the Philadelphia duo’s first single for Grand Jury; ‘Holly’, the depressive, hauntingly gorgeous new single by Kathryn Mohr; They Are Gutting a Body of Water’s ‘The Brazil’, a thrillingly experimental collision of styles from the band’s new split EP with A Country Western; ‘Head in the Clouds’, an exhilarating highlight from the Beths’ new album; and Skullcrusher’s latest single, the heartfelt, dreamy ‘It’s Like a Secret’.
The fashion industry is worth billions, with fashion being an important part of many people’s lives. Fashion brands and houses display expensive and luxurious items for every fashion enthusiast to drool over.
Hence, it has become everyone’s dream to own a few designer fashion pieces in their collection because these items are exclusive and of excellent quality. However, shopping for branded items online can be tricky, so we compiled a comprehensive guide to help you out. Keep reading to learn more!
1. Look for the best shipping rates.
Buying branded items is expensive, so ensure you shop for the best shipping rates to avoid spending even more. Shipping can be pretty expensive if you don’t research, and you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg more than you’ve already spent. Instead, try and find free shipping deals or at least affordable shipping.
A great budget-friendly option is MyUS, one of the world’s leading shipping companies. If you use a reputable shipping company like MyUS, you can have a great experience and end up with some amazing new clothes. MyUS provides international shipping from the US to Australia and all over the world, so you can shop at your favorite US stores and have your purchases delivered right to your door, no matter where you are. They also have frequent discounts on shipping rates, especially for newcomers.
2. Know your clothing size.
It’s important to remember that size will vary depending on the brand and the batch the products were made in. While this can be easily navigated in-store by taking your measurements, online shopping is not that convenient.
So, ensure you are familiar with your bust, waist, hip, and inseam measurements to make the shopping experience much easier. You can easily get these measurements by heading to your local tailor or just whipping out a measuring tape and doing it yourself. Doing this step ensures you are getting the most accurate measurements possible.
3. Read the reviews.
Next, you want to read the customer reviews because this information is valuable. Reviews from other customers will give you a real-life perspective on the item you are considering purchasing. So, scan the comment section for any reviews on size, material quality, and overall fit. This will help you determine if the item is true to size or if you will need to take a size up or down.
4. Go with the most popular brands.
Another tip you should implement is shopping with the most popular brands. Popular brands are popular because people love their products and their overall brand. These popular brands usually have superior quality, making people repeatedly return to their brand. You want to shop with these brands or at least browse. This way, you won’t have to worry about the quality of the product. Famous brands have good reputations, so this step is a no-brainer.
5. Have a strict budget.
Having a strict budget makes it much easier to avoid overspending, so make this a priority when shopping online for branded items that are pricier. One way to budget well is to list all the clothing items you think you will need to buy and then estimate how much you are willing to spend on each of those items. Once you have calculated a total amount, be strict with yourself and do not spend more.
Shopping online has many benefits, and convenience is the most popular benefit. When shopping for some branded items, you can enjoy the conveniences of online shopping; many people prefer this method of shopping over in-store shopping.
Music has become a highly important part of society and has influenced everyone listening to it since always. As times changed and different genres of music appeared, so did styles change. From classic to pop to electronic, today’s music lovers have various styles to enjoy.
Music provides a great time for its listeners, but sometimes it influences people so much that they are taking music as inspiration to make all sorts of changes in their lives. Fashion designers, just like everyone else, love different types of music and create clothes inspired by it.
On the other hand, different music styles, singers, and bands simultaneously fall into a particular fashionable trend, making music and clothes deeply connected. The culture born from developing a different kind of music is often amazing.
If you’re listening to a particular genre, chances are great you’re dressing the way most lovers of the same genre dress. This generalization is not always followed by everyone but is often considered the most suitable. In this article, we’re talking about a few music styles and their fashionable counterparts. Keep reading and see what they are.
1. Metal and leather
Only one thing speaks louder metal than long hair – leather clothes. All rock bands, and especially metal bands, love leather suits, leather shoes, and leather pants. This kind of music is raw, energetic, and often primal. What other piece of clothing expresses these emotions better than leather?
If you look at most metal bands, you’ll see a pattern. They are all dressed similarly, and although there are variations to express genuine style, they all love leather clothes. The black color is their main trademark, so if you want to dress for a metal event, think of black leather clothes mainly.
2. Hip hop and baggy clothes
During the 80s and the 90s, the hip-hop sound was huge. Millions across the globe learned about the style in which African Americans from the States recite their rhymes on improvised bits. Hip hop lovers and rappers used to dress entirely differently – in baggy clothes, baseball hats, and sports jerseys.
The pants may be baggy jeans in all different colors, and the tops can be ordinary oversized t-shirts or jerseys. Sometimes the style goes overboard with jeans dropping low below the waste, but rap generally means baggy clothes of all kinds. The style represents the laid-back life of the American ghetto, and even more aggressive rap songs still follow the same looks.
3. Grunge and unkept looks
During the era when hip hop emerged, another interesting musical style appeared – grunge. This alternative rock subculture that emerged from rock features songs and lyrics that are social and deal with life’s difficulties, making its followers people who are often disappointed with life and society.
With this kind of attitude towards life, the fashion that emerged from grunge is similar to their feelings. Grunge style and fashion mean gritty, loose, and timeless looks that are nothing similar to any fashionable rule. It’s rebellious and out of the ordinary. Ironically, it has become a fashionable trend on its own over the past three decades.
4. Techno and flashing clothes
Techno and electronic music started in the 90s, and another time changed everything that people were used to. Since the 80s, fashion and music had seen tremendous changes, culminating in the second part of the 90s when techno came on the stage.
Electronic music and techno made people go to parties where light effects played a major role in creating an amazing atmosphere. People started dressing for the occasion, and this music spiked a trend of people dressing like they were at the carnival, with lots of colors, fewer clothes, and creating an image of joy and happiness.
5. Country and shirts and jeans
While the rest of the options we mentioned are relatively new and have stayed until today, country is a music trend that emerged long ago but is still popular among a particular group. Country fans and musicians feature a more adult and formal look, with jeans, shirts, and hats.
Leather boots in various colors are also fashionable, but entirely differently combined from the rest of the clothes as the rock and metal bands, for example. Country lovers will dress almost the same as they would go to work the same day after the party.
Conclusion
Over the years, different music styles dictated how people would dress. It’s unclear if fashion designers were influenced by music more or if it is the other way around. Whichever the case, it’s clear how different music fans feature their own styles and easily recognize each other based on their clothing choice. It’s not a rule, but if you want to look cool at a party where a particular music type is played, you should follow the rules mentioned above.
More and more people are using videos to showcase their work on the web. Whether it’s a product video or a tour of your latest gallery opening, a video is an engaging way to show off your work.
However, if you’re not including closed captions in your videos, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach a wider audience. In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of closed captions for gallery videos and why you should consider adding them to your next project.
What is Closed Captioning?
Closed captioning is the process of displaying textual versions of spoken dialog and other auditory signals during a presentation. Captions are usually rendered visibly over the video image and provide a transcription of the dialog, as well as non-speech information such as the identity of speakers and, on occasion, emotions or sound effects that may be important to the plot. For accessible content, click for closed captioning services.
For deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, closed captions allow them to follow along with a television movie or a program. For viewers who speak a different language than that in which the audio track is recorded, closed captions provide a way to understand the dialog. And for viewers in noisy environments, closed captions provide a way to follow along without having to increase the volume to a level that would be disruptive to others.
Is It Mandatory by Law?
Many countries have laws requiring that broadcasters make their programs accessible to hearing-impaired viewers, and in the United States, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act include similar provisions. Many online video platforms offer closed captioning services for their users in order to be aligned with these laws.
Closed captioning is required on all U.S. broadcast television programs and most cable programs; it is also available on many web-based video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. When done well, closed captioning can be an invaluable resource for viewers; when done poorly, it can be a source of frustration.
In recent years, advances in artificial intelligence have led to the development of automatic captioning systems that show promise for making the creation of high-quality captions more efficient and less expensive.
The Benefits of Closed Captions for Art Gallery Videos
As we mentioned before, one of the main benefits of closed captioning is that it makes your videos accessible to a wider audience. This is especially important for art gallery videos, as many of your potential viewers may be deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, closed captions can also help you to reach viewers who speak a different language than the one in which your video is recorded.
Another benefit of closed captioning is that it allows viewers to follow along with your video even if they are in a noisy environment. This is important for gallery videos, as many of them are shot in busy areas with a lot of background noise. By including closed captions, you can make sure that your viewers will be able to understand what is being said even if they can’t hear the audio clearly.
Finally, closed captioning can also help you to improve the SEO of your video. This is because closed captions are used by search engines to index the content of a video. By including relevant keywords in your closed captions, you can make sure that your video comes up in search results for those keywords.
Online Art Galleries Understand the Importance
Many online art galleries are now using closed captioning for their videos, among them you can find some big names like the Tate Modern, the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
As more and more galleries adopt this practice, it’s likely that closed captioning will become the norm for art gallery videos. Moreover, as artificial intelligence gets better at generating high-quality captions automatically, the cost and effort of closed captioning will continue to decrease, making it an even more attractive option for galleries.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many good reasons to use closed captions for your art gallery videos. By including closed captions and making your videos more accessible, you can target a larger audience, improve the SEO of your video, and make sure that viewers can understand what is being said even in noisy environments. If you’re not using closed captions for your videos, we urge you to start doing so as soon as possible.
Methyl Ethel has teamed up with Hatchie’s Harriette Pilbeam for a cover of Sophie B. Hawkins’s 1992 single ‘Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover’. It’s Jake Webb’s first new material since the release of Are You Haunted? back in Februry. Check it out below.
“After finishing up working on Are You Haunted? I really wanted to keep experimenting with some of the production techniques I’d developed,” Webb said in a statement. “The idea of re-imagining a popular song was really appealing, mostly as a challenge to take it as far from the original as possible, without losing a sense of it entirely.
“I’d met Harriette (Hatchie) around at shows before and so having her vocals to work with was exciting,” he continued. “The vocal tracks were recorded by Harriette in Brisbane and sent over for me to use in Perth. I basically just asked her to record them to a karaoke version of the song, so she had no idea what I was going to do with them, very trusting of her! Harriette nailed it completely and sounds so great in the song, I’m really happy with how it turned out too, It’s a real Frankenstein work in the best way.”
Pilbeam added: “I was stoked to be asked to sing on this classic cover with Methyl Ethel, who I’m a longtime fan of. He has a really interesting ear for production and took the song in a completely different direction from what I expected.
Loft conversions are an exceptional home improvement investment because they provide usable, functional indoor space to use in any way you please.
Although the indoor space created with a loft conversion is incredible, and large roof windows absolutely flood it with natural light, it would still be nice to have some access to the outdoors, wouldn’t it? The question is, can that be done? Are additions like roof terraces and balconies possible for a loft conversion?
Creating The Opportunity For Outdoor Space As Part Of A Loft Conversion Design
You can have a roof terrace and/ or balcony with a loft conversion much of the time, depending on the designs suitable for your property. It isn’t always possible, but it certainly isn’t always out of the question either.
The best way to find out is to speak to a professional loft conversion company who has the experience needed to recognise the potential for creative designs and solutions.
They will need to consider how much space is available, the type of conversion you have available to you, and any other restrictions on design such as Listed Building rules, or if the house is in a conservation area.
Options For Balconies/ Outdoor Terraces
There are multiple options available so that you can have an outdoor terrace or balcony added to your loft conversion. Things such as gutters and rainwater hopper, should be considered. Nonetheless, here are some some of those options include:
Velux Balcony
A compact outside space which can usually fit a small table and chairs, and perhaps a couple of nice pot plants for a nice aesthetic. These types of balconies incorporate a floor to ceiling aesthetic, allowing the views and natural light to continue even when the balcony is not in use.
Connecting Apex Areas
Sometimes outdoor space can connect different apex areas so that you can access the space from different conversion rooms, which can be really convenient.
Wraparound Balcony
A wraparound balcony can be a stunning and spacious outdoor space that works for some types of conversions, such as a bungalow conversion.
Juliette Balcony
Although these balconies aren’t *true* balconies, they do allow more ventilation and an ‘outdoors in’ feel. They work with bi-fold or patio doors as big as can be managed by the construction of the conversion, which can be a really stunning compromise when a true balcony or terrace isn’t possible.
Mansard Roof Terrace
These types of terraces work with the potential for considerable outside space by cutting into a Mansard roof conversion. It’s a popular option, but one that can often be restricted by planning.
Flat Roof Extension
An existing flat roof on top of, or adjoining a loft conversion can be adjusted and adapted, then accessed via the conversion as a terraced area. This can create considerable outdoor space depending on the size of your conversion roof.
Key Benefits Of Adding Outdoor Space To A Loft Conversion
There are lots of reasons to consider adding an outdoor space to your loft conversion including:
Getting even more benefit from loft conversion views
Extra loft conversion ventilation
Adds holiday let/ rental conversion space appeal
Potential Restrictions For A Loft Conversion Balcony/ Terrace
Whether or not any outdoor space is possible for your loft conversion depends on various factors, and you will need to speak to aprofessional loft conversion company to understand which property aspects and other factors come into play for your plans when it comes to conversion design and outdoor space.
Some of the most common restrictions for a loft conversion balcony or terrace are:
Planning Permission
Listed Building Status
Conservation Area Status
Construction potential & building suitability
Available space
Balancing outdoor space creation/ indoor space sacrifice
Local concern about the skyline
Primarily, though, the biggest reason outdoor spaces on loft conversions fail is because of neighbour objections and impact issues. Whilst you imagine wonderful evenings watching the sunset, entertaining outside and getting the most out of your new outdoor space, your neighbours won’t quite get the benefits. They may have you overlooking them, they may be impacted by noise, they might get smell and smoke issues from rooftop or balcony cooking, the balcony could be considered a security risk (criminals using for building access), and the neighbours views/ light could be impacted, too.
A fantastic loft conversion company will not be able to prevent any neighbour objection from stopping you having a balcony or terrace integrated into a loft conversion design. However, they can work hard to create a design that gives you the best possible chance of it being allowed, and help with adjustments that work around any objections that do come your way. Their professional insight and planning will include help:
Advising you of potential objections based on experience
Advising you of forms to fill out and legalities to be aware of
Ensuring all designs are in keeping with the character of the neighbourhood
Working with modest designs that are more likely to be accepted
Creating designs that considerably lower the chance of the balcony or terrace overlooking surrounding gardens
Being creative and open minded about the potential of your existing loft conversion space, including the structural issues that could make a terrace or balcony difficult
Advising you on how to re-submit applications based on common issues like reject reflux
Helping you communicate plans with neighbours and advise on how best to approach objections
Speak To Clapham Construction Today To Find Out If Your Conversion Could Include Some Fresh & Sunshine-Filled Outdoor Space
The only way to know the outdoor potential for your loft conversion is to speak to a loft conversion company like Clapham Construction Service today. They can give you all the information you need to make an informed choice about your next step, hopefully helping you make the most of your converted space with a stunning new outdoor space that makes the most of the surrounding views.
Students are often reputed to live in a mess with many unhealthy and less than sanitary habits. While we would like to put this down to simply an unfortunate stereotype, often there is more than a kernel of truth to it. Many students are leaving the safety nest of mum and dad’s home for the very first time when they head off to uni, meaning most don’t necessarily have the know-how or any experience taking care of their own living space and themselves. Even those who do may throw their good habits to the wind when parties, study, and new-found freedom collide in the chaos usually associated with university commencement. It is, however, essential to keep on top of student accommodation cleaning, especially in spaces where multiple people share, for both mental and physical health. So, what are the main advantages of keeping student accommodation clean and tidy?
Keeping Healthy
This is by a long way, the most important part of the list and while it seems completely obvious, it’s not always the first thing that springs to mind. However, health and hygiene can often be overlooked for more pressing concerns on a student’s schedule. For example, a space that is not cleaned and allowed to gather dirt and grime is also a breeding ground for dangerous bacteria like E.Coli and Salmonella or an assortment of viruses, including COVID that can be passed on surfaces. All across the board, bacteria and viruses can knock an entire household down in one fell swoop. These are commonly spread from a dirty kitchen or bathroom, which are also incidentally two of the busiest and most used places in a house. This means illnesses can quickly spread between occupants and also visitors. Add to that the stress of studying, which already has a mental health impact, compounded by living in a mess. Plus, there are bound to be frequent nights out, which will put young immune systems under pressure. On top of that, a dirty house becomes a recipe for disaster, causing all factors to collide and creating emotional, mental, and physical health challenges. Some of these can be avoided by keeping student accommodation clean.
Productivity Increase and Feeling Organised
Student life can be incredibly hectic, with one thing or another constantly pulling at attention and energy that there’s just not enough hours in the day for. This can feel even worse if the living space meant to be a sanctuary is messy and disorganised. A chaotic environment is not conducive to a clear mind that can focus on study, making it easy to get distracted, overwhelmed and generally feel like it’s all too much. Cleaning, conversely, can create a lighter space known to help the mind focus, leading to better study habits, more productivity, and ultimately a feeling that whatever university throws, anything is achievable. Organisation leads to productivity and better habits, which will help students gain good grades.
Sleep More Soundly
Sleep is a vital element for good emotional, mental, and physical health that can be impacted by a dirty and messed up living space. Perhaps dust mites and allergens cause a sore throat and coughing at night, or maybe a smell is pungent enough to wake you up. There may also be night-time noise from flatmates trying to find something in a messy kitchen, trip hazards on a bathroom visit in the dark, and generally just feeling like life is chaotic and unmanageable. None of this is suitable for a healthy amount of rest and could keep you awake at night. To get on top of this, a good and thorough clean maintained regularly can make a huge difference to sleep habits and the amount of rest you get. It also has an ongoing impact on school performance and getting through exams, assignments, classes and all the way through to graduation. Sleep is key, so don’t let a messy space get in the way.
Book A Regular or Deep Clean For Your Student Accommodation
Cleanliness is vital for so many reasons for every space, but as you can see above, there are many additional benefits to ensuring student accommodation is kept clean and tidy. Even little adjustments towards a more organised and sanitary environment can significantly change student work and living spaces, leading to better performance and grades. When you need help with either a regular clean or a deep cleaning service, contact J&I Cleaning London. Our expert team can help with every aspect of student dorm and accommodation cleaning to provide peace of mind that professionals are on your side.
Young Jesus, the Los Angeles-based band led by John Rossiter, have always made exploratory, at times profoundly strange music. Across their first five albums, their improvisational spirit and alchemical approach to genre evolved in compelling and intricate ways, and by 2020’s Welcome to Conceptual Beach, they’d sacrificed some of its headier philosophical leanings to make space for more vulnerability, rendering it one of their most resonant efforts to date. Whatever playfulness and emotional sincerity were hinted at on that record fully blossom on Sheperd Head, Young Jesus’ latest LP, which is out today via Saddle Creek.
During the making of the album, intense feelings of burnout, fear, and grief caused Rossiter to shift what had until then been a relatively structured, demanding creative mindset and instead consider what it would mean to truly be open to the world of sound. To that end, he recorded using GarageBand, became curious about the possibilities of his own voice and the life around him, and reflected on spiritual questions with a genuine rather than purely intellectual concern. With the guitar sounds that had been prevalent on previous Young Jesus records mostly absent, Rossiter relies on melding watery synths, gentle washes of percussion, and emotive vocals to push through inertia and create, stretch, and joyfully break the music’s own flow. It’s a beautifully soothing and infectious album that also doesn’t hide its weight. “God is just the ocean where I’m lost,” he sings on ‘Ocean’, a stunning duet with Tomberlin. On Shepherd Head, getting lost doesn’t so bad, so long as you know where to look.
We caught up with John Rossiter to talk about some of the inspirations behind Shepherd Head, including rain, an encounter with God, Dave Matthews Band, and more.
Rain
When did rain become an important symbol for you, and what has it come to symbolize?
I grew up in a pretty rainy, snowy part of the US in the Midwest in Chicago. I wrote about it on S/T, an earlier record; my mom and I used to sit in our garage and watch the thunderstorms roll in in the summer. Because in Glencoe where I grew up, the whole sky changes colour, becomes almost grey green. And you can feel, ≠ – because it’s so humid in the summer – you can feel that sort of electricity building in the air, and then that release of a huge rain. And then I moved to Los Angeles almost 10 years ago now, and the past two years I’ve been working in sustainable landscaping and gardening, and it brought me into such a closer relationship with water and the preciousness of it.
You see so intensely when the landscape is utilizing rain and water really well – if there’s the right soil build-up and mulching and the right plants there to collect the rain and store it. When you’re in a place that is managing that really well, you feel – here, we get like two big rains a year, and then some drizzling and things like that – but when it happens, it totally transforms the plants. The plants we have here are so stringy during the summer because it’s so dry, and they get what we call “leggy.” And when it rains, they just fill out and they grow so much and they become so green and so fragrant and the water releases all that fragrance into the air. It’s just a really amazing thing. Rain is so special when it happens in LA.
There’s so much just sounds of water and sounds of rain that I recorded on this album because it feels like a special moment when it happens here. Whereas growing up, it rained all the time or snowed. So I hope there’s a little bit of that blooming, blossoming abundance on this album. Even though the other Young Jesus albums are very open and improvisational, it was in a pretty controlled and specific space where those things would happen. And this one, oddly, feels less controlled, even though it’s poppier music, more formatted. It feels maybe a little bit more like it is open to that sort of random blossoming that happens.
Besides those sounds of water that you recorded, are there moments on the album that you hear as rain, or that mirror that feeling for you?
Yeah, the rainy moments to me are almost the groovy moments, where a lot of disparate sounds come together that create a groove that I didn’t expect to be a rhythmic groove. The album, to me, is barely held together – if you take apart a few little things, you would hear that these aren’t at all in time together, and they’re almost random. They’re totally random circumstances that are looped and glued into a really specific granular feeling. And that, to me, is the feeling of rain. It’s like when you’re walking in the rain, there’s a rhythm to life and to existence that’s very beautiful. So I think the rhythms on the album are rainy.
I’m interested in how this relates to the concept of heaven that you engage with throughout the record. There’s this line on the title track: “For what is heaven, love/ When all it offers/ Is light without the rain?” Can you talk about the meaning it’s taken on for you?
Totally. I think rain is so cliched as a negative, like a rain cloud following you means you’re depressed or whatever. But I think I started to realize the importance of my own ego and psychology and how my experience of life is defined. Of course, there are external things that happen, but they’re all open to interpretation, and you create that interpretation. And to me, a life that’s filled with just pleasant, sunny, beautiful things loses all context, and you can’t see them without the rain. And then, when you appreciate the rain for that, it becomes beautiful in its own right, and reflects back onto the sun. Some days you can think, “I’m so tired of it being sunny all the time.” It’s just about how important context is in defining beauty for me. There’s no beauty without the edges between things, without definition, and so rain creates that definition for me.
The Blue Nile
It’s so rare for me to hear an album of pop music where the album keeps hitting exactly what I want it to hit. Like, I’m listening to a song and it just will go exactly to what I hope it goes to. And it’s sort of this build-up of, “Holy shit, I can’t believe this whole album is perfect to me.” And that’s how I felt the first time I heard that album Hats by the Blue Nile, which was two and a half years ago. It was just an album that found me. I showed it to one of my friends and he’s like, “It’s like if one of our dads like sang in an amazing band.” [laughs] His voice is total dad voice in a way. And he sings about being a dad on the later records. I loved that, there’s a real vulnerability on those. The voice is vulnerable, and it’s cheesy sometimes, but in a really beautiful way. It’s not cheesy for the sake of selling a bunch of records, it’s cheesy in like, life can be cheesy sometimes, and that’s nice. It’s not all bad. I just love the tones on that record, I love the synth and the bass sounds and the guitar sounds, the sort of thin, bouncy guitar feeling.
I think it influenced a lot of sounds that I aimed for on this record, but I don’t have any production skills and I just used GarageBand to record it. So in aiming for something, you end up doing something totally different, if you accept your own limitations and your own way of doing things. And that, to me, is another interesting edge – it’s not this and it’s not that, but it’s finding a space between.
Nicknames
I know that Shepherd Head is one of the nicknames for your dog. How did it become the title of the album?
Let me think about the album – there’s Shepherd Head, there’s Rose Eater, that was my nickname in junior high. My last name is Rossiter, and people called me Rose Eater. And Johno is what my dad called me when I was little. There are a lot of nicknames on this on this album. I think it’s funny because when I was younger, I wanted to grow up so fast and I felt like such an old soul. I wanted to be John and be taken very seriously from a really young age. And I really appreciate nicknames now, I don’t want to take myself as seriously as I did before. And I think that’s this album in a lot of ways.
When you go through a phase, when you actually take yourself seriously – not in a pretentious way, but like, “I’m going to take my own emotions and my own psychology seriously,” then all the complexities, the full picture of being a person shows up. And part of that’s being a dumbass and a total goof zone, like dancing, playing around, wrestling, sitting in the rain just to sit in the rain. It’s stuff like taking on a stupid voice to talk to your dog. I think the old Young Jesus records have a lot of playfulness to them, but I don’t think I let my guard down that much. I think there’s still a bit of intellectual remove and a seriousness to those albums. And I’m hoping that I’m starting to let that guard down a little bit. Some of this stuff is not related to any serious research or anything, it’s like, I turned on the kitchen sink and I played a piano chord over it. And all of a sudden, that was a song, and my dog barked over it. And I like it. [laughs] That’s enough. To embrace that there’s a goofiness and a play to being alive.
Did it also feel like tapping into your childhood self in a way?
I don’t have a lot of specific memories from before I was seven or eight, and so I’m really curious about accessing that. And I think part of that is being excited rather than embarrassed by the things I enjoyed. To me, this album has a lot of Sting, Dave Matthews Band and Beatles influences, which is what I listened to when I was a kid. And then slowly dig, peel back the layers and get closer to some of those memories, whatever they might be. But I’ve done a lot of running to get away from whatever I have been in the past, and I think I’m a little bit more interested in integrating my whole life and seeing what that holds. Part of that is just playing some pop music. The song and ‘Shepherd Head’ is just trying to sound like ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ or ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’, because those two songs were my favourite Beatles songs growing up. So, to me, music is a conduit that leads me towards really important soul discoveries. And I don’t know what those are yet – usually it takes about a year or two for me to go back and listen to an album and be like, “Oh, that’s what I was trying to figure out about myself.”
Tricky
How did his work inspire this album specifically?
I mean, it’s just so textural. It’s so beautifully textured and so brave and so curious. The way his voice is on Pre-Millennium Tension and that song ‘Christiansands’ – to not be afraid of the gravel and specificity of your voice, but to lean into it, and to be curious about sonically and texturally what your voice breaking apart or barely existing, almost like, what are the elements of it? Like water, air, fire type situation. You can hear the physicality of his voice in a lot of songs, you can hear his throat and the water and phlegm and things that you want to be disgusted by but are so intrinsic to being alive. That was just really exciting to me, as a listener, and it’s music that wakes me up a lot. So I wanted to explore what are some of the strange, uncomfortable textures, and can you reframe them in a way that is music? And you always can. If you want to make music, it will be music, which is magic, totally strange alchemy. To get back to that idea of context, it’s like if you create enough context, it can be anything. Just an artist that totally opened my eyes to a lot of beautiful, textural and rhythmic and melodic sensibilities.
Did it feel challenging or actually uncomfortable when it came to leaning into that yourself?
Yeah, it was really hard for me to trust in the fact that I could just record an album on GarageBand. And when I started, I didn’t even have a microphone, I was using the internal mic on the computer. And to our ears, often, that sounds like shit. And so, to not be afraid of that and to be like, the only reason that sounds like shit is because we’re trained to think that certain ways of isolating sounds and certain combinations are normal and good. And this is just a different possibility. That microphone sound and the way it records a piano – it doesn’t sound like a piano, and it might clip or it might just dull certain frequencies, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad sound. It means it’s a different sound. And to get past that, and to realize I had so many limitations as far as finding sounds, to embrace that rather than run from it was one of the big connections there between that sound of the voice and Tricky and the repetition in a lot of things in his music, to being like, “I am confident in this, I believe in this music and the sound,” rather than to run to the next thing or hide behind something.
Encounter with God
There are references to God throughout the record, but they’re quite open to interpretation. I’m curious what the story is there, and what brought these questions to the surface for you during the process of making this album.
I’m reminded of the fact constantly that we don’t know what God is. It’s always, for me, open to interpretation. And that’s what makes it beautiful, and a binding force in my life. What happened to me was that I had a really desperate moment in life where I felt like I had exhausted all my resources and was in a place where I had always hoped I would never be; the place that I was most scared of being. And in that place, I knelt down and prayed to God, and felt, in that moment, God’s presence. And it was a deeply comforting, embracing feeling; it was just the idea that you can be in the place you’re most afraid of, but somehow, you’re still connected to the rest of existence and the rest of life. And it’s much greater than me, and much more beautiful and incomprehensible. It was this feeling of: there’s really nothing you can do, and that’s totally okay. You’re so small. And I lose that a lot. I have such an ego – I think it’s hard to find a musician that releases music into the world that doesn’t have an ego – and it’s something I grapple with a lot. It was just a really beautiful moment that I’m really curious about continuing to explore and write about.
In the moments when I’m quite well balanced and feel connected to exploring the mysteries of my life and curious about those mysteries, I’ll have dreams that feel like I’m interacting with a sort of deeper consciousness than my own. And all of them seem to speak about the fact that there’s not much I can do. I had this dream – it’s a really long dream, but this one minor moment helps explain it, where my mom was tending to this apple tree that is espaliered, which means it’s laid out against a wall. It’s almost two-dimensional, the way the branches go out, the way it’s been pruned. And she was tending to it because it was sick, it had a leech or something on it. And I went over to it, and I was thinking, “My mom doesn’t really know how to tend to this.” And I went in and I did a couple of things, I don’t know exactly, and I walked away from it and I realized I should have put compost in the soil and I should have strengthened the soil because that’s all gardening is, is soil health. It’s you just tending to the soil, not to the plants, really. If they have the nutrients in the soil, they can fight off whatever they need to.
And I realized in walking away, like, “It’s okay, someone will do that. It’s not on me to go back and do that right now. I went as far as I could go, and I know I can’t return to that tree right now, but I know eventually someone will go up to it and know exactly how to rejuvenate the soil and how to heal the tree.” So I think that’s kind of a generational project of life, is not to get too focused on what you don’t do or what you’ve done wrong. And to try to trust in the fact that your life has somewhat of a greater purpose than you understand, and it’s really beautiful to do your best.
There’s that feeling of acceptance that’s hard to reach, but you have to try to find the beauty in it.
Yeah. I’m very limited. And I think I’ve been obsessed with the amount of trying to fix everything and be perfect and change people’s lives and whatever. It’s really, really hard to change your own life, so to imagine changing someone else’s… It’s, yeah, the acceptance of how small we are. And to not get lost and guilt and shame is a pathway for me right now. It’s what I’ve been working on.
Where does music fit into this project that you’re describing? Is it a way of contributing to that in your own way?
I think that’s why the releasing and the press part of it is hard for me, because it comes from really sincere questions I’m asking of myself and of God. And it is, in a lot of ways, just a document of where I’m at in that journey of finding myself in my connection to God. Or to whatever it is – to the universe, to some fabric greater than myself. And sometimes it feels like there’s not as much room – and there isn’t, in a commodity space, for real sincere questions, because they don’t have easy answers. And the commodities as we know them, the distractions, are best when they’re easy, and when they provide, at least for me, a quick, distracting answer, rather than a complicated, long-term, strange question. And so, in my darker moments, I think, “Gosh, I’m really not meant to be a musician.” Because I don’t know how to make music that immediately connects with people and fits in with the forms that are really familiar.
I’m making the music that makes sense to me, on a deep level. To me, I’ve just made a pure pop record. Shepherd Heard, to me, is just like candy, you know? And I realize that that’s not at all how other people feel. And that’s a hard realization, but it’s also just part of going along that path. I don’t want to force music into a role that it can’t satisfy in my life. I want to continue to try to find who I am and what I am in this world rather than try to fully be an entrepreneur or try to promote myself, because usually when I go too deep in promoting myself it’s a sign of imbalance and pain. Usually I’m promoting a painful side of who I am that is a mask for the deeper questions.
You talked about music as a commodity, but what about the aspect of it that is communal? The way you brought that into this record, did that change the balance there for you, in allowing you to explore these ideas with other musicians, or even just talk with them?
Oh, yeah. Singing allows me to access emotions that are hard for me to access. As a talker, I’m pretty monotone, and as a singer, I’m extremely dynamic and full-bodied and embodied when I sing. And it would be strange if I just started singing this interview to you, but in some ways that’s what my soul wants to do to express certain things. So, as far as communally, there’s nothing better than sitting down with a friend and playing a song or jamming and finding a new mode of expression or leads to a conversation that is really opening and beautiful. And that’s what keeps me doing it. It’s like, I’m going to play these songs in front of people, and hopefully, to a certain degree, with people, and hopefully we’ll have an experience together that’s different from the one that I intended for it. And also, hopefully, some of it is some of the things I intended, which would be wonderful.
It’s really cool that I can take something that’s so personal and weave it in with something that is really personal for someone else, and we find a middle ground that didn’t exist before but is really special. And it’s music, you know, it’s not nonsense. The community of it is everything. I mean, that’s what rhythm is. The community of this album is a bit different from the other albums, it’s a community of what we would consider animate and inanimate objects, and there is also a community with other musicians. But it will definitely have a life, and it already has had a life beyond just the recorded aspect.
What was it like to be in that communal space with Tomberlin?
Sarah Beth and I started playing music for each other really seriously during lockdown. We were part of each other’s little bubble, and she was the only musician I saw during lockdown, the only one I played with. I heard the early versions of her record, and she heard the early versions of this record. In a really wonderful way, we spent a ton of time talking about what music meant to each of us and the ways it was scary and vulnerable, and the ways in which it was empowering, what we’d like to do with it in our lives. Just a support system.
So, when we recorded ‘Ocean’ and we recorded ‘Gold Line Awe’, it was just fun. You can hear Sarah Beth laughing on ‘Gold Line Awe’, and that to me is one of my favourite moments on the record because we were just straight up having fun. I don’t think she realized that a melody could be just the first thing that comes to your mind, and it doesn’t even have to be the best take. Sometimes in your mind, you don’t know what the best take is. It could be the goofiest one where you laugh and think, “Holy shit, that can be on a song.” It was a sweet experience. And I think Sarah Beth and I ask some really similar questions, especially of God, in our music. So it makes sense that ‘Ocean’ is such a special song in that way, because I think it’s a real connection between the two of us.
Stephen
Stephen’s just a very close friend of mine. We’ve been through so much together the past few years. I just think it’s important to realize the power of your friends and how it shapes your creative life. And I just wanted to thank him for the ways in which he’s opened me up, and the ways in which we’ve allowed each other to express a lot of sadness and grief. Spaces, at least where we grew up, for men to express those emotions were really not safe. And to then be in my 30s now and to find a friend where is safe – and it took a lot of trust and time and space to get there – is one of the most profound gifts of my life. I think this record is about that in some ways. We helped each other through a lot of grief and a lot of suffering, and the way we’ve been patient with each other, and the ways in which Stephen thinks about art and music and emotion – just his emotional life and psychological life has been such a beautiful model for me.
We’re both people, I think, that were really judgmental, and do default to that sometimes. And we’ve sort of taught each other slowly how to examine that. He’s a musician in his own right, he has a project called Kjell, and it’s this beautiful, rhythmic, electronic, searching music. But he played all sorts of music, he played in Deafheaven for a while and has made metal and slowcore and crust music. He’s just endlessly curious and thoughtful and very loving. It was hard to find that in my life, and he’s really helped me bring that into my life.
Is there a specific memory that comes to mind or something he said to you that you find inspiring?
I’ve just finished recording another album, and I talk about it on that album. And I say it very specifically. So once that one’s ready, I’ll send it to you and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Dave Matthews Band
You mentioned them as one of the bands that you were into when you were younger. What’s your relationship with their music now?
I was listening to a couple of the records that I loved as a kid. I think it was Under the TableandDreaming and Crash, and I was just reflecting on how emotional the rhythms are. The music could be sometimes boring, the chords and maybe the melodies are a little bit flat sometimes – not all the time, it’s pretty expressive music – but the drums move it in a way that’s so special and unique. I think I used to think of percussion as somewhat inert, like it’s fulfilling a role, it’s just supposed to find what it’s supposed to hit so that the rest of the music makes sense, like a four-on-the-floor for rock music that I used to play a lot of. But I think Dave Matthews Band, the expression in a lot of the instrumentation is so layered and beautiful, and to me, really emotional. The chord structures are not that different from the emo music that I loved in high school, it’s just different guitar tones and different instruments.
I think my music has a lot in common with the emotion and the melodies and the chords – maybe lyrically, it’s quite different, but there are also really profound lyrical moments in Dave Matthews Band. I covered ‘Crash Into Me’ for my fiance’s birthday at a show a couple of weeks ago. [laughs] And singing it is really funny, because it’s a crazy song. It’s not what I would choose to write about, at least not at this point in my life, but there’s something about it that moved me as a seven-year-old not understanding anything about it, that moved me deeply. So, I hope that on this record that I made, that there are some moments like that, that a seven-year-old could hear and feel something for, without having to know that I’m talking about God or a friend’s death or a simple moment of appreciating the clouds or whatever it is. Because that’s what I listened to music for originally, just for me to feel something from the chords and from the special alchemical mix of all those things.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Ab-Soul is back with a new single called ‘Moonshooter’. It’s the LA rapper’s second new track of the year, following April’s ‘Hollandaise’. Ab-Soul co-wrote ‘Moonshooter’ with fellow TDE artist Zacari; listen to it below.
‘Moonshooter’ is reportedly an early preview of an as-yet unannounced album. Ab-Soul’s last full-length, Do What Though Wilt., came out six years ago.
