Premiere: "Touch" by Big Wild

May 13, 2020

One year since the release of his breakout debut album, Superdream, producer, songwriter, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist—whatever you want to call him—Big Wild sits down with office to premiere “Touch,” his newest single.

Born Jackson Stell, the 29-year-old musician has been one the fastest rising artists in the world of electronic music. Following a seven-year path that has seen him beat cancer, tour with ODESZA, top the Spotify global viral chart with his first EP, and perform at some of the most popping venues in the world, Big Wild didn’t officially come into his own until 2019 with Superdream, in which he served as the primary lyricist and vocalist for the first time in his career.

He now looks to continue his progression as a vocalist, and he does exactly that on "Touch."

Interview by Corey Sandler
Photo by Little Green Eyes

"'Touch' is a song that kind of straddles that line. It's really about this mental state between desire and this kind of torturous desperation. I wanted the song to be a progression, like verse one, verse two, and we're kind of slipping into this more desperate side of things," says the artist.

Check out the interview and mesmerizing lyric video for "Touch" below. You can also stream it on various platforms here.

How's everything with quarantine? Are you just posted in California right now?

I actually live in Portland. I've been posted up here. Thankfully, I just renovated my garage and turned it into a studio, so I've had a nice creative space to work in. I've been really working on music and trying to lay low.

Is it just you there?

Actually, I live with my wife.

Great to hear. Anyways, I'm a huge fan of Superdream. So cool doing this and sitting down with you. I know you mentioned you've set up a new studio, but how has this time period affected your creativity?

It's been interesting. I've had this pretty big writing period now, which originally was supposed to be at the end of the year. And this whole time during the summer and spring was supposed to be for summer festivals. So about a month and a half ago, I was like, "Okay, I really need to start switching gears mentally," and I realized that this is how it's going to be. I took a step back from a lot of things, and I wanted to start working on a whole new body of work. It kind of gave me time to hit reset button on a few things, and maybe rethink a few things in the bigger picture in terms of what I want to do next.

In terms of my artistry and putting thought and time into this next project, it's actually been kind of nice to focus on that just here at home. I definitely miss being on the road, but it's been a good opportunity to collect my thoughts in a lot of ways. When you're touring and on the road, it's just going from one moment to the next—you can feel rushed. So I feel like I've been slowing down a bit, like I've just hit a reset button. I'm trying to be more thoughtful going into this next chapter.

Definitely, I feel like this time has been a reflective period for a lot of people. Can you go into detail about the story behind "Touch?"

"Touch" is a song that kind of straddles that line. It's really about this mental state between desire and this kind of torturous desperation. I wanted the song to be a progression, like verse one, verse two, and we're kind of slipping into this more desperate side of things. I think I really drew from my experiences on the road and just being away from the person I love—a lot of us are affected by this, especially in isolation, away from the people we love. We're all familiar with this feeling of when desire turns into like more of a need. It almost becomes more of a burden. In a lot of ways, it's the flip side of love; you would never feel that feeling if you didn't truly love someone or something. So it's the dark side of love. I was just really trying to describe this mindset that I can relate with. I think a lot of other people can too.

That's a perfect lead into the next question, because obviously with quarantine and everything that's going on, the song is so timely—that desperation behind not being able to see someone you love so much. Is that kind of why you're dropping it now, or is it more of a coincidence how everything played out?

That was a total coincidence. We had actually already planned to release it. I wrote this song before all this stuff really went down, and it just so happened, you know, given the circumstances, that it is pretty relevant. But I will say, I just think it's part of the human condition and a universal feeling we all feel from time to time. That's really what inspired me to write it and put it out. It just so happens that it's more relevant now than ever.

As far as the vocals on it, it's definitely a vocally rich performance on "Touch." So when you go back to performing live, I know you sometimes move around the stage playing different instruments. But how is the focus on your vocals going to change going into shows? Are you going to do some more front man stuff?

I see this project going more and more in the direction of me being a singer on stage. With the current Superdream tour I'd been doing, it's been this hybrid of "I'll play drums" and "Now, I'll sing"or "I'll play keys" and "Now, I'll sing" and moving around. What I really want to achieve with this project is a finer focus on fewer things and doing them the best I can—a more minimal approach, I guess. I want to apply that principle to the stage and the show too.

I've been really focusing on taking things into a more lyrical and vocal direction. I'm approaching this project as, like, a producer-singer-songwriter. I feel like when you hear singer-songwriter, you think of a person writing lyrics and singing behind a guitar. This is more just production. Instead of just a guitar, replace it with a computer and all of the instruments I'm recording into it. It's a little bit of a different beast.

Maybe I'd be a gardener or something. A master gardener.

What else is coming in 2020 for you? Obviously, traveling and performing live sets is definitely something that's put on hold, but what can your fans expect?

The biggest thing for me right now is just working on an album. I'm taking a different approach to this one, because I have more time and leeway to build things from the ground up. It's hard to explain, but I've been taking a look at my songwriting process and my production process, and I've been really trying to better my craft and take that approach to this new album. So that's by far been the biggest focus, because I feel like I could spend a lot of time trying to give people more live stream shows throughout this period, and I think they're totally relevant, helpful, and great. But, to me, it almost feels like the biggest contribution I could give back to my fans would be to just give them a whole new body of work and tailor my new shows based off that. That's the biggest step forward I could take for myself, but also for my fans. That being said, I'm definitely going to mess around with a few live streaming things here and there. I think it's a cool new space, and it feels like sky's the limit right now for those opportunities. But my primary focus is definitely working on an album.

As far as your music becoming more vocal heavy, how has that affected you as a producer? Or how has that shifted your process rather?

Yeah, it's been interesting. Superdream was the first time I got into using my voice as this instrument. There was a lot of experimentation going on and a lot of figuring out, in terms of how to go from this initial little nugget of an idea to finished song. One thing I've noticed with singing and lyrics is that it's given my music more of a focus and purpose. There's only so much you can evoke emotionally or explain to people with only instruments. I feel like the voice just adds an irreplaceable human element that adds this whole other level of connection, in my opinion. Sometimes, before when I was working on just instrumentals, it felt like I was fishing in the dark. I would be throwing ideas on the wall and seeing what stuck. Ever since I've taken this new direction of using my vocals, that then guides what instruments I use, drums I use, and the overall vibe of the song. So it's constantly been a huge challenge, and it's always going to be a huge challenge. But it's been so rewarding to feel like I have more direction with my music.

I've read in other interviews that you used to play piano when you were growing up, and then it was either trumpet or something else. You said you never had that addiction to music until you started playing around on software. So now that you've reached this point in your career, what's your favorite instrument to play now?

Really it's singing, because I feel like it's the most dynamic and the most expressive. I was so drawn to production early on—it's always just really stuck with me more so than just learning one instrument. I think I've always been the most interested in actually creating songs and songwriting rather than just learning an instrument. It took me a while to kind of realize that distinction. You know, there's a lot of amazing musicians out there who don't write music but are masters of their instrument that can play anything you put in front of them. You can interpret it in really great ways, but it really is a whole other skill. What has drawn me to music is actually songwriting and creating songs from scratch, expressing myself in that way.

Wrapping up, what has been your quarantine guilty pleasure?

I don't know. I've honestly been watching a lot of Studio Ghibli stuff—I mean, it's not really a guilty pleasure, but I've been going deep into that whole catalog and, oh man, the animation in those movies are so amazing. So yeah, I've just been watching a lot more stuff. Honestly, I'm always like thinking or working on music in the back of my head. So even when I'm watching movies, I'm paying attention to the story arc, these characters and how they're feeling, and just thinking about how I can take that into my music. It's almost like research in a way.

What's your favorite Studio Ghibli movie you've caught so far?

Oh man, I think it's Princess Mononoke. It's long, but it's so good—beautifully animated and just a really cool story. It's like fantasy, and it's really, really inspiring.

I've seen a couple Studio Ghibli movies, but not that one, so I'll have to check it out. If you weren't a musician, what would you be?

I've always been really into nature. I've always loved hiking, going to the beach, all different kinds of stuff. Lately, I've just been getting into gardening. We have a bunch of plants that we planted outside our spot, and I'm just taking care of them every day. I've realized I actually really enjoy doing it. I'll be like, "Oh, what's going on with this leaf? There's a bunch of holes in it. Okay. Let me go check for bugs." I'm just tending to all these plants and learning about them. So I don't know—maybe I'd be a gardener or something. A master gardener. I feel like I've always had an affinity to plants, but having this time off has kind of deepened that connection a little bit.

Music

Jesse Jo Stark Is in a Genre of Her Own

April 19, 2024

In the midst of a total solar eclipse, I got the chance to talk about music and style with Jesse Jo Stark.

As I’m on the phone with her from New York, Stark is on a tour bus with The Veronicas, driving through the Colorado mountains to enjoy some time off in between shows. The Veronicas have just started their Gothic Summer North American Tour, and Stark is opening the show. What’s special about this tour for the lifelong music obsessive is the sense of powerful feminine energy encapsulating the tour. “We just started [tour], but it’s been really lovely. I’m obsessed with the fact that we’re all women — it feels like a very powerful crew. The Veronicas are lovely, the crowds have been so fun, and the venues are beautiful. It’s gonna be a good month.”

Photography Sophia-Liv Maguire
Styling Marc Eram
Interview Angelina Hazzouri
Talent Jesse Jo Stark
Hair Antoine Martinez with PARADIS using Roz Hair
Makeup Sydney Szramowski
Photo Assistants Mia O’Neal, Rashaun Richardson
BTS Ms Josephine
Creative Producer Olivia Roper-Caldbeck

This is Stark’s second time touring since the release of her full-length debut album DOOMED in late 2022, which was very well received and led to Stark’s first sold-out international headlining tour on behalf of the album. Previous to her solo tour, she’s opened for various notable acts, such as Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. I asked Stark, who’s been writing and playing music since age 11, what it was like to prepare for her first sold-out headlining tour. Unsurprisingly, before any tour, Stark goes into what she describes as “bootcamp mode” — dancing every day, vocal training, rehearsing with her band, and of course, working on her outfits. “That’s the sort of homework I love,” she says, smiling. (Even though we’re on the phone, I can tell she’s smiling when she talks about the outfit part. I’d smile too if I had her tour closet.)

What’s unique about Stark as a musician is that she has ultimately created her own universe by embracing every aspect of her creative upbringing, her raw talent, her fascinating influences, and her unwavering beliefs in not needing to fit into a certain box when it comes to her art. She creative-directs and styles all her own looks, referencing an ever-evolving list of influences that range from Vegas showgirls to Halloween to old films to her parents in the 90s. “I think when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from,” she tells me, “but now it’s just my blood. I constantly reflect on my childhood and everything I was taught and everything I saw. My brother and sister and I are constantly pulling influences from our parents from the past. I think, more than ever, I’m heavily influenced by them.”

Stark, the daughter of founders and owners of the self-made American fashion brand Chrome Hearts, and now its creative director and designer, is someone who always knew what she liked, but as she describes it, had to ‘go through the motions’ that come with growing up and knowing one’s identity. Today, her self-efficacy is palpable — and it’s inspiring.

...when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from, but now it’s just my blood.

When she’s on tour, Stark is growing with herself and with her art — she’s not afraid to take life as it comes and learn through the process. With every show, regardless of whether it was on her DOOMED tour or this tour with The Veronicas, Stark understands the importance of human connection through music. Seeing faces of music lovers like herself, meeting those who have traveled to see her, and visiting familiar and unfamiliar cities has reminded her that she loves being on the road. “The growth that happens on tour is so important to me as an artist.” Sometimes we have to leave behind what’s familiar in order to rediscover what’s important, and Stark is a proponent of this growth mindset.

Growth doesn’t just happen on tour with Stark — this evolution of herself happens within genre as well, and for Stark there’s no such thing. Since her first release Driftwood in 2017, the artist’s sound has shifted year after year, but in a harmonious way that still feels central to her gothic Americana roots. When asked if she’ll experiment with genre in the future, Stark confidently answers, “I think I’ve only experimented with genre. I don’t think anyone knows what genre I am.” (She calls herself a “horrific hillbilly” — a perfect descriptor.) Steadfast in her belief that we as humans can constantly evolve in our work, Stark thinks it’s antiquated to fit yourself into a certain box and focus on one specific trade in order to succeed. “If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time. I want to experience different things.”

Since Driftwood, a two-song EP rooted in rock and country, Stark has experimented with more robust beats and 808s on DOOMED, and her most recent single “skeleton” features a softer, grungier punk sound. Without fitting into a specific genre, Stark’s music is undoubtedly and wholeheartedly her own, transcending the boundaries of what many artists struggle with when finding their sound. “I don’t think we should have to label ourselves in any way, shape, or form; so I’m not going to. I will continue to make all types of different music.” Fuck yeah.

If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time.

This goes beyond just music — in terms of her personal style, the same mentality applies. We discuss the idea that clothing and dressing is a sort of playground, and personal style comes from within. Stark isn’t about following trends, but rather, she thinks it’s important to tap into different stylistic elements that amplify who we are at our cores. On her DOOMED tour, Stark wore a lot of leather and stuck to a fairly dark color palette. Right now, she’s into more bourgeois satin and lace, experimenting with different textures and wearing things that feel slightly daintier and more delicate. On this current tour with the Veronicas, Stark is making it more of a point to take everything in — absorbing inspiration from every city, writing songs on the road, recording video on a friend’s super 8 camera, styling and wearing new outfits, learning and performing new covers — ultimately growing through the whole experience.

It’s endearing and inspiring how well Stark knows herself. A Los Angeles native, she proudly tells me that the tour finishes on May 5 in her hometown, a show that she’s especially excited for. While we can’t predict what thoughtfully-curated outfit she’ll wear or what songs will be performed, with new music already underway, one thing is clear: Jesse Jo Stark is just getting started.

Music

9lives' Latest Single Continues to Push Sigilkore

April 19, 2024

The versatile artist, producer, and pioneer of the sigilkore genre, 9lives, has recently unveiled his latest single "CANADA" featuring jnhygs. In less than two years since his emergence onto the music scene, 9lives has carved out an impressive niche for himself as a prominent figure within the digitally-driven sigilkore movement. "CANADA" sees him teaming up once again with experimental dance artist jnhygs, following their successful collaboration on "XTAYALIVE".

With aspirations to establish himself within the mainstream arena of experimental music production and artistry, 9lives is blending his distinct dark production style with collaborations with a diverse array of influential artists who trust him to create innovative sonic landscapes. "CANADA" marks his second release of 2024, as 9lives continues to champion the burgeoning sigilkore movement, pushing the boundaries of genre, evolving into a multifaceted artist, and solidifying his status as a rising star with an expanding audience.

Image by Connor Pritchard

Reflecting on their latest project, 9lives shares, “In early 2023 jnhygs found my music and we started chatting through TikTok, releasing our first song together called "XTAYALIVE"." He adds, We’ve been friends since this song had a viral moment, and fans have been heavily requesting for us to work together again all over our videos.” Describing their creative process, he explains, “I sent a bunch of new ideas to jnhygs via Discord and she sent back vocals to “CANADA”, which I then used to create melodic layers and extra percussion to complete the song.

Music

Eclipsed at Vampire Weekend

April 16, 2024

It had been about a week since the goosebump-inducing communal howls at the moon, as it covered the sun through a cloudy Austin, Texas sky, left me needing to take a seat—suspended in awe of the totality of the event and the synergistic break from routine. I overheard someone say, “I mean, it feels like we’re all going to die, but in a way that’s okay, you know?" under the shadow of the eclipse's peak, ceremoniously brought in as the band performed “Jonathan Low,” (in Vampire Weekend's familiar ironic hue) a track they wrote for the third movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse.

It had been five years since the band had released an album. In celebration of their latest album, "Only God Was Above Us," ticket holders wrapped the streets in blocks outside the venue for the band’s first Stateside show in about two years. Event managers searched to replenish the venue’s stock of eclipse glasses, while the band prepped a show reminiscent of 'getting the boys back together again'.

Words and photography by Rianne Akindele

In between newly released songs like “Classical” and “Capricorn”, the boys filled the almost two-hour-long show with old favorites like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “Diane Young” and a genre evolved rendition of “Sunflower” as the crowd danced barefoot feeling the Earth’s energy intertwined with their own and the vibrations from the amps on stage. People stole glances at the imminently darkening sky, artists doodled, friends grabbed onto each other to scream the lyrics in each other’s faces, and onlookers from the highest level of the parking garage across the street cheered on in a symphony of nostalgia and anticipation.

Adding to the layers of the celestial afternoon, the band invited to the stage the likes of Thomas Mars from Phoenix, Dave 1 from Chromeo, and guitarist Brian Robert Jones, inducing further levels of indie revival euphoria.

As the show drew to its close, and the zydeco/country-rock “Cocaine Cowboys” medley fiddled through the air, a conversation could be picked up between two sisters in search of their Lyft driver through closed-off streets,

“I wish this happened more often.”
“Eclipses or shows like this?”
“Both.”

It’s moments like these that remind us of our shared humanity and the power of collective experiences; a gathering of souls under the same sky, sharing the joy of music and a wonder of the stars above. Perhaps it’s the rarity that allowed such transcendence, reverence, and gratitude to be felt. Either way, what a beautiful moment in time it was.

Here are a few shots from the Monday afternoon: