Justin Strauss Reimagines Kasper Bjørke’s “Tears We Haven’t Cried”

office — Where are you right now?

Wisp — California.

Oh god, it’s so early for you, I’m so sorry.

It’s ok — I had to wake up early for rehearsal anyway.

For the Pachinko show, right? That’s major — congratulations. How’d you swing that?

My manager hit me up about it — Pachinko had reached out and wanted me to support them on tour. I thought that was really cool, because Pachinko was one of the first concerts I ever went to. It’s a really crazy full-circle moment. 

Did you tell them that? 

Yeah — they’re super sweet guys. And we basically have the same demographic, which is really cool. 

So where does the name come from?

I got the name back when I had like, two hundred followers on Instagram because I didn’t have any music out on any streaming platforms yet. But there was this one guy who found me on Soundcloud and he was following me on Instagram. I had posted one of those question stickers that said, “What should my artist name be?” And he swiped up and said “Wisp.” So I just chose that. There were some longer names that had like, two words in them, but I wasn’t really feeling those. Wisp was perfect. It’s been good. 

It feels right for your music. Did you have a musical upbringing? 

I used to play violin from fourth grade to eighth grade. And when I was little, my mom put me into classes, so that was the only musical instrument I played. But I kind of hated violin because I was forced to learn it. After that, I started taking guitar lessons for a finger–style guitar, but I got tired of that too. I learned electric guitar on my own.

How old were you then?

I was sixteen, so about three years ago. 

I feel old. Did you grow up listening to the type of music you make now? 

Kind of. It definitely changed throughout the years. I started off with alternative music — I was really into emo rock when I was in middle school. 

You and me both. 

I was really emo in middle school. It was kind of embarrassing. But I think it fostered my music taste now, so I’m grateful. 

And who wasn’t emo in middle school?

That’s true. 

If you say you weren’t emo in middle school, I think you’re a liar. 

That’s also true. 

After all the emo music I started listening to dreampop, which was kind of my gateway into the shoegaze world. I was still into older rock as well, so Beach House and Oasis were two of my favorite bands. 

Do you remember when you started blowing up?

I was posting a lot on social media and the TikTok algorithm did its thing and my music did really well there.

There’s a little bit of controversy around music that comes from TikTok — did you experience any of that?

I think as long as your music feels genuine to yourself and you’re marketing it as your own work, then it’s a really good platform to promote your work. I see TikTok as more positive than negative because I’ve seen it give a lot of artists all these opportunities to sign to labels, or even to just make more music or have more stream revenue from all the exposure. And that’s really helpful toward achieving your goals and pushing your music out in different ways. 

And it helps you find your community. The algorithm is super spooky, but when it knows where you are and shows you people in your area doing the same thing, you have the chance to meet up and support each other.

I’ve made a lot of good friends. Not through TikTok specifically, but the reason I started posting on TikTok was because I saw a post from this band called Juggler — they’re another LA shoegaze band. And now we’re super close buddies. 

That’s so sweet. Can I ask why you decided to be faceless on Instagram? 

It wasn't really on purpose. I just didn't feel the need to post my face that much, but I started getting more comfortable doing that. So it's not something that I mind doing anymore. It's a whatever thing. 

Have you noticed that people treat you any differently — before they knew what you looked like versus after?

Not necessarily, I don't think it makes that big of a difference, which is why I'm pretty comfortable showing my face.

What brought all the songs on Pandora together?

I think, sonically, they just sound really good together. Some songs like “Pandora” and “Luna” share a lot of cool elements that are pretty similar. And I think the themes in the songs are also the same, so they worked well together.

And how has Pandora differed from some of your earlier projects? 

It’s definitely more experimental. At the beginning of my music journey or whatever we’ll call it, I was a bit more comfortable with how I was making music and how I wanted my music to sound. But ever since collaborating with other artists and getting inspiration from how they make music as well, I’ve been stepping out of my comfort zone and creating music that’s more experimental. But I’m going down a path that I definitely want to take. I don’t want to just conform to one genre. I want to add different elements from other genres. 

That’s what’s so cool about shoegaze. It’s all under the same moniker, and you have a bunch of stuff going on there and everyone hears the distortion and they’re like, “I guess we’ll call it shoegaze if we have to call it anything.” But I think that’s cool — I think you found yourself in a really cool niche. 

I think so too. I don’t like to call my music shoegaze. It’s shoegaze adjacent. If I had to coin a term for it, it would probably be nu gaze or something like that. 

What’s the ideal situation to listen to your music?

A car ride. Or a beach at night. Back in San Francisco, I’d take beach walks at night, and that was around the time I started making music. I’d be listening to my own music and taking walks on the beach, so that’s a memory and visual that I have paired with my music.

I wish I could do that. I’ve never been to California. 

Oh, what? 

I’m in New York right now and I grew up in Ohio, so I didn’t grow up along the beach. 

I love beaches. But I’ve never been to New York either. 

Well, you're about to come here.

We can trade.

Do you think growing up in California influenced your sound in any way If you had grown up in any other place, do you think you’d sound different? 

I think so. Just because shoegaze is so discoverable in the Bay Area and California in general. It helps foster a community if you’re closer with musical people that are in the same genre and share the same tastes as you. And if I grew up anywhere else, my music taste would have been different. And I feel like the foggy, gloomy vibe in SF really reflects my sound. 

Have you ever seen Twilight?

No, but I know what you’re talking about — that gloominess. 

I mean, in Ohio it’s just as gloomy, but instead of newgaze, we got midwest emo. 

It’s a different type of location-based depression. 

What’s something you want people to know about you?

I want a Frenchie so bad. I don’t have any pets but I want a Frenchie.

Someone will read this and be like, “I know a guy who’s selling dogs.” What’s something you don’t want people to know about you?

My bad habits.

We’ll keep it vague for the people.

Thanks.