After four long years of dedication, the highly anticipated EP ‘I am I don’t know’ by Jaxyn Lethe has finally been released! Don’t miss this insightful and candid interview with the brilliant mind behind this genuine material that showcases different stories and sounds.
1 — Which of your multiple artistic skills showcased in your latest EP ‘I am I don’t know’ do you believe you excel in the most, and why?
I really tried to showcase all of my artistic skills in my latest EP, as I wanted to make the best product that I was capable of making. I truly exhausted the songs till I felt like they were perfect, and it took years of refining my own skills to be able to get them to that point. If I had to pick two skills though, I would say the EP highlights my writing and production skills.
The songs on the EP are some of the best I’ve ever written, and I wanted them to all have a different perspective and story. A lot of times I feel like artists can remain in one perspective of a challenge for a long time, and many successful artists continue to write about the same topics in a repetitive way. There’s nothing wrong with this, as it can strengthen an artist’s image and “vibe,” but I wanted to have a body of work where each song felt truly unique. I feel proud of my writing in the EP because each song has a different story, character, and emotional pallet.
Production-wise, the EP is definitely the most refined release that I’ve done. I put a lot of grunt work into arranging and mixing the songs so that there is a lot of “ear candy” throughout. Someone told me that I make music that “scratches your brain” and that’s really what I was going for in this EP. Each song has a different sound in terms of instrumentation, but all are electronic. I blended a lot of analog elements into the songs, recording my Roland SH-01 synth live, and sampling a guitar for ‘I am I don’t know.’ With it being my first body of work, I also spent a lot of time making sure each song fit together chronologically in terms of sound.
I feel very proud of the EP because I truly feel like it is my best work and some of the most unique Pop music that I’ve heard personally.
2 — The title of your EP, ‘I am I don’t know,’ particularly caught my attention, do you tend to philosophize a lot about life itself?
I can’t say I “philosophize” about life; I don’t really like philosophy or the concept that thinking hard about things can be in a protected category of thought. ‘I am I don’t know’ came to me when I was thinking about how I felt about a relationship. My train of thought follows: I didn’t mean anything to this person, they didn’t know who I was to them, I internalized everything they thought about me, I internalized “I don’t know.” It was late at night when I drew these connections, which is probably why when thinking about them in retrospect they seem a bit scattered. That said, when I thought ‘I am I don’t know’ it really stuck with me, as I finally understood why I felt the way I felt after we had broken up. Even if I don’t philosophize I definitely self-reflect, and ‘I am I don’t know’ comes from that place.
3 — This new material features a total of 5 tracks. Were there many more tunes that should have been included in the EP?
About two months before the release, I wrote a song that I wanted to put on the EP. It’s been exclusively played at my live shows, and isn’t available anywhere to stream. I was going to include it as a bonus track, but I didn’t want to change the order and plan so I decided not to include it. It was also pretty different sounding to the other songs (although still electronic), so I decided to release it as a single. I don’t know when I’m going to release it, right now I’m enjoying a break.
Vetting songs for the EP took a long time though, because I’ve been fantasizing about releasing an electronic EP since I’ve been producing music. There were many versions of “White Noise” and “R2N” over the years that were included in different hypothetical EPs that I never released.
4 — If you had to choose your favorite composition on this EP, which one would it be, and how would you envision its music video?
I actually made a music video for one of the songs that will be released soon! The video is for “R2N,” and has an indie-film, Wes Anderson-inspired vibe. I can’t say I have a favorite composition on the EP, although I really like “I am I don’t know” and “So Much Fun” at the moment.
My favorite changes every week or two. I can imagine music videos for every single song on the EP, and at some point, I probably wrote down plans for them. For “White Noise,” I envisioned a half-stop motion and half 2000’s grunge-style music video. For “I am I don’t know” I wanted a video where I was lip-syncing the song in the same position, as random videos were projected onto me, and I wanted to film this in many different outfits to cut throughout the video.
For “So Much Fun,” I wanted to record a one-shot video of me walking through a party and being drawn in and out of different conversations and rooms.
5 — I understand that all this music is the result of 4 long years. Did you receive any kind of help or external collaboration during the production process?
Not really. That said, over the years I would always ask my friends and family for feedback on the songs. I always share my music with my friends first, and they always help me make creative decisions.
6 — Can you disclose which equipment and tools you used in this production?
I make all of my music on my Mac Desktop in my bedroom. I used a Roland microphone (not exactly sure of the model) and an SM58 for recording vocals, as well as a Duplicator vocal pedal. I have an Akai Minilab that I recorded many midi parts with, and I use Arturia Lab V for most of my synth sounds. I also used some stock sounds from Logic and Ableton for drums and a few synth parts. That said, I always tweak the presets and I make a lot of my own as well. I recorded my Roland SH-01 synth for a lot of the songs, and my acoustic guitar for “I am I don’t know.” I have a UAD Thunderbolt interface and a US 4×4 which I use for all of my audio recording.
7 — Have you come across any other musicians who you think have a similar style to yours?
I like to let other people decide who they think I sound like, I feel like I’m the least objective person to ask that question. I’ve gotten Beach House most recently, LCD Soundsystem, the Japanese House, Suzzanne Ciani, Clairo, Phantogram, Grimes, and Genevieve Artadi, just to name a few. I’m always honored when people tell me I sound like an artist, and that artist is someone I love. I haven’t come across a lot of other musicians that have a similar style to mine, just because I don’t think that a lot of musicians I’m surrounded by aspire to make music in the way that I do. I’m a hermit when it comes to the creative process, but so much beautiful music is made through collaboration.
8 — Have you considered making remixes of your songs to reach a broader audience?
Yes. I released two acoustic versions of my songs “Here and There” and “What Do You Do With No One?” on Bandcamp for this purpose. I know a lot of people don’t like super-electronic music, and I love acoustic music as well.
9 — What kind of listeners do you expect will resonate with your new music?
I don’t know! I think mainly women, I write from a woman’s perspective. I am also young, so probably a lot of young women! In terms of artists, I think listeners that like electronic Indie Pop, and listeners that like Indie Sleaze as well.
10 — Once the EP promo’s all wrapped up, is there anything cool you wanna try that you haven’t done yet in your career?
I have half an album written that’s orchestral, and it’s a dream of mine to finish it and have it played with a live orchestra. It has more of a traditional Indie feel, I wrote it when I was listening to a lot of Mitski.
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Hi, I’m Erick Ycaza — a music blogger with a BA in Advertising & Graphic Design. I created this blog to keep you updated with daily music news. Surprisingly, I’ve been writing about music since 2007. If you’re an artist and would like to be featured, feel free to reach out: info@electrowow.net
