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1.) We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed alternative songwriter Jesse Daniel Edwards; greetings and salutations Jesse and welcome to Vents Magazine! Before we dive into the Q&A mosh-pit, how is the latter-part of 2024 treating you and yours?
Honored to be here. The end of this year has been a season of fruition, as well as rest and recreation. I am currently doing some recording in Sweden with my brother. Lately, I have been fixated on the changing light, and obsessed with movies about submarines. Greetings from Isby!
2.) Major kudos and accolades on your freshly-minted new album Clap Trap Venus which is set to drop this coming October 18! Starting at the top, can you talk about what inspired one of the very best album releases of ’24?
Why thank you! When the cyclical creative urge came about this time around, on one hand I had a collection of seemingly disconnected songs that hadn’t found their place in other iterations, in the studio or on the stage, and on the other, a curiosity to expand sonically, from where the preceding album Violensia had left off. I still had some of the fire on me from that project, and had also been playing live as a duo, and then solo. The music had found its level in each of those formats, bequeathing two or three enduring songs or sounds apiece. The same could be said of the lyrics and themes. For a rather long period of time, I had no idea what to do with it all. Eventually I realized it was simply a matter of gathering them together and recording them properly. I was pleasantly surprised at how cohesive they were, while retaining their stark individuality. The idea that we can exist as “us” across so many extreme poles is at once exhilarating- and frightening. Do we really get to profoundly explore this landscape outside of art?
3.) Clap Trap Venus plies its wares with a different set of tools than your previous LP release of Violensia. Was this a deliberate departure on your part, or did it develop organically?
I realize that at some point I became deliberate about being fairly undeliberate in just about everything. What’s the difference between apathy, ignorance, even laziness- and the kind of freeform acceptance that allows the moment to simply occur, and occasionally or even often become mysteriously magical? I had the instinct that the sound of Violensia was so definitive, how and why would I attempt to essentially recreate or copy that, you know? I sensed I needed to explore away from that punky, dissonant, aggressive piano, distilled, almost unidimensional crystallization, and head away in a different direction- or perhaps multiple, undisclosed directions- and gain some distance. When I broke ground on Clap Trap Venus, my instincts felt validated.
4.) We’re tremendous admirers of the gem of a ditty “Easiest Thing to Break,” which we feel is one of the stand-out tracks (track nine) on your new Clap Trap Venus LP. What’s the inside scoop on this beautiful tune?
I’m glad to hear, that song has traveled a long way to its current shape. It was initially written on acoustic guitar, very slow and introspective, and then became a solo piano ballad, with some jazz feel, and then when it came time to record, it basically became something else entirely. I like playing with the contrast of heavy lyrical ideas, but light, almost dainty music backing, or the other way around on occasion. In this case, I wanted to travel across time, and cover decades of American history, as we have evolved culturally, exploring the idea how breaking one promise kind of sets off a chain reaction, and never really resolves. The onus is on us, as I like to say, as good little hermit crabs, inheritors of the world- and its problems. Sometimes something as small as a song can remind us, merely by making us think, or more imperatives, feel.
5.) In your humble opinion, what differentiates Clap Trap Venus from the Distinguished Competition on the 2024 music scene?
I couldn’t say. I really know nothing about what’s going on in the modern music scene. The last new band I was into was System of a Down, and they’re still unchallenged heavyweight champs.
6.) Clap Trap Venus is released via Cavity Search Records. What makes Cavity Search the perfect home for you and your music?
Cavity Search is the only reason what I do is ever released. Denny (the founder, president) has been in my corner for a long time, and he’s more a mentor and dear friend first and foremost. He was the one who compelled me to keep recording, and to make my music available to share. If anyone is out there reading this, and you’ve got a band or a song, send this guy a demo, seriously: [email protected]
7.) Who did the producing honors on Clap Trap Venus and what did the collaboration between artist and producer look like while in the studio fashioning and shaping the new LP?
I produced and recorded the album myself, which is how I typically record most things. So the collaboration between artist and producer was a dogfight til the end! Seriously, though, it was my first time doing the engineering also, in a more developed studio setting, as opposed to my usual home studio, so that was a bit of a learning curve to see the least. Time, budget, and personnel is usually a juggling act, so I think that’s how I’ve ended up with this formula. I love to collaborate, but it usually doesn’t end up making sense for rather dull, practical reasons.
8.) In the wake of the October 18 release of your new album Clap Trap Venus, can fans look forward to catching you on the touring/performing circuit?
I won’t be performing for the foreseeable future. It’s simply too time consuming trying to get gigs of any quality or character. We burned it into the ground live after Violensia and nothing came of it. It’s probably not what people expect or want to see live these days, I guess, at least in the US. I’m not a booking agent, and I don’t have an agent, I don’t do Tik Tok and release a 5 second blurb every 3 seconds- and I don’t and won’t sing to backing tracks. I’m tempted to just go back to busking, which is how I started! These days, I’d rather spend my time writing, and recording when the time comes; much more productive. That being said, I love to perform, so it’s kind of disheartening in a way, the current state of most live music in the States. That being said, let’s get together in a living room, or in someone’s backyard. Mine are both open to all.
9.) You hail from the small burg of Cuyamaca, California and now hang your fedora in Nashville, Tennessee! How do those seemingly disparate roots inform you as both an artist and as a person?
What initially attracted me to the American South was the gritty, gothic element, which was very familiar to me from growing up, and a sense of soul. The South remains the greatest and last bastion of soul in the US. At the time, when I moved to Nashville, it was also a very vibrant scene for bohemian, indie, alternative music and art. Nashville has always been a music town. I grew up in a town known for its apple pies. Clearly, I had to get out.
10.) Any final thoughts you might like to leave our ever-inquisitive reading audience with regarding your new album Clap Trap Venus?
Thanks for listening, and reading!
