Releasing his debut EP, Mover, earlier this month, Jai Piccone is a wildly talented producer out of Byron Bay. With an affinity for art and travel, Jai has crafted a body of work reminiscent of house and soul of years past, transporting you to a world you don’t want to leave.
I had the pleasure of talking to Jai about his release, where it came from, his influences, and what’s next from here.
Hey Jai, thanks heaps for chatting. First of all congrats on the EP, I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s been in my most played for the past week. How long has the EP been in the works for?
I started the EP when I was in Japan in a tiny apartment in Shibuya. I was working there and only really had a laptop and a midi keyboard to work with, I had some pretty harsh news one night and I didn’t really know what to do so I sat down and started Care, which at the time, was called Shibuya-ku. I think this date was around mid-January 2017. So that was when the first Mover track was started.
Was the idea of releasing a body of work preconceived or did the EP just sort of formulate over time into something you wanted to share with the world?
It wasn’t really preconceived to specifically, I’ve been wanting to release something for ages, whether it was 3 tracks, 5 tracks or a single it didn’t matter so much. I had a few other tracks that I was deciding from, but they didn’t end up on there.
Will future releases be similar in length or are there plans for something bigger?
Not to sure yet, I probably will focus on smaller releases for a bit, I think in the context of the genre it makes more sense to keep releases sort of tight while starting out.
What do you think it takes to succeed as an artist in 2018?
That’s a tricky question because everyone seems to succeed in such unique ways but, obviously strong music and musical talent, a good honest image, eye catching art and graphic design as well as some smarts for social media definitely will help. However I’m sure many people succeed without most of that, so it’s definitely a hard one.
What inspired the EP and your creative endeavours in general, be it musically or otherwise?
It’s just been a long time of developing my own interests and tastes through experiencing my favourite places for music and art. Listening to as much good music as I can, experimenting with new gear, meeting new people, having success or failure in other areas etc. I also have wanted to do something like this for many years so I’m happy it’s finally started.
You’re also a part of Tora, a four-piece electronic pop outfit renowned for melodic and breezy listening. Was there a difference in making your EP by yourself in comparison to collaborating on a record with your band members?
Yeah absolutely, there’s definitely pros and cons, it’s always nice to have other writers to bounce ideas off or make suggestions too. If someone gets stuck you or someone else can take over and provide a fresh perspective... but on the other hand writing alone gives you absolute control to execute a vision that you have no real need to portray or explain to anyone, you can work at a swifter speed and not worry about outside judgement of your ideas.
In a nightmarish sequence of events, you can only listen to five songs for the rest of your life. What would they be?
Such a tricky question, I should spend longer answering this, but for now...
Carry on - Daphni
Hunnybee - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Hi mount & c.k - I Know
Toro y moi - So Many Details
Taylor Mcferrin - Degrees of Light
Something like that.
What does the rest of the year hold for you?
I will be writing some more, practicing for some live with Tora, doing a bit of travel over Christmas and New Year’s, and possibly some gigs of my own!
Jai’s EP, Mover, is out now! Listen to it here and follow Jai on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
