Jade. reaches for familiarity on Autumn Electric
New York indie band Jade. released their debut album Autumn Electric last year. From the opening track’s crunchy distortion to layered acoustic and electric guitars, the album is a nostalgic callback to melodic alt-rock. The band, led by songwriter/vocalist William States Langham, formed a few years back. After feeling isolated, he turned to songwriting as an escape, picking up the guitar.
Autumn Electric encompasses themes such as melancholy and delusions. On the opening track “Ave” Jade. explores coming to terms with an ending relationship. On “Autumn Electric,” Langham sings, “Somethings gotta change/Or I might just lose it.” Catchy melodies and major chords obscure the album’s lyrical themes. Sonically, Jade. is influenced by bands such as Tame Impala, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Meatbodies.
We connected with Langham to talk the band’s formation, influences, using songwriting as a companion during isolating periods, turning dark themes into feel-good music and the band’s future.
What initially inspired you to start Jade. as a bedroom project during college?
I was sort of a late bloomer on guitar. I played a little bit as a kid, but didn’t really pick it back up until senior year of high school. What I enjoyed most about guitar was coming up with my own ideas. When I started recording music in college, I fell in love with the songwriting and arranging process. It is a world that is infinitely deep. You can never really master it, but you can figure out your own style. When I first started out, I was making psychedelic rock, a la Tame Impala/Wand. Some of those early tracks I made are pretty cool actually. Since then, I’ve written hundreds of songs. Hopefully, I’m starting to figure it out a bit.
Could you share some insights into the songwriting process for your debut album?
Autumn Electric was written over a number of years, most of it during college.The oldest songs date back four years. The newest one was written six months before we recorded the album. Even so, the songwriting process was similar throughout. Most of them were written on acoustic guitar and demoed out like 100 times before we went to the studio. When I was deciding which songs would be our first singles, this grouping of songs just felt like they belonged together. To be honest, I didn’t even write the songs with an album in mind. It just naturally happened.
Did you face any challenges during the recording process of Autumn Electric?
The first attempt at recording the album was just me playing every instrument. It didn’t come out great. At the time, we didn’t have a full-time drummer, and we had been self-producing everything in our home studio. It was not quite cutting it for these songs. Long story short, we found our drummer Aaron and Garret [De Block], who produced the record. It was pretty much smooth sailing from there. There is one song we tracked drums and bass for that I couldn’t get the vocals and guitars to work on. Maybe that’ll be on the collector's edition one day…
We’ve been listening to the opening track “Ave” quite a bit. Can you talk a bit about the meaning behind the song and how it came together?
“Ave” and “Seven Days” were the last tracks to be written for the album. It was originally an instrumental. All I had was the drums and guitars. I was listening to the demo in the shower one day and came up with a chorus melody and just kept saying that’s how I feel. I think everyone should find their own meaning in songs. That’s why I leave the lyrics ambiguous, but I do think songs have a feeling imbued in them.
Again, it’s subjective but “Ave” is about two people that aren’t on the same page about their feelings for each other. It’s sort of a ‘fuck you’ song about realizing you’re getting taken advantage of and choosing not to care about that person anymore. Yelling out the chorus is cathartic.
Are there any particular tracks on Autumn Electric that hold special meaning to you personally? If so, why?
They are all special to me. That being said “Meet the Fairweathers” is at the core of the album to me. When I started writing these songs I was really isolated, and it’s safe to say the past few years of my life hadn’t gone the way I had planned. The only thing that kept my head above water was writing music. That’s what ‘Meet the Fairweathers’ is about, finding the little pockets of brightness in a dark situation. When the lead guitars in the very last chorus come in, that always makes me feel something.
Are there any specific artists or bands that have influenced the sound of Jade.?
Sure, there are tons of bands. We often get compared to a lot of 90’s bands which is fine but they aren’t that big of an influence on my songwriting–minus [The Smashing Pumpkins’] Siamese Dream. In reality, I call Jade. pop music that's disguised behind big guitars. I’ve been inspired to write songs after listening to all sorts of stuff–really any genre. If I hear a cool melody or song structure, I get jealous and make my own song. From a production standpoint, Tame Impala was a big jumping-off point in the beginning, Ty Segall is great. Meatbodies, as well, were an influence on the early Jade. sound, but it’s always evolving.
What do you hope listeners take away from the experience of listening to Autumn Electric?
Everyone's takeaway will be and should be different. That’s part of the fun. I think the album–even though there are songs about depression, paranoia, and other things on there–is a feel-good album. This album transports me to a place that feels familiar, where the leaves are just starting to turn, and you throw on a light jacket because it’s getting cooler outside. I hope everyone finds their own place it takes them to.
What can we expect from Jade. in the future, whether it's new music or upcoming projects?
Lots of new music. We have another set of songs coming out in a few months. They are fantastic. The songwriting is a little different than Autumn Electric, but it’ll still be our sound. We are also about to film some music videos for Autumn Electric. “Ave” will be one of them–that’ll be fun to shoot. We are playing shows. Maybe a small East Coast run of shows soon. Follow us on Instagram to find out about that stuff.
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