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Even if you dont knowJohnny Jewelby name, chances are youve heard his music before.
I wanted to release a single that was a little more oblique.
Making a bunch of art.
We never stop, so its interesting.
When we do make a public statement the feeling is, whats the band up to, you know?
The schedule is all day, every day.
And the blue girl is speaking to the part of yourself that only you know.
Inevitably that involves contending with the extroverted part of yourself, too.Yeah.
I mean, Im a Gemini.
Adam [Miller] from Chromatics birthday is today, hes also a Gemini.
He and I wrote the lyrics together, so theres a duality between us as a writing team.
And then also with ourselves as being two-headed.
In the video, were also playing with the idea of the undead.
Talking to other side and through the mirror.
Its fun, its candy; but these are the concepts that were playing with.
The Geminis in the band are the ones with the white eyes, so me and Adam.
Feeling really, really, strongly and then simultaneously being able to feel the other way.
Theres a lot of opposites in things that we do.
For me its more about human nature, things like that.
Im not an astrology expert or anything.
Its stronger than ever.
And that was part of the reason why I was trying to find my footing with it.
The apple on the cover represents a lot of things, like our lyrics.
But one of the things it represents is knowledge.
Theres an alternate meaning of a poisonous apple, like in fairy tales.
And also the poison of knowledge, and how someone giving you that isnt good for you.
And that can take you years to deprogram.
And they both exited in automobiles.
These things, for me, are how to process loss.
Everyone has these people.
Every one of us in the band has their own Tommys.
Things have usually two to three different meanings or entendres.
So within that shes able to find her inspiration.
Weve been working together for so long, and Ruth and I lived together for eight years.
Beforehand we talk about concepts, about ideas and feelings we want to represent.
Shes still essentially exploring the song, and this intimacy is really key to the feel of Chromatics.
So we never rehearse.
The actual vocal recording is way more similar to capturing film or something.
Youre just collecting raw power and performance.
She she doesnt even wear headphones; we record with the music playing in the room.
Its very, in some ways, unprofessional or untraditional.
Thats a very human thing.
And I think its one of the things people love so much about Ruth.
How did that happen?We had lived together for six years before we ever recorded anything.
And it was Adams idea to have her sing on the chorus of In the City.
So we kept doing it that way.
Im kind of superstitious in this way.
Blue Girl was recorded with the same bass that I recorded for Cherry.
Which was the same bass forNight Drive.
Weve had the same strings for over a decade.
So we shot the video with the broken string, just because we leave things how they are.
I look at it more like, its useful for an artist to have parameters to work with.
Having limitations is key for an artist.
Which is just a testament to what Im saying about how powerful limitation can be.
Its most likely going to be more than 20, but I really dont know.
Its a complete explosion right now.
Especially since Chromatics songs are such amorphous entities.Oh, of course.
This is one of my rules that I make for myself.
I dont overwork it.
Its more about, is it good and does it represent the life force of the idea?
Or does it get in the way of the idea and its a rendition of an idea?
Me, I dont look for perfection.
People often say Im a perfectionist because I work a lot.
And Im not a perfectionist at all.
I just have to have that moment when Im ready to pull the trigger.
That moment can be really sloppy, really bloody or it can be really pristine or minimal.
It can be two minutes, it can be 16 minutes.
Your song Windswept ended up being a pretty central part ofTwin Peaks: The Return.
Ever since I left Texas I feel like Ive been floating in outer space.
Those moments are burned into my psyche so deeply that everywhere else feels like Im in transition.
I heard the cracking sound, and I was like, Okay, thats odd.
I didnt really know what it was.
I remember police sirens being projected onto the wood paneling.
Basically, the guy shot himself and then went kind of crawling up to our doorway.
Im sorry to hear that.
How old were you when this happened?I would have been 16 or 17.
It wasnt scary, it was just really, really strange.
So I started off my relationship withTwin Peaksin my mothers house with this sort of eerie set of circumstances.
I had seenEraserhead, I had seenElephant Man.
Doing Windswept wasnt really a reference to that.
It was more about this dream I was having about leaves blowing around in this negative black space.
Windswept is like a beginning of my first house.
But its one of those classic slow jazz kind of titles.
ButTwin Peaksis something I visited and revisited throughout the course of my life at different times.
Recently you releasedThemes for Television, which includes music originally meant forTwin Peaks.
Im not a scholar of anything in particular, I definitely have distinct memories.
The more horrific tones ofFantasy Island, when things would turn dark.
Its similar toThe Twilight Zone, which I also love.
When people would get what they want, then it would have this strange twist.
Usually rooted in some ego lesson.
I saw more television than films for sure as a kid.
Those gestures … that was my first introduction to experimental sound.
You know the Rothko Chapel?
I do.Have you heard the piece Morton Feldman did for the induction?
If youre into that kind of stuff you should see it.
Its interesting how things are handed down or transferred down.
Or is it frustrating?
Its easy to take the stance of that as a negative thing.
All the pop singles inDrivealready existed, they had been out for a while.
There was no way the mainstream was ready for that when those songs came.
But music is a language, culture is a language thats passed around.
I dont make those kinds of judgments.
For me, everything is an extension of whoevers doing it.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
