Shadow Person dives deep into the psyche — blending humor, honesty, and introspection. In this interview, the artist unpacks Chronic Disappointment, exploring identity, creativity, and the shadows that shape their sound.
1. Shadow Person is such a fascinating concept — part alter-ego, part mirror of the subconscious. What originally inspired you to create this persona, and how does it allow you to express something different from your past musical projects?
I earned my bachelor’s degree in psychology, and I did a lot of Jungian studies during that time in college. So, the concepts of the shadow self and individuation have always fascinated me. I’m also married to a therapist, and she consistently challenges me to look inward and confront some of the hidden and shadow elements of myself that may have been holding me back in my life.
A lot of that process has gone into this persona, as well as into many of the themes in the songs that I write.
2. Your latest album, Chronic Disappointment, feels layered with social commentary and introspection. What personal or cultural moments pushed you toward the themes explored in this record?
Some introspection led me to realize that as I grow older, I have a lot of unfinished business. You can hear that in some of my songs, including “Actual Bruh” on this album, in which I deliver a message to my brother about how the way showed up in the world, and in our relationship, impacted me.
These are deep issues that he and I would probably never discuss in real life since we don’t really have a relationship, but it really helped me to get them out, to verbalize them, and to bring them out with such a deep and dark sound in the song, because that’s the way they make me feel.
3. You’ve mentioned the influence of artists like Cake, Grandaddy, and Slint — all known for their distinct sonic identities. How did their sounds or philosophies find their way into your creative process on this album?
Not only do I love the music that these bands have created, but the production styles were also fascinating to me. I really strive to make it so that you can hear each and every drum, each and every instrument, and each and every component that goes into a song individually.
I also like how that clarity is often decorated with futurism, especially when it comes to granddaddy, where you have a guy singing with a piano, but there are all sorts of fantastic sounds going on in the background. I like to let some of that come through in my music as well.
And with Cake, they also have that awesome production style I strive for, but they’re often tongue-in-cheek with their lyrics. You can often interpret their words or lines in multiple ways, and I think that influences a lot of how I write my songs.
It’s fascinating to me that people get so caught up in these reality TV shows that are scripted and crafted with complete fakeness behind them, but we all know that it’s fake, yet we choose to ignore it. It’s kind of like pro wrestling. I guess pro wrestling was the original reality TV show in a way.
Not only that, but it also kind of sounds like the band Cake on purpose, with that vibra-slap sound and some of the guitar lines I put in there. Trying to make the listener think about whether or not the title refers to the TV show, the band, or something else.
The song Canned Laughter was inspired by a line from Bob Dylan’s song, A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall: “I heard the sound of a clown who was crying in the alley.” That line always seemed really rich to me, as the whole song does, really, but I decided to write a song about that clown, and that’s what this is.
It’s the clown who got fired because he wasn’t funny anymore.
5. Recording at Hawk’s Nest Studio in Asheville must have been meaningful, especially since you handled all the instrumentation and production yourself. What did working solo in that environment teach you about your own artistry?
For many years, I was in bands and recorded with them in various studios and in various settings with other people doing a lot of the production. But I’ve always had a notion in my head that there was a way I wanted to hear it come out, and I never really had that opportunity. Now, with Shadow Person, I have been able to focus on what I hear in my head, and making that exact thing come out.
It may sound a little selfish or egotistical, but music, to me, is much more satisfying to make and put out there when I am able to take the time and have it sound the way I hear it in my head, exactly. Not that I don’t like making music with other people, because I absolutely do, rather, I can now focus on *my* music instead of someone else’s.
I’ve had to do a lot of learning about production techniques and mixing and recording techniques and various microphones and whatnot, but it’s been fun and challenging.
And it’s still an ever-evolving process, but it’s finally getting to the point where I feel like I have some amount of mastery over it. So it’s very exciting for me to get to be able to do this. And I hope that listeners of my songs can appreciate it, or are at least entertained by it for a few minutes at a time.
6. You’ve hinted at assembling a live band for future performances. What can listeners expect from a Shadow Person show — and how do you plan to translate the album’s introspective energy to the stage?
It’s been a few years since I was in a band playing shows, and I have never been in a band where we exclusively played music that I wrote, just one or two songs here and there. This would be all music I made, so the thought of that is really scary, but also really exciting for me.
Hoping to find a bass player and a keyboard player to help with this. I already have an amazing guitar player/friend/former band mate who has been learning the songs, and I’m looking forward to it. Stay tuned!
More Info: https://shadowpersonmusic.com/
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