There is no shortage today of artists who operate their musical entity with a rotating cast of musicians as a band name in lieu of their own name. Whether it’s The Album Leaf, Califone, Eels, Toro y Moi, Neon Indian, Phosphorescent, Sea Wolf or Youth Lagoon, there is always a new musical magician with a unique sound of tricks. Of course EDM is another story with Skrillex, Pretty Lights, Deadmau5 and Bassnectar regular selling out venues under their unique stage names. But here we have another one making waves with quite the more interesting name- Jordan Lee aka Mutual Benefit, who performs as a one band or collective depending where and what he’s up to that day.
After self-releasing two limited cassettes and playing tiny venues and house shoes, Lee completed his debut full length album, Love’s Crushing Diamond which was released last December. The record makes original the overused concept of life on the road tied in new and old relationships made and lost. As other artists of similar proportions might over run the glitch, Lee maintains an organic flair that incorporates field recordings, sweeping strings, piano and soothing percussion atop his genuine vocals.
But while the album is certainly Lee’s brainchild, the recordings are very much a collaborative effort featuring contributions by friends and others met along the way. We had the chance recently to talk to Lee following the release of Love’s Crushing Diamond and a U.S. headlining tour.
So things are really picking up for you with the release of Loves Crushing Diamond, especially being able to tour clubs as a headliner. How has this current tour been going for you and do you feel any pressure being a headliner?
Thanks! Headlining clubs has been a very new and strange experience for us since we’re used to house shows and DIY spaces where everything is much more informal. Playing clubs feels very different, especially compared to when we’d play shows at bars as ‘local support’ for our friend’s touring bands coming through. In a way, there’s less pressure now because other people who are much more savvy than me are involved in promoting and booking the show, and in the past I did most of those things myself. So there is a little relief in the feeling that our only job is to not get too drunk and play the songs well.
How has your live show most changed from your earlier days playing shows?
The biggest difference to me is that I can be a lot more deliberate about how things sound. Before I was guided by limitations … whether it was having no space in a car for extra gear, friends not being able to come because they might not get paid, equipment breaking and not being able to afford to fix it … things like that would change the whole nature of a show or tour. Not a bad life by any means, in fact I think the whole band grew a ton by having to make due and perhaps even thrived throughout the ever-changing line ups and instrument swapping. I’ve actually been having a hard time adjusting to being able to afford basic reliable instruments and having a really talented group of musicians around me that are willing to stick with the band and make it their life for a while.
How has your set-list been constructed and do you feel your songs have come off the way you wanted to in these clubs?
This is a pretty big secret but a lot of my songs kind of sound the same, especially the older ones, so I try to make a set where the vibe never gets shaken up too hard from song to song, but also where it feels varied. I can’t put two of our club bangers in a row!
I’ve been pleasantly surprised that the songs have mostly been translating live even in yucky bar settings. I’m used to having a lot of fun at house shows, playing and also hanging out with people who are really engaging and into everything going on. But at the same time in those days, I was so used to getting treated like dirt by actual music venues because we used to be so unprofessional and no one would come to our shows. But on this tour, the venues have been nice and the people have been enthusiastic so I can feel positivity in the room instead of just lifelessness and stale beer.
Does it seem odd having an opening act for you after having been one yourself the past few years?
Yeah it feels super weird to be on the other side, especially seeing how badly opening bands can get treated sometimes, usually even if they’re great, the crowd is either not there yet or doesn’t care about anything but the headliner. And the opening bands usually don’t have time to get a decent sound-check, and then they barely get paid. Because we got to pick a lot of the opening bands it was heartbreaking to see it happen to my good friends. Now that I know what’s up I’ll know to try and make it more fair next tour.
Who has been opening for you on this run of shows and did you have any say in picking them?
We didn’t have any opener traveling with us but because I’ve been lucky to be a part of some great internet music communities and have toured pretty extensively, we were able to play with some amazing people like, Sea Oleena, White Poppy, Emily Reo, Monster Rally, Frankie Cosmos, Krill, Dan Casey, etc etc.
You are essentially driving cross-county and back in a van all within a few weeks and playing shows – has it been worth all the work and travel?
Whoa, that is a tough question. It depends on how you look at it I suppose. We learned so much about what to do and what not to do as a professional band, met amazing people and saw the sun rise over an icy forest in Idaho. But also we got in a small car accident, barely slept, got in weird depressions, missed our partners, ate too much restaurant food and got sick, never got enough time in a town to explore it. If you ask me, I think sometimes the fastest way to learn is to dive in head first and make a ton of mistakes but it was pretty tough to do that in a van with seven other people but maybe that makes it even more worth it?
How would you describe yourself as a composer and what style do you most enjoy playing? Do you see yourself ever reinventing your compositional sound or taking on new instruments live?
Haha, I’ve never really thought of myself as a “composer” since most of my older recordings are on garage sale toy keyboards and half broken guitars but I like it! Reinventing songs for performance is already what we do a lot. Even today we are practicing for a Europe tour and have had to figure how to go from a six person band to a four person band for this string of shows which has required all sorts of re-thinking parts. That is one of my favorite things. I think it would be totally boring to see a band play and they just recreate the album exactly with samples and such. I kind of see recordings as one iteration of a whole universe of sounds a song could translate to, more like how folk music works.
Love’s Crushing Diamond became the first Bandcamp release to be named “Best New Music” by Pitchfork which pretty much a real “in” for you. Most bands would kill for this.. what do you credit your music to being heard and getting that honor?
I really like that sentiment but I’m not totally sure if it is true nor was this a purely digital release. My friend’s small label, Soft Eyes, pressed 250 copies of vinyl that ended up selling out in a couple days. But it is true that the first pressing was made from beginning to end with just friends and no big label involvement or budget.
As for the Pitchfork stuff it is pretty strange. Sometimes people will link me to some article debating whether or not I deserve moderate success and attention from that site but that stuff can drive you crazy. I had been making music under this name since 2009 and by nature of participating in music communities on tumblr (and before that blogspot) and touring I’ve met tons of amazing music writers, but had mostly been ignored by the big ones until recently. It might sound trite but that stuff really doesn’t matter to me. I usually hate my own music so if I can spend a couple years making something I’m proud of then it shouldn’t matter whether some dude in LA or some girl in Orlando gives it an arbitrary score or designation depending on how they are feeling that day and if it matches up with their personal taste. I’ve started to get weary of people congratulating me for how someone else feels about my record; I don’t want that to affect my creative process or self esteem. It sucks, but it is almost impossible to get on a major music blog without already being a part of the machinery of the music industry but I think perhaps this album got attention because I’ve been doing this non- stop for so long since I’m not good at anything else.
You implement field recordings into your songs – and layer the composition atop those. What do you look for when you take a recording from the outside – what triggers a sense of – this sound might work?
It is interesting to me that people seem to connect with those field recordings so much. I was in the habit of recording stuff all around me for a while and started incorporating them into songs fairly thoughtlessly, it just kind of felt right for this record. I’ve been thinking about it recently and maybe putting in “real” moments is exactly the opposite of a modern pop song where every hook is auto-tuned, quantized and focus-tested until it is unrecognizable from any sound that would appear in real life. I think maybe I knew this was going to be a heavy record but I wanted it to still feel informal which is why the field recordings became more and more appealing as the rest of the album really started shaping up with the violin.
What artists would you consider as your contemporaries and who do you most currently admire in terms of creativity and artistry?
Hmm, the situations where artists go from heroes to peers has been happening rapidly which is nice. I owe a lot to Lucky Dragons who got me excited about SOUND instead of MUSIC? Emily Reo’s cassette was one of my first forays into lo-fi music back in the day and was a big influence. Her newest record never leaves my “recently played” folder. In the tour van we were obsessing over Frankie Cosmos whose music is so brutally honest that it makes me shivery. Soft Cat’s full length cassette was a big influence on the string parts on my record. He is part of an amazing Baltimore scene where everyone seems to be a badass.
You were in Boston for a bit before Brooklyn, what are your thoughts on the Boston scene and why do you think it’s never taken off as big as other cities in the northeast?
Oh wow I could say a lot about the Boston scene. I loved it but also due to the huge college population there were high and low points and it kind of moved to the latter after the cops started busting all of these historic house venues that served as creative hubs in the city. It is probably back to being great again though. The scene was very nurturing and supportive towards my work and gave me the courage to play solo and mess up and grow. I feel lots of gratitude towards the art and house spaces that people put their heart into.
I understand you are in the process of working on songs for the next Mutual Benefit release. What can we expect this recording to sound like and what direction do you see your music going?
I have no idea what it will sound like. Lately I’ve had access to this beautiful piano that I want to make a million songs on. Also I might be in love for the first time so maybe it will just be cheesy stereotypical songs of romantic infatuation? I’m just doing what I always do which is chasing inspiration with a notebook and recorder and waiting until it feels right to start writing.
top photo by Whitney Lee
