Infinite Jess and the Slow Rip - Bambi (Nice Sunrise, 2016)

Performers and Instruments:
Mellotron (((r / high))) - Infinite Jess

Mellotron (((l / low))) - The Slow Rip

Song performed, recorded and produced by Infinite Jess and the Slow Rip.

Recorded in Chicago, 2016.

https://monolithosrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nice-sunrise

TS: Hi, how are you?
IJ: Two days into the new year so far… Probably shouldn't have indulged as much as I did the other night considering that I'm sick. Being sick during the winter is awful but also wonderful. Lots of tea and laying around in bed and doing nothing at all. I'd say I've been great.


TS: It's 2017, how was your New Years?
IJ: We spent the night at our apartment, surrounded by a small handful of good friends. Couldn't have asked for more.


TS: Any new years resolutions?
IJ: Slow down. Breathe more and create more because that's free therapy.


TS: How long have you been performing with the Slow Rip?
IJ: A little over a year er so? I'm bad with keeping track of that kind of stuff. But it definitely feels like it's been longer.

TS: Can you tell me about your name?
IJ: Well. Haha. A friend, Weitman, recommended us to read this book... Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. Something about the title drew me in. We got pretty excited to start it, ordered it on Amazon Prime, the whole deal. It's been sitting on our kitchen table collecting dust for about the past year. Anyway. We just took out the "t". As for the slow rip, I always cringed and cried as a kid whenever I'd have to remove a bandaid from a wound in order to replace it with a fresh one. I'd ask my mom to promise to rip it off slowly so it wouldn't burn as much, as I anxiously anticipated the hydrogen peroxide that was about to come next. Basically I was a wuss. Still am.


TS: Are you the main song writer or is Infinite Jess and the Slow Rip more of a collaborative effort?
IJ: A collaboration of course.  



TS: How many people are there in your backing band?
IJ: Lol



TS: Over the past year, Infinite Jess and the Slow Rip released three releases. That's a pretty prolific output if you ask me. Did the process between creating Infinite Jess and the Slow Rip EP, Coffee and Nice Sunrise vary?
IJ: Each release is similar in that when we create, we do it for ourselves. The output isn't always intentional or planned. It reflects that moment.


TS: Is there anything in particular that you're trying to document with your music?
IJ: I envision our music as an album of photographs. Like the kind of photographs that you collect over the years and keep in a box underneath your bed. Things to remember. Real things. The happy things, the sad things, and everything in between I guess. 


TS: What are some influences on your music and art? (Other artists, surroundings, cities, nature, life, friends…)
 IJ:
Feeling vulnerable
Feeling too much all at once
Loving someone
Bringing in the dawn
Family
Friends
Friends that are no longer friends
Family that is no longer family
Chicago
New York City
The unknown
Photographs

 

TS: Do the instruments you use influence the songs or do the songs influence the instruments?
 IJ: Instruments usually influence songs. We pick up something to play, and sort of let whatever happens happen. 

TS: Do you like contemporary music? Are there any other artists you're currently listening to?
 IJ:
Definitely.
Alex G
Grouper
New Buffalo
Dirty Beaches
Vincent Gallo


TS: Rumor has it, there is an Infinite Jess, Solo Improvisations record in the archives that has not yet seen the light of day. Is that going to be released in the near future?
IJ: Lol.


TS: What do we have to look forward to in 2017?
IJ: We hope to travel and perform live for the first time.
Video release for "Bambi" (Nice Sunrise, 2016) is certainly in the works.
And of course, more releases to be expected and made available on our bandcamp site.
Keep an eye out, friends. 

TS: Do you believe in magic?
IJ: Always.


TS: Thank you for taking time.

Interview by TS. I.II.MMXVII, Chicago.