Jackson Scott

20-year-old neo-slacker Jackson Scott is the latest signing to Fat Possum Records. His debut Melbourne was released on 23 July and he’s heading to Europe in August for the first time. Pretty interesting prospects for this young guy, so we caught up with him to dream together about what summertime will bring him.

Interview by Julien Van de Casteele
Photos shot by Zach Correa and Aaron Kostial in Pittsburgh, USA

‘A lot of the music communicates existential and metaphysical ideas, such as the eternal inevitability of everything and attempts at understanding the meaning of humanity’

What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Right now, I am in my hometown in Pennsylvania and mainly just hanging around until Melbourne comes out in July. Then after that, our tour kicks in. I would say going to Europe to play music is probably what I’m looking forward to the most, as I have never really been outside America before. I really want to go to Sweden, lots of blondes I hear, but anytime I am in a new place with new people I enjoy it.

What do you associate summer with?

Usually with excessive amounts of free time, boredom, and overall mellow times. I think that makes summer a very good time for creating things. I wrote most of my song That Awful Sound on my rooftop in the middle of the summer of last year.

What’s the overall vibe you’re trying to communicate through Melbourne?

When I was making Melbourne, a lot of it was me trying to document my weird 19-year-old self with all my good and bad traits. So a lot of the music communicates existential and metaphysical ideas, such as the eternal inevitability of everything and attempts at understanding the meaning of humanity. Overall, I wanted to make people think and feel better or worse about life; I think it’s healthy to think that life is really fucked up and really beautiful at the same time. Our house in Asheville was referred to as Melbourne, it was the name of the street the house was on. The whole album was recorded there. We did not have TV or Internet, which I think helped me record as obsessively as I did. It was great for isolation. I really love isolation but it is a double-edged sword, because I can start getting too far into my thoughts. But basically, the only thing to do in the house was to do drugs, listen to records, and make music.

‘Overall, I wanted to make people think and feel better or worse about life; I think it’s healthy to think that life is really fucked up and really beautiful at the same time’

Do you believe those experiences can be used as an aid to be more creative with music?

Yes, I would agree on a certain level, because it is relative to how you use them or react to them. For instance, some people will take drugs or chemicals and treat them in a shallow manner, as in they just party with them. That’s totally cool. However, you can also take anything you want and dig into deeper ideas and get inspirations from them. But I really think that, at the end of the day, they can only enhance your own ideas or creativity: they can’t create art out of nothing. They can help someone create art the same way that sitting on the beach or going on a nice walk can help someone create art. That being said, sometimes when you are deep into a psychedelic experience, you start to feel or think on a level that is hard to explain when you are totally sober. It’s those feelings that are definitely very interesting to explore in an artistic manner. I do remember one trip that I had last summer; I was deep into recording and it lead to the development of a certain sound that I wanted.

Your album certainly has psychedelic vibes. Do you have a background in listening to psychedelic music?

I am a huge fan of 60’s psychedelic music: Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Donovan, T. Rex, The Doors, all that stuff. Also, My Bloody Valentine was very big for me, because they really are able to create the sonic feeling of drifting into eternity, making you feel like you’re a part of everything instead of a separated individual.

What can we expect from you in the future?

I am recording some stuff right now, actually. I definitely want to put another record out next year. We’ll see. I just bought some recording gear; I was borrowing my friends’ stuff for most of Melbourne. Hopefully I can finish the new album this summer before I start touring.

Jackson Scott plays at MC Theater, Amsterdam with Brooklyn psych-folk foursome Woods on 11 August. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.