Little Rock, Arkansas based musician Jesse Kelly has been building an impressive catalog of hypnotic, dreamscapes with his project You’ll Never Listen over the last couple of years.
His recent E.P. “waver” features five tracks of beautiful lulling tones and colorful textures and is truly one of my favoite releases of the year.
I caught up with Jesse to talk about his early musical experiences, how he starting creating sounds and the making of the new record.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artists or bands did you enjoy the most?
Jesse-I think I have always been drawn to the melodic or melancholic aspects of music. Growing up, my parents were really into music as well. At least that’s how it appeared to me as a kid. They may have been just big time partiers, i don’t know lol. But they were always blasting classic rock in the car and going to concerts, even traveling to see bands like Pink Floyd. Even as I got older, they would buy me cassettes or CD’s regularly. They were always up and coming bands like Rage against the machine, Green day, etc. I even remember getting stuff like Alanis Morressette and TLC on cd. So I suppose they were listening to whatever was popular at the time and making sure I was on board. But once I got older, I started getting into heavier underground bands and seeing shows in Little Rock at an all ages venue called Vinos. I was definitely a “solid state records” kid by that time. Eventually though, I really got into shoegaze, post-rock, and ambient music. I still listen to all sorts of genres but I feel like ambient is the natural conclusion to my particular journey with music.
CMM-What drew you to ambient and experimental music and when did you start making your own recordings as You’ll Never Listen.
Jesse-I am in another band called Colour Design, which is a sort of shoegaze/post-hardcore adjacent project. We use a ton of effects and a wall of amplifiers to push out sound music like a shoegaze band from days past. As I have demoed ideas at home for that band, I began to experiment with more abstract ideas. I can really appreciate the aspect of sound exploration and introspection that permeates the ambient genre. A few years ago, I began piecing together a small personal studio to record my own ambient project and last year I put out my first handful of songs under the you’ll never listen name.
CMM-You recently released an E.P. called “Waver”. What was the recording process like and were there any particular pieces of gear you used to get the sound you were looking for?
Jesse-I use a combination of guitar loops and synths that are processed through effects or mixed down to cassette. For the gear nerds out there, this is some of the stuff used:
Elektron analog keys
tons of guitar effects and loopers were used (too many to list)
Several Valhalla reverb plugins
4-track Tascam Portastudio
Roland SP-404
Wurlitzer 200a
Fender showman & twin amplifiers
Focusrite clarett 8prex
Logic pro
CMM-If you could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Jesse-The bucketlist would certainly include David Lynch but who knows what that would be about haha. Years ago, I was in a post-rock band that did a live score to the silent film nosferatu. It was rad. I’d love to do something like that again. I think some sort of documentary would be a realistic option for a project like mine.
CMM-Anything coming up?
Jesse-I am honestly unsure. I didn’t plan this release out really at all. I have been recording and tweaking these songs for the past 6 months, in the middle of moving into a new studio space. A lot has changed in my life, as I am sure it has for you as well. I just felt it was time to throw it out there and move on to the next set of songs. I am working on how best to perform these songs live at shows at the moment.
