Interview: Jesse Ley of Delicious Pastries
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Image by Travis Mitzel courtesy of Delicious Pastries.
Pittsburgh's own Delicious Pastries release their new single, "Pygmalion Cantations," on Friday, Aug. 26. The track, which was commissioned for a film, will be released by Golden Magnet, a new collective formed by members of Delicious Pastries, Mariage Blanc, Sleep Experiments and Host Skull. Jesse Ley of Delicious Pastries told Found Sound via email about the experience of writing music for a film and getting the collective together.
"Pygmalion Cantations" [the new Delicious Pastries single, out Aug. 26] was commissioned for a film. How did you meet the filmmakers?
The director reached out to us via email. Aside from signing the contracts and a brief encounter at a live show, most of the correspondence transpired electronically. It's amazing what you can do with computers nowadays!
Was it harder to write music for a movie than it is to normally produce music?
Not particularly. Thankfully we didn't have a lot of parameters with this project. Aside from giving us a few reference points (Tame Impala, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Pizzicato Five, etc.), we were mostly left to our own devices.
Did the filmmaker have creative input into the song? What was the process like?
Absolutely! Well, I should say, the input was in the type of song – the kind of style. The vision was in place from the beginning. They wanted the music in the film to cultivate a specific kind of vibe. So, naturally, the style of music or type of band were deliberate choices. I think that one of the reasons why Delicious Pastries was asked to be a part of this project was because of the director's belief in our ability to create a song that would serve the film's purpose. Ultimately, the director is a fan of our work and, luckily for us, no one writes a Delicious Pastries song better than we do!
The song will be released with Golden Magnet Collective. How did that get started?
Yes, that is correct. "Pygmalion Cantations" is the first official Golden Magnet release. And the Golden Magnet Collective sprang into life by objectively analyzing our own strengths and weaknesses and asking if there is a better way to approach the intricacies of a creative endeavor. It stemmed from the realization that by aligning ourselves with a collection of like-minded individuals, we could create an environment that challenges us to develop as artists, while also giving us the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the more nuanced aspects of the music business.
What's the vision for the collective?
To function loosely as a label, but most importantly, to promote a sustainable approach to creating music and art and literature and films, etc. Naturally, the collective will assist in traditional label responsibilities such as booking, promoting, distributing, etc. But ultimately we wanted to create a platform that would allow us to pull from our collective strengths so that we'd be able to increase and elevate the overall quality of our creative output.
Why did you all decide to create Golden Magnet?
We wanted to create a formal channel that allowed us the opportunity to document out individual and shared creative projects, while simultaneously having a means to deliver and promote said projects to the largest possible audience. Hopefully, we will be able to inspire and encourage one another to continue writing, recording and releasing new and interesting material. And hopefully, moving forward, we will be able to act as a beacon for other music/art-related projects that we find interesting and worthy of deeper consideration.
Will "Pygmalion Cantations" be part of a future Delicious Pastries release?
Funny you should as that. Anything is possible! It depends on how many Grade A jams we cook up in the next couple of months. The main reason we are releasing a single right now is because we are about to drop out of the spotlight for a little bit. For most of the fall and winter, Delicious Pastries will be retreating back into the studio full-time to begin work on our new album. We wanted to leave our fans with something they can sing their teeth into while we are away. What better way to drift into obscurity than with a big bang?! But we will be documenting parts of the recording process and posting photos and video clops of our time recording on both Delicious Pastries' and Golden Magnet's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.
Was any part of the writing/recording process for "Pygmalion Cantations" collaborative with other members of the collective?
Unfortunately not. We were already pretty deep into the recording process by the time the collective was officially established. However, you can anticipate collaborative releases from various subsets of the collective in the very near future!
Check out "Pygmalion Cantations" on the Delicious Pastries Bandcamp and Soundcloud pages.
The single and all future Golden Magnets Collective releases can be found on the collective's Bandcamp and Soundcloud.
