Words BY O.D.M.
Images by Ella Mettler
Swiss singer songwriter Long Tall Jefferson is an indie folk maverick. With the release of his latest LP titled Cloud Folk, he proved that there is still plenty of room in this rather dusty and conservative genre for serious innovation. The record sees him sampling and injecting bits and pieces lifted from the world of glossy, modern pop into the matrix of auteur guitar music. Synths, mild autotune on vocals, punchy drum programming are the type of elements used to envelop the acoustic core like a sleek layer of varnish. And like varnish, they bring out what’s already there, making the music sound more vibrant and rich in sonic flavour. At times, the whole thing skids off nicely into a gaudy self-irony. If anything, this whole record is about self-abandon and careless fun, even when it tackles the messier side of life. Regardless of how complicated the protagonist’s world gets, in the end, we always get a wink at some point. Except, in the song Everything is Wrong, which we decided to feature here. This is the only spot on the record, which veers off into the domain of deep, bluesy introspection. It’s the type song you sip your morning coffee to while looking out at the world losing colour by the minute, as it spirals off towards winter. And, who hasn’t had a day where everything felt a bit askew?! Having a soundtrack like this makes the coffee taste stronger, the daydreams winter sky blue.
Here is an excerpt of a short coffee-break conversation with the one and only Long Tall Jefferson.
How did you come up with the idea of mixing folk with cloud and trap inflections?
Honestly, it was just something of a game, at first. While we were touring my previous record, Lucky Guy, I started to wonder which direction my musical journey should take. So, driving up and down the German autobahn, me and my guitar player Franziska, we started making up genre tags for some imaginary blend of folk and more contemporary styles. I remember ‘vape’ being one of the words floating around. Eventually, we arrived at Cloud Folk, and that stuck.
When you think about it, and see it on paper, it shouldn’t work, but you pulled it off..
Right!? When I started writing and working on the record I didn’t have a clue as to where it would take me. At some point, I remembered this word game and Cloud Folk, and that’s when I realised that I just had to have this imaginary genre be my ultimate goal. So, with every step, I was like ‘how can I make this thing into cloud folk?’ Step by step, I literally started building this space, or genre, in a way where it felt like it truly belonged to me.
“As 2020 made it a point to teach us: you just never know what’s gonna happen next.”
Did you get any flack from the folk community? They can be a conservative bunch.
Not really. Or maybe not yet! I mean, I definitely saw some perplexed faces when I told people what I was working on. (laughter) Now, after the release of the singles and the album, there were a couple of irritated comments popping up on social media. But, to be honest, I never really felt like I was part of a ‘folk scene’, but rather a part of a vibrant music scene that’s generally very welcoming to artists doing stuff differently.
Is this a one-time experiment, or do you think you will continue exploring this style?
Uff! That’s a good question, and a big one, too! I don’t know. Right now, I feel like I definitely want to continue with this, and maybe even stretch it even more, really go to town with the synths and the whole production style. Lyrically, also, I feel like there’s so much more to explore in this little world that I made up. But, as 2020 made it a point to teach us: you just never know what’s gonna happen next.
Tell us a bit about Everything is Wrong, what is the story behind it? It’s one of the darker tunes on the whole record…
I remember having this envelope full of lines that I collected over time, and I just randomly picked a few to see if they would match the vibe of this guitar part I had come up with. This line “sometimes it’s a fight, can’t do anything right, everything is wrong” really resonated with how I was feeling at the time. I was really insecure, feeling completely lost with what LTJ had become to me, not knowing where my music should go – I was spiralling off into this negative space. This song, in a way, marks where I really hit ground zero, and I think it was also the first one that took a distinctive Cloud Folky turn in production, with the synth bass and the autotune. It led me on the path to discovering this new LTJ incarnation.
