“Collaborative endeavours definitely take effort and new kinds of compromise,” reflects WEI, capturing the essence of the creative synergy that fuels ‘haze’, a recent collaborative single by Brooklyn-based artists Houis and WEI, joined by Australian talent JVLY. This track, a beautiful blend of melancholic and introspective tones, captures a mix of electronic and soul styles, wrapped in the dreamy vocal melodies of JVLY.
“I myself can broadly say my music is positive, honest and imaginative, which I hope to carry forward in my personality and as I adjust my worldview these days,” adds WEI, recalling on the personal influences that shape each artist’s process.
Describing ‘haze’ in my own words, it’s a super soft, chill track that resonates with the soul, akin to a warm, bubbly bath that wraps you in a cozy feeling.
In our interview, we delve into the intricacies of their artistic collaboration, the impact of Brooklyn’s musical vibe, and the challenges and triumphs of working across continents.
photography by Sid Gopinath, Bruno Stefani and incoming
For All: I love your new track ‘haze’! It’s beautiful and really touched me, putting me in a melancholic, deep, and reflective mood. Does that surprise you? (smiles)
HOUIS:
Thanks so much! That really means a lot <3 I generally gravitate towards writing and listening to melancholic/emotional sounding music, so I’m happy to hear you think the song reflects that (smiles) The way I usually try getting there is through writing chord progressions that set a certain tone for the track, and jus build upon that.
WEI:
Haha, that’s wonderful you get introspective. That generally is the intention I strive for, especially cuz when I produce I try to have sounds of all different volumes – loud and soft. Always nice to let your mind explore and hopefully you find something about yourself in the process. Maybe it’s melancholic because the music is in minor, or that it may have reminded you of a past relationship? Don’t tell me which.
JVLY:
Thank you! That’s the space it put me in when Gabe first played me an early version of the idea. The chords and the mood of the sounds.. it all definitely induced that kind of reflective state, so the vocals seemed to unfold that way when I was writing too.
“Writing chill emotional music is a big outlet for me.” Houis
For All: Are these emotions reflective of your personalities?
HOUIS:
Generally speaking I’m a pretty quiet and shy guy lol, so writing chill emotional music is a big outlet for me.
WEI:
I’d say so. Knowing Gabriel (Houis) and having spoken to Kayle (JVLY), I get the impression that they’re both chill and deep-thinking dudes with good taste. I myself can broadly say my music is positive, honest and imaginative, which I hope to carry forward in my personality and as I adjust my worldview these days.
JVLY:
Parts of it I think. Certainly the part of me that feels the need to write music anyway.
For All: Collaboration often involves a meeting of different creative minds. What was the most surprising or unexpected outcome of your collaboration for ‘haze’?
HOUIS:
For me it was both William and Kayle’s contributions that totally made the whole song. Having William’s lush neo-soul guitar/ear candy and Kayle’s beautiful buttery vocals are things that I could never accomplish on my own, so hearing all of those things come to fruition in the end really surpassed my expectations for the track.
WEI:
Collaborative endeavours definitely take effort and new kinds of compromise. Us working together over the months is evidence that we can accomplish a greater goal, as well as create a new sound for ourselves. I think it was really cool to just have a flow state when it came to making my parts, I don’t always write easily. The bed of music the lads assembled was just so fun to think of new things to add!
JVLY:
I had never really worked on a song with three producers contributing, so I didn’t know how that would work or what to expect. So the surprising thing for me was that we didn’t really disagree on any creative decisions. Everything was fluent, everyone added their touch to help evolve it, it was pretty organic.
“It was pretty organic. We didn’t really disagree on any creative decisions.” JVLY
For Houis: You mentioned that working with Kayle had been on your bucket list for a long time. How did the reality of collaborating with him compare to your expectations?
HOUIS:
Kayle is such a pro, and a really sweet guy to boot! The quality of his vocals and lyrics are so amazing in my opinion, and blended really well the ‘haze.’ His attention to detail also really helped elevate the song while recording and mixing it, so even though I already knew how good he was going into the project, working with him for the first time still surpassed my expectations.
For WEI: The fusion of electronic and soul genres can be complex. Could you share some insights into the production techniques you used for ‘haze’?
WEI:
Ayee you’re asking the right questions! I definitely feel that electronic instruments have no trouble becoming soulful. Techniques such as tying pitch to lfos on synths or sampling beats at different tempos has long mesmerised me. Using the spatial part of music is very powerful in establishing musical intimacy, which is a part of soul in my opinion. If the guitars envelope me from both L and R, I just feel cozy as heck. For me, I’m musically pointed towards Neo-soul, Hip-Hop and a diaspora of Electronic, so I pick up chords that sound good from there. Throw a 9th or 13 on anything and tell me you don’t wanna just keep doing that. Playing guitar with synths is such a wicked thing, don’t you find the combo feels mystical?
“Collaborative endeavours definitely take effort and new kinds of compromise.” WEI
For Houis and WEI: Since both of you are based in Brooklyn, how does the city’s musical vibe influence your sound?
HOUIS:
Living in Brooklyn has really helped me grow as a producer. There are so many talented artists that I meet on a frequent basis, and BK also has a great R&B and lofi community, which is how I met William. Seeing the amount of creativity on display here has definitely been a a great source of inspiration.
WEI:
Oh wow, it’s been simply a dream. NYC has plenty of faults but I’m going to talk about the positives as there’s a bunch of cars honking outside cuz construction & a movie shoot is taking up my street. I think of Brooklyn as similar to my experience of Berklee, just having a lot of passionate, serious but real people around here. I find it very easy to make friends around these parts and just having this as a nexus of interest makes people from every era of my life visit. People here are truthful and upfront, with also many philosophical & artistic outlooks towards taking care of each other and spreading kindness. Just wanting to see more community/ cooperation in the states does make Brooklyn & New York seem more of a role model.
For JVLY: Being based in Australia, how did you manage the collaboration process with Houis and WEI? Were there any challenges due to the distance?
JVLY:
I like being in the room with people when I’m collaborating, there’s an energy there sometimes when you can just bounce off each other, and you definitely can’t get that through a computer screen, so that’s a challenge. But we just jumped on facetime and talked about our ideas, we went back and forth when we were mixing the record, and we just made sure we were all super satisfied with everything, so it was a cool process in the end. I can’t wait to see Brooklyn though.
Thank you all for your time!
Houis:
www.instagram.com/houis__
www.facebook.com/houismusic
soundcloud.com/houis
WEI:
www.instagram.com/musicofwei
www.tiktok.com/musicofwei
www.facebook.com/musicofwei
www.soundcloud.com/musicofwei
JVLY:
www.instagram.com/jvlymusic
www.tiktok.com/@jvlymusic
www.facebook.com/jvlymusic
twitter.com/jvlyxx
soundcloud.com/jvlyxx
