motel void

You’ve already released 10 singles since your debut in 2020. Are you planning to release a full-length anytime soon or will you continue with singles?

We are in the process of working on an EP right now! Unsure when release date will be, but ideally in the next few months. We both tend to procrastinate, so we take turns harassing each other to work on the songs

I really love your latest single ‘Safe’. The mood is really pensive, sad, yet it makes me feel great at the same time. That’s what good music does I guess! Can we expect more similar melancholic songs in the future?

“Safe” is a song that I wrote about 10 months ago during a really difficult time. Most of the songs we release tend to be bittersweet, where Safe is definitely on the darker end of the spectrum in relation to the other music we typically share. I have a lot of unfinished demos that are on the same level of melancholy, but it didn’t ever feel like the right time to share them until after the difficult feelings passed. By that time, we have usually already outgrown the songs and moved in another direction.

One of your influences is Molly Nilsson. I discovered her music last year and she’s been one of my favorite artists since then. Can you recommend a few more artists that you like?

Molly Nilsson has such impactful songwriting, and we actually only discovered her 2 years ago after a few friends and strangers told us we sounded like her… which is ridiculously flattering. We have been massively influenced by Jadu Heart. Their versatility, songwriting, production, aesthetic… everything they do is absolute gold. It’s also inspiring that they seem to do things at their own pace without explaining everything they are doing each step of the way on social media. It allows you to get to know what they’re about slowly over time, rather than have it explained to you in a zippy 30 second video with a clickbait text banner.

We also get a ton of influence from 90’s rock, which is more obvious in some songs than others. We both also listened to a ton of Beach House in college… we both could easily say they are near the top of the list of our favorite bands.

You come from California. How do you like the local music scene in your city? Do you have any favorite local artists and venues?

Ian lives in Sacramento right now, and I’m living in SF. Ian comes to the bay area to catch shows with me on occasion — Bottom of the Hill is a really fun, intimate divey spot with good energy. The Chapel is another slightly larger spot that a lot of awesome artists will come through. The Fox theater in Oakland and the Warfield in SF are some of the larger venues we like going to. No comment on Bill Graham Civic Auditorium though.

Most of the local artists I am most excited about are DJs and producers.. I recently started learning more about DJing last year and have had some fun opportunities since then. There are a lot of bay area collectives that doing some really cool stuff. I am currently super into the vitamin1000 crew and Farsight that are*** doing some really cool stuff.