A short talk with Seth Graham on Self-alienation, subjectivity in popular music, and gentrification in Aesthetics.
Diogo: From your Bandcamp page: "The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid is the expression of Midwestern sadness, the entrapment of class, and inexpressible content". So, this is a record about both Objective and Subjective forms of Alienation, right? Does The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid represent part of the solution to becoming a Free being or is it a mere reflection of the Alienated self?
Seth: The short answer to your question would be that it is a reflection of the alienated self. I'll give a long-form meandering answer: for me, the entrapment of class is a badge of pride in many poor communities. It is about identity. In my opinion, parts of midwestern culture do not want to be freed from it, because being lower class represents the freedom that allows them to express themselves in their own unique way. There is a supposed lighter weight from societal pressure, or in short, you don't have rich people breathing down your neck. I see this both from an outside and inside (being from here, but also have lived in many places throughout my life) point of view: the frustration of class is about the hatred of the liberal, who are upper-middle class, who are the fascist telling the poor what is good and bad for them through government intervention.
In my experience, growing up in the middle of nowhere Ohio since I was about 15, going to hardcore shows, misc punk shows, Emo shows, etc., I think the youth's discontent is mostly related to the confines of a pseudo centrist/to neo-liberal moral code hoisted upon us.
We realize that classism is part of what is perpetuated by this centrist/neoliberal culture, however, it is not something that is discussed directly, i.e. we are poor because the rich man takes our labor, it seems to only come up with hesitation, like reluctantly admitting this is what is happening. The discontent sits there in my view: we are proud because we are poor. If we are no longer poor, what are we proud of?
I am definitely not suggesting a "solution" to classism, that is a hell of a suggestion to make. I wanted to approach this form of art the way I see popular music expressed in my neighborhood. From Machine Gun Kelly to NBA Youngboy, there is a lot of genre mixing, serious sadness, humor, and indirectly talking about being lower class and having pride in that. I resorted to my interests to do the same, from watching Zao in the late '90s at small DIY spaces to collecting the CRI catalog, I mixed everything I enjoy in a way that expressed the Self and where I live. I wouldn't say it's either becoming a free being or a reflection of the alienated, it's just an expression of a person living in Dayton, Ohio.
Diogo: What do you mean by "Midwestern sadness"? During past interviews, I mentioned a "phenomenon" I like to call the "Hometown Syndrome" or "Hometown Mythos" and then I usually illustrate it with American Football's debut artwork: this extremely distinctive "melancholic feeling" that comes with the sonority of Midwest Emo Bands; the sensation of being Self-estranged, of not fitting into suburbia and the times that we live in.
Seth: I love that cover, it's really effective in my opinion. I think my use of that phrase is alluding to how the younger gentrifying generation perceives the lower class and poor, as if they were pathetic or sad. Gentrifiers might see the poor aesthetic as, "Their tastes are so unsophisticated". I have a continuing theme in my music where I mock gentrification over and over. For example, the album title, No. 00 in clean life, is a joke. I am making fun of gentrification. Not so much the economic side of it, but the aesthetic side, from white tiles, to steel chairs, this idea that everything is "clean eating". It wreaks of white supremacy in my view. I guess there is a sadness to gentrification and how gentrification also sees poor communities as "sad". It's like a double meaning in some sense. I don't necessarily feel that we don't fit in, I think the same thing happens everywhere, I am just more interested in the side that is expressed less frequently. I am interested in exploring something beyond the academic composer, or the populace dance music/sound designer, I am interested in the in-between and if that does not exist, I want to be a part of manifesting that.
Diogo: In my opinion, "The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid" shows a lot of aspiration from artist Seth Graham, eclectically combining different "schools" of music: its identifiable Digicore (or Hyperpop) sensibilities, Ambient Pop vocals, and a discernible fondness for Classical Music.
Seth: Thanks! I agree. I wasn't trying too hard to tap into the hyper pop scene. I think I was trying to combine all my interests into a blob of something that is listenable and interesting, and the composition took interesting turns. I get really tired of predictable songs. So I wanted to set up songs that had predictable parts with random intervention that was not necessarily jarring, as if the strangeness crept up on you. I also wanted to keep it so there was no stock sound. I used weird squawks and sounds from real instruments, so it was not necessarily about "production"; rather, it is more about the vibe.
Diogo: After The Heart Pumps Kool-Aid, where will you be heading next?
Seth: Mari (More Eaze) and I will be working on a new album this year. We will also be touring Europe in April (hopefully). I also hope to start making a record with my label partner Keith Rankin. We are a duo under the name Cream Juice.
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