New York alternative pop rock indie influenced duo Your Friend, Ghost releases their debut album Cost of Being Captive onto streaming platforms. Embracing their musically talented familial roots in their own respects, cousins Matt and Jesse Chason came together in 2015 to collaborate, celebrate and unify their artistic capacities. Four years in the making, Cost Of Being Captive examines the costs and rewards of relationships to what we value most as well as the relationship that we have with ourselves.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Matt and Jesse about the new project, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Jesse : I think we’re still experimenting with our styles and genres and trying to avoid limiting ourselves by falling into a traditional category. We both have diverse musical backgrounds, instrumentally and in our tastes. When Matt and I first began casually playing music together we were inspired by a more traditional style of instrumentation with a bluesy, alt. Rock, type sound.
In the past few years we’ve dived into the world of sounds “inside the box” and focused on more electronic elements. At this point, we’re trying to have our musical influences meld to create a sound that combines live instruments with electronic elements.
Ultimately, we want to touch on a variety of genres and to have the ability to explore different sonic areas. The goal is always to create a good song while submerging ourselves in a headspace where we can feel the emotion of the music and have fun composing.
Matt: Even though we’ve both lived in other places during different times of our lives, my cousin Jesse and I consider ourselves natives of the Hudson Valley (New York).
In our separate lives, before Your Friend, Ghost, we were both heavily involved in music. When we were younger and would see each other at family gatherings, we would often talk about wanting to make music collectively at some point; we didn’t know back then that it would be several years before this dream would become reality.
When I was in college at SUNY New Paltz we finally decided to collaborate. We realized that we were coming into this with so much material to work with, but also so little time. The first two years of us playing together were focused on feeling each other out creatively. After we got in a bit of a creative rhythm, it became clear that we might as well try to make something more serious together.
In terms of style, I agree with Jesse. At this point, we’re still trying to figure out what our musical style is. I don’t think that we can strongly define our style until we amass a strong collection of music and can reflect on the musical decisions that we’ve made.
Right now, for the sake of simplicity, we’d probably categorize our music as Alternative/ Indie. Some dude on reddit said he got a new wave, alternative-pop rock,vibe from our music. I thought that sounded sick.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Matt: Well, we’ve both been making music since we were very young. Music is a big part of our family’s culture and I can remember from a young age my dad really encouraging me to write music and play shows at local bars and venues. He even used to take me to set up my guitar case outside of Walmart and Barnes and Nobles, although I would always get kicked out. Back then I was writing music frequently, but after playing shows here and there for a few years and getting together a couple of bands, I kinda backed away from playing live music.
I felt like I always had to produce new material for my artillery and I found that I was writing more just for the sake of growing my repertoire, than for the purpose of emotionally expressing myself, which had always been the point from the beginning.
I started playing and writing again, this time for myself, with the true intention of never showing my songs to anyone.
It wasn’t until I got up with Jesse years later, when he had an in home recording studio, that it even occurred to me to try and record versions of these songs. After we had spent a good amount of time playing and recording, it just seemed like it might be worth the effort to try and create a platform to release this stuff. Shortly after that, it all started coming together with more meaning and purpose. Even if nothing ever came of this music in any way, I think we would still be writing, recording and putting just as much effort into the music as we do now.
Jesse: Yeah I mean, like Matt said, music has always been a predominant force in my life.
I started playing instruments when I was very young and really got more into it when I started guitar lessons around the age of 13. I started playing music with friends around that time and we decided to record our ideas in my basement; thus began the journey into sound.
I became obsessed with figuring out the technological aspect of music and recording and went on to study audio and production in college at SUNY New Paltz. After seeing a few incredible live concerts and festivals, I became fascinated with all aspects of production, sound and reverse engineering, the science behind how it all works.
Now I work in live-sound and recording, and am constantly being inspired with ideas both musically and technologically for our own music. I like to think of audio engineering, recording, and what Matt and I do, as kind of the intersection of art and technology.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Jesse: We’ve released a bunch of our beats and some singles here and there but Cost Of Being Captive is our first true cohesive project together. It has meaning, a start and a finish, and really captures a period in time for us. This album means a lot to me, it was a long time in the making.
Matt: When we began making music together, it was all about creating a base to release some of our work. After dropping a few beat tracks, we were originally planning on releasing a few of the songs that did end up making it on to Cost Of Being Captive as singles.
In the process of recording the material we started to write more and the underlying theme and intention behind the six songs started to seem more consistent. Through the process of recording, the album started to take shape.
This album is about several things to me. In many respects, Cost Of Being Captive is really about the impact that people and ideas have on our lives, particularly the people who have left us. People who are still in our life have the opportunity to actively contribute to our relationships and so our ideas about that person and the influence that they have on us, while ever changing, is something that they can continue to participate in. When people leave our lives, whether through death or separation or what have you, they don’t have the opportunity to continue to impact and influence that relationship.
The ways in which that relationship changes us, colors our perspective, influences our lives, at a certain point, that’s all us. We continue to perseverate, distort, shape and add meaning or pain wherever our brains sees fit. In this way, sometimes the people who have left our lives can have a more lasting impact than those who are still with us.
The Cost in Cost Of Being Captive is about the cost of those relationships; really the cost of any relationship in which you are captivated by something. There’s positivity that can come from that such as growth, happiness, love and all that. But there’s also a cost and we tend not to think about that too much when we become attached to things, to ideas, to people.
At the time of writing the album, I think that we were both really feeling the heavy cost of some of the relationships we once had in our lives and I think that aided itself in a lot of ways to the music and the album as a whole.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Jesse: Being an independent musician has serious challenges, there’s no way around it. However, I like to think there is a silver lining surrounding all of this. The music model has adapted so much, from back in the days of being signed to a label or record company, to the current modern advancements of home recording and social media. The challenge is there is SO much content out there and so much talent. Every day I see a clip or video of a new musician on social media that I’ve never heard of before that has massive talent.
It’s hard to cut through the noise and all the hard working musicians out there. The music industry has changed so much that I think everyone who has stuck with it to this point is now navigating through the maze of trying to get their music heard while producing quality material and without selling your soul to the industry.
On the flip side, the positive effect of this all is that nearly anyone can break through if they have the drive and can figure out how to touch people with their music. Home recording and project studios have changed the game. Social media and viral videos has changed it even more so.
Now a young kid can become an overnight celebrity from their bedroom with a guitar and a cell phone; it’s crazy to watch and I welcome it. We’re constantly trying to stay ahead of the technological curve of the next new platform or app, with this great change of the industry comes great opportunity, so it’s an exciting time for us as we try to figure it all out.
Matt: I absolutely agree with all that. I think another challenge is that because so many musicians are doing a lot of the work themselves, whether it be the creation of the music, mixing and mastering, the art and promotion, it has become so much to manage. It’s especially challenging to balance while working a full time job, it’s just nearly impossible to put in the amount of time you really need to grind.
We have started to create a really solid team, and I think that that has made all of the difference. One of my best friends back home, Kiefer Thorpe, has been doing all the artwork for the project with his two brothers. They go by Thorpe Collective (@thorpe_collective ) and they’ve really breathed an artistic vision into the project. My girlfriend Claire Forsyth is our PR manager and she’s the real reason we were even able to land this interview.
Really, there’s so much to be done, and even though we are a very small and modest operation, we really wouldn’t even be where we are without our team giving so much time to this project and believing in what we do.
What was the last song you listened to?
Matt: ‘Up’ by Earth Gang
Jesse: ‘Night’ by Moss Wild
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Matt: Vinyls in terms of quality. I have a modest vinyl collection myself but it’s just become too expensive and impractical. In ways it feels unfair to all the people who can’t afford that luxury.
Jesse: As an audio engineer, I appreciate a good vinyl but the subscription music services are taking over and I can see why. I’m definitely not immune to the convenience of infinite access to new music and content so I’m an Apple Music guy myself.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Both: If you’re looking for our music, you can check out Your Friend, Ghost on any major streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music.
Our full music collection is also available on Soundcloud, so feel free to scope that if you’re interested.
To follow us and stay up to date on new music, check out our Facebook page @Your Friend, Ghost or our Instagram @yourfriend_ghost.
Anything else before we sign off?
We just wanted to say that we really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our music and ask us these questions.
Like we said before, there’s just so much amazing music coming out right now that we are truly appreciative and humbled that our little band from the Hudson Valley was able to land on your radar. We’re grateful for what Indie Music Discovery is doing for up and coming indie musicians. Josh, you really are helping to give a platform and a voice to so many people who are trying too hard just to have the most vulnerable parts of themselves recognized by someone. Just wanted to say a sincere thank you!
Your Friend,
Ghost
