Q&A: IAN SWEET Talks Creative Outlets, Songwriting & “Show Me How You Disappear”
☆ By ASTRID ORTERGA ☆
TRANSCENDING SWEETNESS IS WHAT YOU’LL EXPERIENCE — when listening to 27-year-old artist Jilian Medford, under the moniker IAN SWEET. She has everything you need: jangly guitar notes, layers of mesmerizing sounds, and a smooth flowing voice that traps you.
Medford recently released a new album, Show Me How You Disappear, that truly has become a comfort album to me. The album starts off with “My Favorite Cloud,” a song full of noise and layers that resembles the anxiety of coming to terms with things. “My Favorite Cloud” grasps you all at once — an opening song you’ll regularly gravitate back to. Soon, you’re introduced to “Drink The Lake,” a catchy, bittersweet melody. This is the song that really focuses on Medford’s voice, a voice that feels like warmth and hugs. Moving to the end of the song, a heart-warming guitar solo appears, leading into her final verse with her whispering vocals and a slightly distorted guitar that oddly resembles early Gilmore Girls background music.
These are just the first two first songs. The entire album is intensely personal, a peek into what Medford has been struggling with. Through personal albums, you often find comfort through knowing you’re not alone. Just the same, Medford’s lyrics are open to interpretation, letting you have your own relatability, while also being able to tell the story of how Medford herself was feeling during the time. She perfectly created specific feelings of melancholy, and brings the sweet sting she can by utilizing her vocals and instruments as you’re taken into the world of IAN SWEET — a comforting place to be.
It’s a good year for women in music and IAN SWEET kicking it off with her new album puts Show Me How You Disappear as a good contender for Album of the Year, even if it’s just April. Give her new album a listen and read below to get to know IAN SWEET.
LUNA: To start off, how are you? What have you been up to since 2021 started?
IAN SWEET: Well, my record came out, so that was exciting. I recently got a dog, so that’s been a big part of my life, and I've picked up a new hobby — I’ve been crocheting a lot, like knitting and making hats. I guess I've become this ... I don’t know, I live in an alternate reality now.
LUNA: Your new album, Show Me How You Disappear, came out last month — congratulations! There are a lot of interesting elements in the songs: rough and loud noises, but also glittering and smooth dreamy sounds all intertwined together; it’s a really beautiful and personal album. What inspired these elements?
IAN SWEET: The music really reflects what I was going through at the time — where I was having glimmers of hope and glimmers of peace and happiness, but then I was also going through a really dark period of time, often covered up with anxiety and chaos and trying to heal by finding little pockets of light through the darkness. I think the album really encapsulates that emotion and what I was going through.
LUNA: That’s really beautiful. This album sounds really different from your past albums and projects. How would you say your sound has evolved and how did you go about finding the sound for your new album?
IAN SWEET: I think I really just followed my gut for this one. I think for past albums — as much as I still love the music — I think I was a bit more immature and trying to find myself a lot through songwriting and being unsure of myself. As I have gotten older, I have been developing my sound. [With] this album, I finally found what I was looking for. I think the music really reflects where I was at in my life. While I was writing it, I was going through all these emotions, where — normally, sometimes you write a record, and in retrospect are like, “Oh yeah … that time of my life.” But I was literally going through the thing while I was writing the songs. I just felt more connected to the music that way, more so than I have in the past.
LUNA: That’s good — it’s like you see your growth through your music. Touching on sound, genre-bending has become a more prominent aspect in music nowadays. Do you hope to venture out and incorporate more new genres into your music?
IAN SWEET: Definitely. I’ve always felt like I don't fit into a specific genre. I feel like the word “indie rock” doesn’t really describe fully what I do and what I make, and I don’t feel like bedroom pop does either. I don’t even know what those things mean, and I don’t really pay attention to them. I make music that's whatever I feel in that moment — and it can be hip hop, pop, ’90s grunge. I don’t know — whatever it is, I just want to make it so whatever that ends up being, I'm down for it. I just want to be inspired by each moment. I'm definitely not stuck to one genre. I love to play around with everything, and I listen to all kinds of music, too. So I'm inspired by so many different things.
LUNA: Yeah, it’s more about creativity than sticking to one thing.
IAN SWEET: Definitely. I mean, some people have their thing and they’re really good at it and don’t want to venture out of that. People who play metal — they’re really good at it, so they should stick with it. But it’s always fun to experiment and see what else you can come up with.
LUNA: So you mentioned earlier that a lot of the album was you writing it in the moment and going through it. Your lyrics are really personal — I love that because it allows it to be open to interpretation; your audience can resonate with it in their own way. I’m curious to know what your songwriting process looks like?
IAN SWEET: It’s always changing, definitely. But I think I often write a lot of songs in a short amount of time and take big breaks and then I'll do it again. So, like for this record, I wrote all the songs in a matter of a few months, just because I was feeling all these feelings at once and [felt] so inspired [that] I would just have crazy spurts.
I’ll just start making songs and whatever sticks, sticks. Then I'll take like five months off from writing any songs and do other things, like crochet hats. But I usually start by writing lyrics or journaling or coming up with a basis for how I'm feeling and then just demo something out and go straight to the computer and start experimenting with a drum sound or guitar sound. And then [I bring] in the lyrics and [make] a melody over that. It's usually how it works out and how it develops from there.
LUNA: I love hearing that! Your music is a big part of your life, so what would you say is your favorite thing about music? Are there any artists that inspire you?
IAN SWEET: Music definitely has always been a big thing to me, but nobody in my family is all that musical, so it was just something I kind of found on my own and fell in love with. I always say this, [but] I’ve always loved Coldplay, and people always make fun of me for that. People think they’re too cool for Coldplay but I've always been such a big fan, and they were one of the first bands I ever fell in love with. I figured out what a bass was when I listened to Coldplay — like I had never heard a bass sound before, and I just discovered kind of what music sounded like in different ways through listening to them and just feeling really emotional through their songwriting. They have always been a big inspiration, but very subconsciously — like I don't listen to them on the daily.
But I’m obsessed with Alex G — I think he’s an absolute genius. He’s one of my favorites and inspires me all the time. I'm just really inspired by people who do genre-bending stuff. People would definitely say Alex G is like indie rock, but he’s not. He’s a total freak weirdo that has, like, distorted violins — and he’s screaming, and I think I'm inspired by people who break barriers and don’t feel held back by what people want to hear, but just make what they want to make.
LUNA: I love Alex G, he’s like a creative genius. I’m really glad he’s getting the attention he deserves.
IAN SWEET: He is! That’s the thing — he does whatever he wants, but people really connect to it in a special way, and that’s always my favorite kind of music. Like, I love Grimes so much, too — she’s just always done what she wants and has not waivered on that. Those people are really the ones who pave the way for the next generation.
LUNA: I was reading your recent Pitchfork interview and it seems like the journey to where you are now wasn’t just a given and instant thing, but something that had a lot of bumps in the road. Is there any advice that you would give to young musical artists who are struggling with something similar?
IAN SWEET: I mean, I still struggle a lot — it’s definitely a never-ending journey to feel confident and comfortable and [to] be proud of yourself. That’s something I struggle with every day, but I think the best thing you can do is just — it’s so cheesy, but — be in the moment. Don’t live up in your head: live in your whole body. I spend so much time being in my head by being trapped there by my thoughts and negative attitude towards myself. The best thing you can do is just believe in what you make and not let anything tell you different.
LUNA: A big thing is just going forward.
IAN SWEET: Yes! Just don’t look back. Obviously, it’s good to get perspective and look back, but don’t move back. Just keep going forward. There’s really no option, either. Time never stops.
LUNA: You were mentioning earlier how you have a new dog and you’ve taken up crocheting — have you found any other creative or meditative outlets?
IAN SWEET: Crocheting is, like, a super meditative outlet. I totally get lost in it and like two hours later I've made a whole hat. I do a lot of actual meditation, too. That really helps me — I just try to stay present and focused. There's a lot going on in everyone's lives and we need to just check in with ourselves.
LUNA: Are there any techniques you would recommend?
IAN SWEET: Something that I learned about in the last year is called tapping. It’s a meditation practice where you tap the pressure points on your body. Like there's pressure points near your eyes, above your eyebrows, above your lip. As you tap those pressure points, you recite a mantra or something you would like to accomplish in the day, or something you want to let go of. It’s supposed to be something personalized as you repeat these movements and tappings. That's something I learned when I was in a therapy program. It's definitely really helped me. I've also heard it helped a lot of other people. It just puts you in your body and helps you be grounded. I like to start the day like that.
LUNA: That’s great, and super healthy! Moving on with a fun little question, if you were stranded on an island, what three records would you take with you?
IAN SWEET: I think I would take Vespertine by Björk — that is one of my favorite records of all time. I would take a Coldplay record: Parachutes by Coldplay. Probably like Music by Madonna. We’ll throw in a little pop one in there. You can, like, dance on the island.
LUNA: Wrapping it up now, although you just released an album, is there anything to expect from you this year?
IAN SWEET: Definitely. I have lots of stuff coming up. I’m putting out a short film that encompasses four songs from the record. That’s something that's coming out in April. I hope I can play some shows. I think we’re starting to try and plan some touring. That's so weird to think about doing. I'm always writing music, and I’m already starting to record some new demos, so maybe some new music. That’ll be later on — we need to give the record its moment.
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