Q&A: Feeling Seen in a Room Full of Strangers With Windser’s “Friends I Barely Know”
NOT MANY ARTISTS CAN CREATE THE DISTINCTIVE IMAGERY — of dense redwoods standing tall alongside the crashing waves of the Pacific solely through their sound. But indie rocker Windser wants to paint you a picture, creating artwork through his poised and powerful songwriting. The project of California native Jordan Topf, Windser began in 2020 and quickly picked him up into the whirlwind of being a full-time artist. From then to now, Topf has gained massive support from radio play and fans alike, supporting bands such as Cannons and alt-J on tour as well.
Topf’s latest single, “Friends I Barely Know,” articulates the blissful feeling of fitting in while you’re standing in a room full of strangers. With the backdrop of Santa Cruz, CA in the music video, he gives us a taste of his newest project, Where the Redwoods Meet the Sea, due out on Oct. 12.
Throughout the single, Topf brings us back to his formative years. Like scenes from a movie, he directs us to standout points in his upbringing. The excitement that comes with being a teenager and walking into your first house party. Finding community in music when you don’t really fit in at your high school. Becoming fixated on the guitar and practicing until your fingers hurt. Navigating the hurt of loss at a young age. All the while the sun shines and waves crash in sunny California.
From his first single “Memory” to his latest tracks, Topf has crafted a whimsical yet sophisticated sound that will make listeners rejoice. Whether it’s the tinge of nostalgia dripping from his lyrics or the warm embrace of analog-inspired guitars, Topf is quickly solidifying his spot among the best in up-and-coming artists.
Check out our discussion with Windser below as he chats about “Friends I Barely Know,” his upbringing, and tour.
LUNA: Your newest track nods to a house venue that you frequently played in Santa Cruz. Can you talk a little bit about the scene or being at a DIY house like Zami?
TOPF: “Friends I Barely Know” is very much a specific recollection about a common theme a lot of people feel. Like when you’re a teenager and you go to your first house party or house show. For this song, I tried to put some specific lyrics into it that relate to this house, Zami House in Santa Cruz. It was this place my friends and I would go to a lot and they would have punk shows and bands would play in the living room. Just the most wonderful, friendly, mess of music and people. And so going there, being a part of that community as a teenager, was super impactful on me.
It was shows like that that gave me a place to fit in and belong. I played music and eventually played in bands that performed at that house. You know, I didn’t always fit in at my school as a teenager but I felt really seen and heard in spaces like that. For me, it was that house, this coffee shop where all the underground musicians would hang out. The song is just about that, finding those strangers that make you feel like you belong.
LUNA: Do you have a specific show or memory that sticks out in your brain when you wrote the line “standing in a mosh pit with strangers”?
TOPF: I saw James Rabbit in high school. They had that kind of Of Montreal vibe, big nine-piece band with horns and the singer jumping around. Seeing them at Zami House was a memorable moment. My goal is to throw a house show there again, like full circle. There’s a Wordpress for the Zami co-op, and it hasn’t been updated since 2010 but me and my managers really want to throw a house show possibly there and film it.
LUNA: Elaborating on your upbringing a bit, can you talk about growing up with “hippie parents”? I feel like there is so much to gain from being surrounded by nature, and that especially reflects in your upcoming EP, Where the Redwoods Meet the Sea.
TOPF: The title is an expression my dad used to describe where I’m from. I think that mystical, dreamy landscape of my childhood is what the EP sounds like, so the title was fitting. I lost my dad when I was 22, and there’s a song called “Driftaway” on the project that’s an homage to him. A lot of this record is about my formative experiences that have changed and impacted me in a big way. I’ve never written songs about my early life before, and it felt like it was time to go back to my roots and talk about my upbringing. The title is how the guitar sounds and how the vocals layer together.
LUNA: Although this project is about your formative years, after traveling around the world working with different artists, do you find yourself coming back to your songwriting process with different perspectives?
TOPF: Ever since “Memory” got picked up it’s been non-stop. I’m just now sinking in again and working on the next batch of songs for an album. I can’t write on the road either. Some people can do it with their laptop and mic on the bus and I just can’t do that.
You get so much energy by being around people every night and absorbing all of this excitement. I come home and I’m so high-energy I have to bring it down. I just got off the road with Cannons, and all the shows were sold out, and there were some people there from the alt-J shows. Being around those kinds of people is super inspiring.
LUNA: You just got off tour with Cannons, so what’s your best tour story?
TOPF: It’s not really a story but one thing that I like to do on tour on our days off is find hot springs. After the alt-J tour, there is this hot spring when you’re driving through Utah back to California and we just jumped in a hot spring. It’s not that epic of a story but finding stuff like that is always fun. We did it on the last tour too. When you have a long drive back home, one of the best things you can do is jump in a body of water. We treat it like summer vacation.
LUNA: When it comes to how people discover music these days, it never feels like radio is the go-to, however you’ve done a lot of work with SiriusXM. As you’ve been growing as an artist, how do you think radio has come into play?
TOPF: It’s wild. I mean, they have been super supportive, and I’m independent so it’s really cool that they’ve taken the music and run with it. The radio is still a thing — the shows I just did with Cannons, everyone that came up to me at those shows was like, “I heard you on AltNation,” maybe one person was like, “I found you on a playlist.” One person came up to me in Iowa and was like, “I found you through Macklemore.” Most of the people that were fans of mine heard it on the radio though.
LUNA: You have a nicely curated playlist on your Spotify, “Records in Rotation.” Based on that, who are some artists that you would like to collaborate with in the future?
TOPF: Damon Albarn. I would love to collaborate with Gorillaz. A lot of the people on this playlist are no longer alive, but I’ve got Wallice on there — I think that would be a fun collab. I would love to collaborate with some more electronic artists to sing over. I really like Flume, and I’ve always wanted to collaborate with Mark Ronson. I love using retro sounds on my music so I feel like we would be kindred spirits. We met one time a while ago but we’ve never worked together.
LUNA: If you could wake up one day and all of a sudden be an expert at anything not music related, what would it be?
TOPF: I’m not a great painter, but I really appreciate contemporary art, and when we were in Chicago we went to the Art Institute. I was like, wait, I wish I could paint like Gauguin or Georgia O’Keefe. So if I could wake up and be a master painter that is what I would be. I could paint my album artwork… Maybe I’ll take an art class.
Windser’s latest single, “Friends I Barely Know,” is out now, and his EP, Where the Redwoods Meet the Sea, is out everywhere on Oct. 12. Keep following Windser for more leading up to his EP and a super secret special collaboration to watch out for in August.
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