Colorado indie-rocker, Ian Huschle is back with his new single ‘I Didn’t Know’ taken from his new album ‘Had a Vision Once’. The new release follows Ian’s last release ‘Chores’ which we digged, read our review for that track here. This time round we wanted to find out a bit more about Ian and what has made his the artist he is today. With Elliot Smith vibes and a soft grunge edge, make sure to check out ‘I Didn’t Know’ below.
Hey Ian Huschle! Welcome to Dead Good. We loved your last single Chores. Can you talk to us more about your latest single “I Didn’t Know”?
Hey Dead Good, thanks for the recognition and appreciation. Yeah for sure, “I Didn’t Know” is a song from my album just released, Had a Vision Once. Its a pretty short lo-fi indie rock/pop song, I like to think it has an open/expansive feel and sound.
Did any event, in particular, inspire you to write this song?
I would say a bunch of relationships I’ve had inspired the lyrics – friends or family members who’ve been abused and/or have been abusing themselves. I guess just the feeling of not quite ever being able to know what’s going on with these loved ones, and not knowing how much of their wellbeing is in your control, how much you can help/support them or not.
Tell us about the recording and writing process?
For a lot of my songs I kinda just sit down with a guitar or at the piano and see what comes out, and if I find some chords I think are cool I’ll start messing around with a vocal melody on top of that. That’s the same for “I Didn’t Know,” nothing too crazy I guess. I then added some weird uptuned electric guitar stuff and double tracked vocals. Added drums, bass, and another tremolo electric guitar line towards the end. But yeah! That’s pretty much it. Recorded everything in my little apartment.
What’s the music scene like where you’re from? Has it influenced your sound?
I’d say the music scene where I’m living (Denver) hasn’t really influenced my sound because I’m not really involved in it for better or worse. I guess I’m kinda an outsider in terms of any music scene. I would say though that some aspects of living in Colorado, the Western States, and America overall has certainly influenced my sound in that I grew up listening to a lot of definitively American genres. I’ve always loved the sound of the pedal steel guitar for instance and grew up listening to a lot of that, and I feel like the environment I live in has been connected to that sound for me recently, so I’ve been trying to learn but its super hard.
I’m loving the Elliott Smith/ Sufjan Stevens vibes of the track. What artists have most inspired you?
Thanks! Yeah I’d say definitely Elliott Smith, Alex G, Grouper, Nirvana.. probably a lot of others too.
What artists are you listening to more recently?
I’ve been listening a lot to this band called The Red Expos, I found them on youtube and bandcamp, I think it’s just one guy.. anyway I think their music is so awesome. I’ve also been listening a lot to the bands Shelf Life and Lomelda.
Describe your sound in three words.
Hopeful, dark, bright.
What is happening next in your world?
Gonna start working on the next album, hopefully make some music videos too. Otherwise, my day job is a ranch hand at an alpaca farm, so mostly just working at the farm, music, and hanging with friends.
Finally, what’s your favourite fruit?
Watermelon!