Guess Pre On the Making Of ‘Clarity’
Is there a person/event that stimulated the creation of 'Clarity?'
My own personal journey with sobriety, was probably my biggest influence that stimulated the creation of this project. It started as a way for me to fill my time and put my energy back into being creative, instead of spending my time at the local bar or Tavern partying every night and making not so great decisions with my life. I aimed to make this project more personal and to really use it as a therapeutic way to put some of my thoughts into my music and have a place to put them. Every day life can be a struggle as it is and creating clarity gave me a place to escape that.
How did you work with the producer or engineers to bring your vision for this album to life?
All of the production for each of the tracks was either done by myself or someone that I know personally, and have worked with in the past. It made it easy for me to find instrumentals that I felt connected. All of the tracking was done at my own studio and the mixing was done by my good friend in musical partner Grimrose. We were really able to hone in on a sound that I feel is authentic to me while still being consumable to a wide audience. The mastering was done by a more recent acquaintance, Lia Kahn, out of Denver, Colorado, and she did a great job making this entire project sound cohesive while giving it the bang and professional polish sound that it needed.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on the album and what makes them special to you?
“Aardvark” is probably one of the standout tracks for me personally. It has a feel of nostalgia inspired by my childhood while also discussing some of my personal anxieties and inner thoughts. Hook is catchy and the layered vocals make for a very unique atmospheric sound. “Clarity,” the title track off of this project is also my take on a thick piece with swelling light hearted sounds in a very simplistic, laid-back vocal line. The closer track, “Earlie Goodbye”, is a fusion of EDM punk and lyrical, hip-hop that I feel brings the best of this newfound version of Guess Pre with the works that I have done previously. I've always been wanting to push the envelope as far as what I can do stylistically and I feel like this song really encompasses that well.
Can you share a bit about your musical background and the journey that led you to where you are today?
My musical background started at a young age playing in school, bands, orchestras and choirs. Before I really got into rap and hip-hop, I fronted metal bands and punk bands so my music taste are influenced by that. I transitioned into hip-hop in college because I didn't have an active band or members to work with and it was something that I immediately fell in love with. I've been writing poetry for years, which made that transition very natural. I've worked with a few different groups over the years in this genre and have really come to love making music for myself and I'm more of a personal level as a way to escape the struggles and ups and downs of every day life. It's really what feels me creatively and where I feel the most comfortable.
Can you walk us through your creative process when writing and composing music?
My creative process can be a bit chaotic at times I normally don't sit down to write a track from start to finish. I tend to have many projects going on at one time and come back to them as I feel inspired some of the tracks on this album I've been working on over the course of quite a few years and have come back to them and rewritten them many times to get them to the point where they were on this release. I write through a mixture of freestyle and punch ins and also penning lyrics into a notebook. I dabble a little bit in production, but I like to be inspired by other artists around me, so I tend to like to work with other producers for my instrumentals, which allows me to focus on the part that I like, which is writing the lyrics and creating and layering vocals and harmonies.
