Artist Bio: Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity consists of two friends who met in September 2021 and began making music together with the goal of being adventurous and avoiding confinement to one genre or sound. Sometimes catchy and immediate, other times hypnotic and ethereal, there is always something unexpected around the corner. They are currently writing and recording their second full length album and a punk EP.
Genres: Experimental, indie folk, electronic, ambient
Band Lineup: Nicholas L. and Jeff M. (Everything, except drums which are performed by Jeff)
Website: https://linktr.ee/n.and.j.discoverinfinity
Most Recent Release: A single called “Let’s Never Time Warp Again” from their second full length album, only on Bandcamp.
Sputnik User: Deathconscious
INTERVIEW
I caught up with Deathconscious about his musical project Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity: from the meaning of the band’s name and its origins to where they see their pursuit of infinity taking them.
The name of your band seems to perfectly encapsulate what the music entails. There’s a sense of raw exploration in your songs, and while one can’t always be sure of where they’ll arrive, they typically – at the very least – make for an interesting journey. What inspired your no-limits approach to making music? Was there anything specific (a novel, movie, etc) or are you both just dreamers? Also, are there any musical acts that influence/play a role in shaping your art?
When we got together we didn’t even really know what we were going to make, we just agreed that we didn’t want to be boxed into one genre too rigidly. I think we ended up going further with that sentiment than I thought we would. Part of the reason we hit it off right away was because we both have an appreciation for a wide range of styles, and it shows in the music. But also, yes, I think we are both dreamers. Making Wonderment was like getting lost in some mind-bending, psychedelic fantasy novel during a fever dream. Looking back, I don’t even know how some of that came out of me, it’s surreal.
As for influences, there weren’t many times when specific artists were brought up in relation to our own music while we were writing. A Winged Victory for the Sullen and Stars of the Lid for “Planet of the Windless Chimes,” Dinosaur Jr. as a reference for tone on the guitar solo in “Sword of Damocles”… Otherwise, I could only guess.
Give us a glimpse behind the curtain of constant discovery. Who are Nick and Jeff, and how did they meet? How did the idea of creating music arise in the first place? Tell us what it was like laying the framework for what would eventually become your debut LP, Wonderment.
I put some ad up on Craigslist looking for other people to jam with, I think I had the word “shoegaze” in there. I was expecting to start a more conventional band, but then Jeff responded and I knew pretty immediately that I wanted to work with him. I was impressed with his range in styles and willingness to experiment, and I knew that this was someone I could feel artistically fulfilled making music with. A shoegaze band would have been fun, but I prefer the freedom that this project allows.
The day of our first jam session we still didn’t know what we were going to be doing. I came up with a riff that morning before we jammed, and it ended up being the first riff on “Behind the Water” (after the “Rudderless Pt. I” intro). That kicked off the album. After the first song was completed and we began work on the second, we laid down a loose plan for the album. We knew we wanted a folk song after “It Could Be Anything” as a sort of anchor before blasting the listener off to space again with an ambient song, and then we wanted an acoustic epic with prog rock influences after that. The last two were more spontaneous additions. I think having a bit of a plan helped the album flow well and remain cohesive even with all of its twists and turns. Something I feared while making it was that it might turn out to be a jumbled mess, but I’m happy with the way all of it fits together.
The way you present your art to consumers (“Nick & Jeff are on a wild trip to discover infinity. Will you join them?”) makes me think of other great conceptual bands like The Decemberists or Coheed & Cambria. Do you view Wonderment as a concept album, or is the vision broader and more focused on the band’s overarching narrative?
Both. There is a story throughout Wonderment and reoccurring themes, but I also think it plays into an overarching narrative. We can’t seem to get away from dreams, alternate realities, fantastical destinations, etc. We joke a lot about this fictional version of ourselves where we go on some crazy cosmic adventure through time, space, and dimensions, and about how that influences our music. The story of Wonderment isn’t about us, but we have developed (and continue to develop) this ridiculous mythology about ourselves. It seems to be carrying over to the next album.
In your bio, you described your music as “sometimes catchy and immediate, other times hypnotic and ethereal.” Under the assumption that most of our readers will be approaching Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity for the first time, can you provide us with – in your opinion – a single song that best represents each of those descriptors (one that is catchy/immediate, another that is hypnotic/ethereal)? Also, tell us a little bit about what went into making each song, and why you think they succeed in having that desired effect.
I asked Jeff to answer this one:
“‘It Could Be Anything’ certainly straddles this line. Starting as a hypnotic 7/4 pattern, various elements are built in to push the song into a more folky territory, before the whole thing reaches a Sonic Youth-inspired rock apex.
Immediacy was key to the entire songwriting process. We wanted the folk songs to be plainly folk, the ambient sections to be entirely ambient, and everything colored in muted psychedelic hues. Experimentation, both in songwriting and production, also inspired us to reach beyond the sometimes unsatisfying genre labels above — and make music that was our own. Often, we would spend hours crafting a single passage. Just as often, we would make a joke that became a serious, key piece of those passages. We think it’s important to ‘take the piss out’ of the composition exercise — because the most authentic ideas and takes seem to happen just after one of us was laughing.
These ideas and performances are effective because they’re coming from two friends who share a common vision, dedication, and range of influences.”
A lot of bands tout themselves as experimental, but you back it up. This is evidenced by the fact that on the heels of Wonderment’s ambient and ethereal indie-rock, you’ve already dug in on the process of creating a follow-up punk EP. Could any moments on Wonderment (“A New Home”, the end of “It Could Be Anything”) serve as a preview of what to expect, or will that EP be totally unlike anything we’ve heard from Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity thus far?
It will be totally different. We want to make a straight up punk EP exploring various sides of the genre. We thought it would be fun to reserve EPs for more “normal”/conventional music when we feel like doing that and allow ourselves to be more indulgent and experimental on the full lengths. We’ll see if that LP/EP framework sticks though, who knows.
In addition to that punk EP, you’re also working on a second full-length LP. On your Bandcamp page, listeners can hear the album’s first single in “Let’s Never Time Warp Again.” In what ways do you think the single is representative (or not!) of the album as a whole, and what changes can we expect (stylistically, production, or otherwise) between Wonderment and LP #2?
I think it’s representative of the next full length in the way that it will be more on the electronic side. I think it’s not representative in the way that it has acoustic guitar in it while we plan on scaling back the use of guitar by a lot on this album.
Have Nick & Jeff Discover Infinity performed live in front of an audience yet? If so, share your experience with us. If not, conjure up what the ideal Nick & Jeff concert would entail. Would the performance be huge and elaborate, with theatrical/cinematic elements and a light show? Would it be reserved and intimate?
We have not performed live yet, but we are working on it.
The ideal concert for me would be a faithful recreation of what ended up on the album. This would probably include balloons, confetti, and psychedelic imagery, like a Flaming Lips kind of thing. Huge and elaborate, theatrical/cinematic are all things that sound great to me, yes. But right now it’s just Jeff and me, so we wouldn’t be able to recreate most of our songs live yet. We plan on performing “Rudderless Pt. II,”, “A New Home,” “Sword of Damocles,” and “Two Birds” for now, and we’ll probably have to fill out the set with some covers as well. “Reserved and intimate” is probably how it would turn out, but given the set of songs, I think that’s appropriate.
Explain the significance of the quotes sprinkled throughout your Bandcamp page. On the page for “Let’s Never Time Warp Again”, we get the Rumi passage You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop., and or the Wonderment LP we get the William Blake quote To see the world in a grain of sand / And heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand / And eternity in an hour. Are these just some personal favorite lines, or are they meant to guide/shape the musical journey somehow?
I sent this question to Jeff since he’s the one who added those quotes:
“As an English major and constant reader, I’m fascinated with the ability of a quote to engender a state of mind. The snippets are personal favorites to be sure, and also meant to prime the listener to some extent for the musical experience they’re about to have. Many people have written about the nature of the infinite: and the awe that descends when one truly puts their mind to the problem is a shared human experience. Rumi, Blake and others knew that we share a vital link to the cosmos — and our band explores that link.”
You seem to have a very poetic/philosophical bend. Who (perhaps in addition to the aforementioned) inspires your own lyrics? Do you have a specific aim or narrative when it comes to writing song lyrics, or are things intentionally shrouded in ambiguity in order to diversify interpretations?
I think the weird and surreal lyrics of artists like Neutral Milk Hotel and early Tallest Man On Earth had a big impact on me. I love ambiguity in lyrics, maybe because it allows my imagination to run free and interpret things the way I want to. Maybe because it allows me to travel to some far away place not grounded by mundane reality. I also value raw honesty and straightforwardness at times though, it depends on what the goal is. Not much of the straightforwardness ended up on Wonderment, I think just because that felt right for this album. To me, Wonderment is about raw imagination, escapism, and art, and how those things make life richer and easier to deal with. But it also asks the question, “How much escapism is too much?” As for the story of the album, I’d rather leave that up to interpretation.
I don’t want to speak too much for Jeff, but he reads poetry and that definitely comes through in the lyrics he writes.
One of the reasons we’re interviewing today is because you are a member of this very website. In your nine years here, has this site played any role in shaping the music that you now create? Also, tell us a little bit about your time here. What’s your favorite thing about Sputnikmusic? Your least favorite thing? Feel free to use this space to summarize what the site means to you, as well as to provide advice or words of wisdom to lurking site members with artistic aspirations of their own.
I think it definitely has played a role in what I write. I don’t consume music at the rate that I used to, and I haven’t been here as much, but for a long time I was mostly finding new music through Sputnik. I think finding a site where I could interact with fellow music junkies fed my love for this form of art.
My favorite thing about it is just being able to talk to other music enthusiasts . My least favorite thing is how out-dated it is, but I feel like there’s a sort of charm in that as well. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to it though.
I don’t know if I have any words of wisdom on that considering all of this is pretty new to me. Wonderment is my first full length, my first “real” release. I guess I would say to make your music happen, no matter what. Don’t wait to find the right people to do it with before you start, but don’t give up looking either.
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