Mood Board is our column where artists share a few of the things that inspired their new record. This time, Junior Varsity — aka, the LA duo Greg Aram and Zach Michel — tell us how the video game Arc Raiders, the moon, and more inspired their new EP Ready.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
1. Arc Raiders
I’ve always loved music hardware, I don’t know how to use half of the gear we work with but always admired certain speaker and synth designs. During the holidays I got addicted to playing the video game Arc Raiders. Every character has a unique, oversized backpack. That idea became my North Star for the creative for Ready: a character who exists to share music through a clunky, mobile speaker device in a pretend world where music sharing is a rare experience.
2. Cycling
Car culture in LA can make the city grating to live in at times. Biking around the city has made it feel fresher and newer. You end up in different parts of LA than the major traffic arteries and highways you mostly find yourself on otherwise. It feels good and free to be on a bike and it helps me recharge. Currently reading a lot of https://www.urbaninterface.org/.
3. The size of the moon
The section of the full moon at any time visible to Earth is the same size as the continental United States of America. This fact astounds both of us. You can look at the distant glowing disc of the moon and envision the disparate ends of Maine and California mapped onto each side. It makes the moon feel very real and very close. We drew on this feeling heavily in the vocal engineering process.
4. Soccer jerseys
The Juventus 2015 pink Jeep jersey and the Barca aqua 2012 alternate jersey were open in an are.na tab while dialing production details for Ready. When making a certain type of music for us, there's a subconscious desire to hear that song in a FIFA game. The cultural archetype of soccer as a fun, high-energy, colorful, internationally-beloved sport is inspirationally fruitful to a certain musical subset. "The Beautiful Game"
