JIL Speaks Openly About New York's Full Moon Festival

JIL Speaks Openly About New York's Full Moon Festival
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The Full Moon Fest will bring a new level of excitement to New York City's music scene on August 20th and 21st at Governors Island. With artists like Santigold and Black Coffee set to perform, people all over the world are hyped to attend one of the most energetic and spirited festivals this summer season. I recently got the chance to talk to JIL who will be playing the show on Saturday. While I could not see the three men's faces, they did open up about their recording process and why they are excited to make their festival debut this year. Tickets to the festival can be purchased by visiting http://fullmoonfest.com.

You guys are very mysterious. Can you give us all some information about yourselves? To say we are intrigued is an understatement.

We are made up of an Urban Cowboy, a Yung Neuroscientist, and a Skating Gator.

I love the song "All Your Words." What was the creative process behind putting the music together?

All Your Words has been our baby throughout this process. We'd spend countless nights recording new layers and taking layers away. Once we found that verse melody though...Really had to dig deep for those lyrics. As with most of our music, we worked on the song in a lot of locations - NYU and Columbia dorm rooms, our home studio, our parents' houses, and a few friends' places.

I always knew that college could pay off! This question is for the vocalist - How and where did you train yourself to sing?

Mom says that I've "been singing since before I could speak" to gospel records in the car. My parents met in our church choir. Some might say I was born to sing.

A star is born. What do you guys love about NYC?

Everything and every kind of person you could imagine is here. Almost the entire scope of humanity is packed into several square miles. And we all hustlin'.

The hustle is so real. Who are some of your influences in the music world? Who would you love to collaborate with?

We are influenced by a lot of different styles and eras in music, from romantic era classical to hip-hop. A few of our all time favorites are Debussy, Marvin Gaye, Radiohead and J Dilla. In terms of who we are influenced by that is around now - Flying Lotus, Tame Impala, Floating Points and Mike Dean to name a few. Collaborating with any of those guys would be an honor. And Kanye. Yeezy. That would be awesome. But most of all, Frank Ocean.

Love my boy Kanye. I'm looking forward to the LP release in September. What can music fans expect when it drops next month?

We'd like to think of it as a modern space odyssey into the soul. Musically it is an elaboration on and exploration of the colors, energies, and ideas we've brought you in our music so far.

I know you guys have an origin in Jazz. How difficult was it to transition from your musical roots into the world of electronic music?

We all come from playing many styles of music, jazz is just one of them. We'd all been messing around with computer oriented music for a long time so it was a pretty natural transition. Improvising was a huge part of our process, especially as we were first forming. That said, having the chance and ability to perform our music live (instead of taking turns recording and editing parts) is a freeing and somewhat cathartic experience after spending so much time perfecting its recorded form.

"Emotional Heat" belongs in a film soundtrack. What kind of movies would you like your music to be in?

It would be unreal to hear our music in an aesthetically moving, movie about space. Think high detail CGI of spaceships carrying the first people to live in a different part of our galaxy blasting through hubble telescope type stuff...It would also be amazing to have our music score a film set in NYC.

There's no place like New York. So true guys. What do you look forward to the most about playing the Full Moon Festival?

First festival we've ever played, it's pretty exciting for us.

Who are some artists that are playing the same day as you that you want to watch as a fan?

We're especially hyped to see SBTRKT, Pusha T, and Moodyman.

Great answer. Before I let you guys go, how do think playing a festival compares to playing a solo show?

We're thinking the main difference is going to be that we'll be playing to an almost entirely new audience. We are a little nervous. This will be different. But we hope to inspire at least a couple people!

I'm sure you guys will. Good luck at the Full Moon Festival. I will be cheering you all on!

Thank you! We are really looking forward to it.

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