John Adam Ian teams up with UK producer Frequency Creature for new single featuring Jon Shea of Within Harms Reach.
Matt Carter
“Music is music. It’s fun letting go of genres or expectations and just seeing what happens sometimes,” says musician John Adam Ian (Jai) Sadler, who cut his teeth writing and performing complex, progressive metal. A devout student of the craft of songwriting, Sadler has always been more than willing to let his compositions guide him, wherever they may lead. His latest release, Across The Sea of Space, is a fitting progression in an ever-expanding discography that spans everything from rock to psych, and pop to indie folk.
Across The Sea of Space is Sadler’s first release written in collaboration with UK-based producer Frequency Creature.
“This song was more or a less test project for online collaboration. It turned out well, so we decided to release it,” said Sadler. “We’ve been bouncing ideas back and forth over Discord. I like the work he’s done with another artist called Mebo.”
The song also features a vocal and guitar performance by Jon Shea of the band Within Harms Reach. With such a diverse group of collaborators, Across The Sea of Space could easily be considered one of Sadler’s most ambitious collaborations to date.
Launching immediately into a captivating vocal hook that almost top-loads the song entirely, Sadler and his co-producer are able to challenge traditional form without feeling overdone or contrived in any way. As far as song structure goes, Across The Sea of Space is a satisfying journey full of rich textures and peaks and valleys that leave the listener feeling fulfilled and perhaps a little exhausted.
Lyrically, the song’s storyline works as a fitting companion to the depth and emotional weight carried by a combination of soaring melodies and beneath-the-surface sampling.
“The song is about parallel universes,” said Sadler. “In one universe, a star is collapsing into a black hole. The black hole is a portal to a parallel universe where the opposite is happening. Mass and energy are gathering, on their way to forming a star. The lyrics are about these two events appearing independent in their respective universes, but in fact it’s a continual energy transfer, back and forth, between the parallel universes. There is no death, or birth, of stars.”
Sadler describes the song as an attempt to blend shoegaze with some electronic ideas. Something he jokingly calls Electroshoegaze.
Part of what makes most online collaborations like this a uniquely satisfying experience to those involved is having the ability to work free from deadlines or any outside pressure besides that which exists between the collaborators themselves. It’s a perfect format for balancing a busy life with a need to create.
“I’m hoping the three of us will work together on another song in the near future, but there are no definite plans,” said Sadler. “We’re all busy with multiple projects, but I feel like we’ll come together for new tunes.”
Across the Sea of Space | SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC | BANDCAMP
