Graham Jonson has been hard at work expanding his repertoire beyond the “chill beats to study/relax to” pigeonhole he thrived in as a teenager making lo-fi tapes. Based in Portland, Oregon, the artist—who performs under the name quickly, quickly—debuted his songwriting chops on 2021’s The Long and Short of It, demonstrating his psychedelic blend of soul and synth-forward bedroom pop. Late this year, Jonson is stripping back the drums in favor of sound-collage folk melodies on the upcoming follow-up release I Heard That Noise.
In preparation for the release is Jonson’s latest single “Take It From Me,” a muted guitar and piano ballad that feels like watching the falling sunset amid an armageddon. “There are two separate stories on this song,” explains Jonson. “The first verse is a lived experience of a broken relationship, and the second a more inward look upon myself. Both end in the resignation of ‘take it from me’ as a blind plea for some kind of change.” Said resignation is cooed in a soft falsetto, prompting tears to well in even the most hardened of listeners.
In preparation for I Heard That Noise—out April 18 via Ghostly—we got some insight from Jonson into the inspirations and processes that informed the latest quickly, quickly project. Check out the lyric video and find our short Q&A below.
What were some of the trickier aspects of making I Heard That Noise with respect to the “thinking outside the beat” challenge of the record?
The biggest challenge for me was learning restraint. I am a super-maximalist when it comes to production, and sometimes I can get lost in that—trying to find a good balance between produced and over-produced. I think stripping back the drums on the record made me think differently about the importance of space and how to fill that space with sounds other than drums.
How does the underlying theme of the “Kenton sound” you grew up with inform the sound design of the project?
I don’t know if it was the Kenton sound that informed the sound design, but definitely the idea of droning noise became really important to me on this project. For a lot of songs on the record I would record long guitar drones or synth drones and then chop them up and place them accordingly. I think “noise” as a concept was something I wanted to play with on this record.
The Dijon inspiration you’ve talked about comes through nicely in both your vocals and a bit of the sound design. What about his work do you find particularly striking?
I really appreciate Dijon’s aptitude for out-of-the-box soundscapes. His album Absolutely creates a world that is raw and real, yet also meticulously produced. That ethos was something I found very inspiring. I definitely tried not to copy his swag too much, but I think subconsciously it seeped into my record in my own way.
In what ways has your cover of Nick Drake’s “From the Morning” that preceded this release helped to inform this album or your relationship with his music?
I’ve been a huge fan of Nick Drake for many years now, admiring his songwriting and just the way he plays. His music definitely grew my appreciation for finger-picked acoustic lines and playing in different tunings. Both of those techniques were pivotal in making my album—you can hear some of the same picking patterns he uses on multiple songs. Making that cover helped me analyze how he writes in a deeper way. When you learn a song well enough to record it, you become aware of small details that you might’ve missed in just listening, and I think that can be really valuable when writing your own songs.
What are your hopes for both “Take It From Me” and I Heard That Noise as a whole?
I just hope people like the music! I’m proud of it, and I hope it resonates with others. I love to hear people’s personal connections they make with my music. It’s kind of proof of concept that I’m going in the right direction.
