Eighty Ninety: From ‘808s and Telecasters’ to Natural Vibes

Hometown: New York Metropolis
Presently Based mostly In: New York Metropolis
Favourite Interest: Abner: Yoga // Harper: Doomscrolling Memes
Favourite Artist(s): Tom Petty, Sparklehorse, Taylor Swift, Chet Baker, Third Eye Blind, HAIM

Who’s Eighty Ninety?

Hey, we’re Abner and Harper James. We’re brothers in an alt-pop indie band known as Eighty Ninety.

We grew up in a small coastal city and ended up in NYC. We might all the time performed music, however when Harper began working at a studio in Brooklyn, it felt like the proper time to see what we might do.

We did classes between work and late at evening till we produced our first music, “Three Thirty”. At that time, we did not actually have a band – we did not even know if we’d launch no matter we made.

We ended up with a sound that fuses extra intimate storytelling with pop-leaning melodies and minimalist productions constructed on acoustic devices and digital sounds. We named the fashion (partly as a joke – however it caught) “808s and telecasters”.

We determined we appreciated “Three Thirty” sufficient to launch it, so we put it on SoundCloud and Spotify and began emailing blogs. After a number of months, somebody at Spotify miraculously heard it and put it on recent finds.

From there, it jumped to the viral charts – and that is once we had been like, “I suppose we’re in a band now” — and began working earnestly on our first EP “Elizabeth”.

What’s the story behind your artist title?

We needed a reputation that would not field us into any particular style. One that will match regardless of the place our music led us.

There are a whole lot of totally different meanings behind Eighty Ninety — we have heard a whole lot of guesses, too — and we like all of them. Chances are high we like your guess and that you just’re proper, too.

Are you able to stroll us by means of your inventive course of, from ideation to completed product?

We’re actually collaborative all through your entire strategy of writing, producing, and even mixing.

Usually, Abner will herald a music he is written (or began writing), and Harper is the hands-on producer sitting behind the desk taking part in a lot of the devices (give or take the occasional acoustic guitar or piano half) whereas Abner sings.

We’ll often have a dialog in regards to the total imaginative and prescient of the music, any vital sonic or emotional concepts we need to discover.

As soon as the manufacturing begins, we’ll throw out concepts and take a look at issues till they begin to click on, after which we’ll hold honing the sound. Plenty of occasions, manufacturing will turn out to be mixing with out us even realizing it, after which we glance up, and it is completed.

Generally we’ll herald mates (like author/producer Gian Stone or mixer/producer Andrew Muary) to collaborate once we really feel like their perspective would actually improve a given music.

How has your music developed because you first began making music, and what modifications have you ever observed in your fashion or method over time?

Once we first began, we nicknamed our fashion “808s and telecasters”, which was each an correct description of our first single, “Three Thirty” and a shorthand for our anything-goes vibe within the studio.

We attempt to let the music and emotion, not style conventions, lead the sound. We’re all the time strolling the road between natural, song-based music and extra experimental productions.

Extra lately, we have been leaning right into a extra pure and fewer “programmed” method – as a result of it is what feels enjoyable in the intervening time.

Are you able to inform us a few specific efficiency or recording session that’s significantly memorable or significant to you?

The very first time we obtained collectively to work on a music, we did not even plan to launch it, not to mention begin a band.

We simply had been having enjoyable, chasing down sounds and concepts that had been thrilling. We’re all the time attempting to carry onto that method as a result of we’re satisfied it results in the most effective outcomes.

@eightyninety8090 Small city children know 🏠🌌 #singer #originalsong #indieartist #swiftie #swifttok #songwriter #smalltown ♬ 10K Summer time Nights – Eighty Ninety

For those who might have your followers bear in mind one factor about you, what would it not be?

In the event that they bear in mind a time when our music helped them in any manner – by means of a tough second, soundtracking a very nice summer time evening — that is actually the purpose.

It’d sound cliche, however it’s actually much less about how they bear in mind us and extra about whether or not our music helps enrich their life.

For those who might collaborate with any musician, alive or deceased, from any style or time interval, who would it not be and why?

It is gotta be Taylor. Now we have a lot respect for her as an artist, innovator, and songwriter. Even earlier than she added us to her playlist, we had been large followers (that was the cherry on prime).

If we ever had the possibility to collaborate along with her in any manner, that will be the dream. That is our message in a bottle!

What’s the most vital lesson or realization you’ve got had to date in your journey as artists, and the way has it influenced your method to music?

The extra you keep true to what excites you — fairly than what you assume individuals would possibly need to hear — the extra individuals truly reply to it.

It is actually excellent news, in our opinion. The extra pleasure it brings us, the extra pleasure it appears to carry others.

What fictional character(s) do you each establish with essentially the most and why?

Haha. Do not know if this counts, however rising up, everybody advised us our household reminded them of the one from that present The O.C. Possibly as a result of dad is a surfer.

How has Playlist Push contributed to your development as an artist?

Playlist Push is without doubt one of the solely instruments we have discovered that does the one factor that actually issues: assist us get in entrance of actual individuals who would possibly like our music. We have seen actual development and precise fan conversion from our campaigns with playlist push.

Use our Spotify Playlist Promotion or TikTok Music Promotion service.