New York-based singer-songwriter STOLAR releases his first in a series of EPs, Raw Emotions: December 8, 2017: Soho, NY, Friday, December 8. The material is the result of an especially prolific period in the musician‘s life and close friendship with production duo Take a Daytrip.
“Over the last year, I’ve become obsessed with writing new music every day. It’s literally become like breathing; I need it, I crave it. By July, I had over 100 songs in contention for release and needed to come up with a project that would allow for a flow of not just writing, but releasing music,” he says. That’s how Raw Emotions came to life: new music every month for a year. Each month is tied to a different emotion and the songs, photos and artist collaborations within that month are inspired by those specific emotions. Every two-four months I am releasing EPs that are essentially curated playlists of the songs that have been released.”
The inaugural release is the result of late night sessions with STOLAR’s friends Take a Daytrip. Spending four months working on the material in a Soho loft resulted in a collection intended to capture the particular ache of heartbreak during a New York City winter. I was going through a lot at that time and Daytrip really became family,” STOLAR says. “To accompany the songs, we created short interludes that provoke a deeper emotional response through psychedelic sounds and conflicting lyrics. For me, this EP truly captures a time in my life where I had no idea where I was going. It’s like I was digging a tunnel and finally got to the point where I couldn’t see the way I got in, or the way to get out. It required complete faith, love and trust in the people around me to keep pushing and break through to the other side. And we did. It was the completion of this batch of songs that resulted in the consistency of a daily writing practice and the creation of the Raw Emotions project.”
The always reflective STOLAR adds, “I think what I love most about the creation of this group of songs is that we had no idea what it was going to sound like when we went into this. All of the songs were written already so we essentially had these sketches that needed to be painted. Each song was reproduced at least twice, in some cases five or six times.”
These revisions, he suggests, added its own possibilities. “We really took our time exploring different instruments, tempos, feels and sounds until we discovered the palate of sound that finally felt right. When I listen back to this EP, I really feel all of the twisted emotions I was experiencing at the time that I wrote the songs. It feels like an extension of me. I hope that these songs, along with all of the music that comes out over the next year, can provide a soundtrack for people’s lives. It’s time for this to be out in the world. It’s not just my music anymore, it’s for everyone.”