Welcome to another interview as part of 'tea and cake presents'. This time we spoke to Hannah and Soleil, AKA Puddlejumper, an indie dream pop duo from the University of Chicago. I took this opportunity to ask then about their debut EP 'New Lies', their biggest musical influences and more.
You can read the full interview below:
Q: Hey guys! First off, could you tell me a little bit about yourselves?
Hannah: I’m a sophomore at the University of Chicago, originally from the D.C. area. I’ve been writing and singing my own songs since elementary school, and now I’m the vocalist half of Puddlejumper.
Soleil: I’m also a sophomore at the University of Chicago, majoring in Public Policy. I’m originally from LA and have been playing guitar since I was seven. I am the songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, and producer of Puddlejumper.
Q. How did you two meet?
Soleil: Hannah and I were in the same Social Studies class at UChicago freshman year. I was honestly really intimidated by her, but we later ended up joining the same music club and became friends. She performed her original solo work at a student showcase the music club organized and I instantly knew she was the person I wanted to sing the original music I’d written. We ended up playing a few shows together before we were sent home because of COVID. Once I got home, I figured it was the perfect time to record my music because there wasn’t much else to do there. I asked Hannah to sing on the EP and that officially marked the start of Puddlejumper.
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Q. How would you best describe the music you typically create?
Soleil: I genuinely don’t know what genre we fall into at this point. Some of our songs definitely sound more like dream pop, others sound more like standard indie, it just depends. When I write music, I really just try to put the listener in a certain mental space, whether it’s making them feel nostalgic or like they’re in an 80s coming of age movie. I think that’s the best way to describe our music. I want each song to evoke a certain emotion, memory, sensation, environment, or anything that can teleport the listener to that mental space and out of their present.
Q. Have you both always had a passion for music or was there something that inspired you to get into it?
Hannah: I grew up in a very musical household and have been making noise on the piano since I could walk, so I think it was inevitable that I would develop a passion for it. I was always surrounded by it -- Allison Krauss CDs in the car, Mozart on the radio, my parents’ ukelele-playing friends. I think my life has always had a soundtrack to it in the form of my parents’ music.
Soleil: Even though I’ve been playing guitar since I was seven, I only really got into music when I was thirteen and entered my emo phase. No one else in my family really played music, so the music I discovered on my own was really what got me into music, bands like Pierce the Veil and My Chemical Romance. Even then, I wouldn’t say I found a passion for music until I was fifteen and discovered The Smell in downtown LA. There’s something really special and inspiring about seeing people your age making amazing art. The artists at The Smell were ultimately what planted a passion for music in me. So many of the shows there were able to wash the stress of the week off me when I was in the crowd. I think that’s how I realized music can really change people’s lives, and that’s what inspired me to pursue it.
Q. What inspired you to start making music together?
Soleil: Honestly just the fact that Hannah has a really incredible voice and I wanted to work with her, so I asked. All of it just fell into place. We work together really well as creative partners. I can’t sing so Hannah really just has to figure out the vocal melody in my head even when I can’t express it. She also always has recommendations for the lyrics which make them smoother and honestly just better. I honestly don’t know that there was a specific inspiration, we’re just a really good fit as creative partners.
Hannah: I agree! Soleil’s music just happens to suit my vocal range and style really well and from the first time we practiced together in her dorm room I knew that it was going to be a smooth collaboration.
Q. Who are your biggest musical influences and why?
Hannah: Soleil and I always laugh about this because she eats, sleeps, and breathes punk and also some very dreamy pop that sounds like California looks, and I grew up listening to country, bluegrass, and a good deal of Taylor Swift. I love those big, strong vocals and I’m a sucker for fiddle in the background. My taste has since migrated more towards pop and soft rock, though, which is probably the only thing preventing my vocals on New Lies from having a southern twang.
Soleil: This is such a hard one for me because I grew up in the LA DIY punk scene with bands like Rose Dorn and Surf Curse. Outside of that, I was listening to bands like Knocked Loose, Beartooth, and Periphery. When I started writing music, I just started writing what naturally fell out of my fingers, I wasn’t trying to sound like anybody else. It ended up being the kind of dreamy indie pop that Puddlejumper roughly fits into. Recently, I’ve gotten really into Soccer Mommy, Lala Lala, and Snail Mail and their music style is definitely an influence to me. I can, however, say with 100% certainty that my production style is heavily influenced by Teen Suicide/American Pleasure Club and Current Joys.
Q. What is your creative process like?
Soleil: I find inspiration for my music from my life events. Usually this inspiration just manifests in little poem blurbs on my Notes App or a Voice Memo. Later when I remember that event or emotion I’ll go back and work on those pieces until eventually they form a cohesive piece. Sometimes I write the whole thing together in one shot too, it just depends. Usually, I’ll write the song and lyrics and record the guitar track as the skeleton of the project. Then, I’ll send that demo to Hannah and whoever else is recording for the track, depending on if it’s going to have bass or drums. Sometimes I’ll also send Hannah a voice memo of me doing my best to sing the lyrics over the track so she can get a general sense of the timing I had in mind. Everyone sends me back their tracks and I edit them all together to produce the final song. Even though it’s definitely a fairly broken up process, I feel like it creates a really special final product as everyone is able to add their own individual spin with creative freedom to the final project.
Q. Tell me about your debut EP ‘New Lies’. What is it about and what was your inspiration behind it?
Soleil: New Lies is a breakup album on its surface, but I think it’s a lot more about personal growth after loss than it is about the actual relationship. To keep it short, I had a horrible boyfriend who I ended up dumping the summer going into college because I just wasn’t willing to carry his toxicity to college with me. But when I arrived at college, my roommate was asked out probably five times in the first two weeks, and I didn’t get any attention. I panicked thinking I had messed up in ending things and that I was going to be alone forever, and that was the inspiration for “Blue Glass” and in some ways to the album as a whole. The rest of that year, I thought a lot about that relationship and how I made the right decision in ending things because I wasn’t happy with him. I also reminded myself that I am perfectly worthy of being in a supportive relationship with myself and with others. And that’s really what the rest of the album is about, reconnecting with myself and those around me, and even falling in love again.
Q. Do you have a favourite song on the EP? Or are there any that are especially meaningful to you?
Hannah: “2nd Street” gets me every time, but my favorite is probably the title track, “New Lies.” It’s a very complicated track with a lot of layers and instruments and it came out so beautifully.
Soleil: “Blue Glass” is probably my favorite just because I learned a lot from it as a producer. From getting the right movie audio clip at the beginning to having three guitar parts going throughout the song, I feel like I was really able to achieve the exact production effect I wanted which is really gratifying.
Q. How did it feel to have something that you worked so hard on finally become reality?
Soleil: Honestly unreal. It had been my 2020 New Years Resolution to record and release an EP, and obviously New Lies accomplished that. I think the bigger thing for me was just putting my creativity into the world for others to listen to. When I originally released the EP, I was expecting for maybe fifty friends and family members to check it out. Now, we’re nearing a thousand plays on some songs that have barely been out. I am so grateful that our music resonates with people.
Hannah: Same here! Everything came together so quickly once our wonderful publicist Angi Recato joined the team and I’ve been surprised and touched to see how many people -- friends, family, and strangers -- enjoy our music.
Q. Are you planning on releasing more music any time soon?
Soleil: We have two singles written that we’re going to record and release hopefully soon. I’m really excited for everyone to hear them, as they are very personal and perhaps a little departure from our current style.
Q. What’s the coolest performance you have ever done?
Hannah: Unfortunately it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to play live, but I think probably the coolest performance we did as a group was playing for a concert benefiting a student organization on campus that fights for disabled students’ rights. The other performers were really wonderful and the atmosphere was very warm.
Soleil: The benefit concert was honestly my favorite too. As a visually disabled person, music and sound have played a great role in how I perceive the world around me and why I love music the way I do. It felt great to help bring awareness to such issues on campus since they directly affect me.
Q. And where is somewhere that you have always wanted to perform?
Soleil: The Smell in DTLA, easily. It honestly just feels like home to me. It’s the first place I’m going to the second I can travel. It’s just such a supportive environment.
Q. If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be?
Hannah: Personally, Brandi Carlile, Alicia Keys, or Taylor Swift -- those are some of my vocalist/lyricist idols. Whether they mesh with Puddlejumper’s overall sound is questionable, but if I could sing alongside them I would just melt into a pile of happiness.
Soleil: Honestly probably American Pleasure Club or Men I Trust. Men I Trust is one of those bands that makes we want to pick up my guitar. I’d love to throw some smooth experimental jazz into our style and just see what happens.
Q. What is something that you want listeners to take away from your music?
Soleil: I want listeners to just feel like our music offers them an escape, where they can be stressed but then they can listen to a song and feel like they’re driving down the highway with their friends or going to the beach.
Q. And to finish, the third issue of our zine is titled ‘lovestruck’. What does love mean to you guys?
Hannah: Oof, coming off the heels of a painful breakup that question has been troubling me lately, but I do know that love -- romantic, platonic, familial -- is one of the most powerful forces in the world, definitely stronger than fear, and is a great gift. I think love -- love and a good sense of humor -- is what makes the world keep turning. It’s what saves us from ourselves.
Soleil: I think a lot of the time we look at love as having to be romantic love between two partners. I think love is more than that. I love my friends, my family, my guitar, my skateboard, all of it. Love is what makes us feel connected and safe to be ourselves. It’s multidimensional. It is what brings people together to support one another and create connections, which is so powerful.
Thanks so much to Hannah and Soleil for taking part in this interview. Go and check out Puddlejumper on Spotify, Apple Music and more, and make sure to follow @puddlejumprrr on Insta!
Interview by @poppygibbsss