Selfmade II | Dreaming of Jupiter for MNÁSOME

Dreaming of Jupiter are taking the reins this week ahead of SelfMade II to chat about the process of recording and releasing their track ‘Let Me Down’ from their forthcoming EP. From the recording and producing side to shooting the music video and promotion, they talk through the process below…

When it comes to recording, we have a process which we have developed over time. We pre-produce everything at home to a point where the track is complete structurally and sonically, but we keep an open mind about textural changes etc. We play around as much as we feel is needed to get a good idea of the kind of mix we want. The emotion and vibe of the song is all very clear before we take anything to the studio. That way, we know exactly what we want and we work with our producer to bring that essence to life by making small changes to bring out the shades we have in our heads – mostly mixing changes, EQ-ing and balancing tones and creating a nice dynamic variety.

The aim of the video for ‘Let Me Down’, directed by Wes Rashid, was to depict the fragility of a relationship that is rife with uncertainty. A couple dance very intimately on a beach as the sun is setting. They move together sometimes in sync and sometimes not so much, they hold each other close and push each other away throughout the dance. All along, the sky is changing colour as the sun sets on them. This is juxtaposed against performance shots of the band, mostly of Zoë, but Sam and Dave do appear. We wanted this video to be very much a freestyle affair, much like the relationship the song was written about. It is not overly structured, but more free, full of movement and very much open to interpretation.

We also match a colour to each of our songs, we don’t feel we choose the colour, but the song chooses the colour…the music tells us what it is…and we almost always unanimously agree…it’s kind of funny! So for ‘Let Me Down’ we all knew straight away when we wrote the song that there was this warm orange shade in our minds. We felt it just had to be a sunset, and the beach was the perfect setting.

As a band, we did all the promotion for everything ourselves and to date, have always done things this way. We just get working on the admin side of things straight away once we have set out the timeline for the project. For this release, we divided up all of the tasks between the three of us and got the work done. It really is as simple as that. Generally, we meet two days a week (outside of rehearsal time) to work on writing, recording, and various other things – and admin is one of these! Anytime we have a release coming, we email radio stations, blogs and various other media platforms as soon as we have written a press release for the track and we start the process.

As well as this, we are very conscious of watching all social media platforms and our email account for messages at all times. This can be tough as it can be very difficult to switch off sometimes. We all schedule and plan posts as a team to allow each of our personalities to come through and aim to include lots of high quality, interesting photography. We also use Instagram to keep everyone up to date on our day to day adventures. We like this as it allows us to show a bit of humor and fun. Sometimes, we like to go ‘live’ at rehearsals and gigs too.

Regarding our brand, we love to give off a clean and modern vibe. Dreaming of Jupiter is quite a progressive project, we feel, and we like to be considered as forward thinking and modern in the way we write, record and perform. We love to engage people, both in person at live shows and on social media, and have always tried to build this into our performance as much as we can. We would like to think we share a peaceful and chill vibe, with an energy around us that people can’t quite put their finger on.

Above all, we like to promote equality and positivity. The fact that there are three of us, two guys and a girl, from different backgrounds and cultures who share such a strong bond shows that we can be ‘more’ together than apart. We are just three best mates, making music and living our best life together and the bond we share is something very powerful.

Catch Dreaming of Jupiter perform at SelfMade II on the 9th of June and take part in a panel of other great DIY musicians where they will be discussing, in detail, the building blocks of a DIY music project.