Name: GIFT
Members: TJ Freda, Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell, Justin Hrabovsky, Cooper Naess
Interviewee: TJ Freda

Nationality: American

Occupation: Songwriters
Current Release: GIFT's debut album Momentary Presence is out via Dedstrange. Stream here and buy the physical edition here.
Recommendations: Be Here Now - Ram Dass | album - Recurring - Spacemen 3

If you enjoyed this interview with GIFT and would like to know more about the band, visit their official website. They are also on Instagram.

When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I remember making my first album using a USB microphone running it into Windows Movie Maker because I didn’t have a DAW at the time.

I first picked up a guitar when I saw the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video. That song / video was everything to me, raw, cool, catchy, chaotic. I loved it. I was 7 years old and I wanted to do exactly that.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I see colors, and shapes but mostly I feel texture. Sensory plays a really big in the way I create. I’m always listening to textures and sounds in music, guitar tones, synth tones, bass tones, DRUMS.

Texture is the most important characteristic in GIFT music. We really wanted to create an album full of interweaving textures.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Before the pandemic we started GIFT as an escape from the pressures of bands, people, and life in general. It was a really special place where all of us as best friends could get together without any pressure to make music and jam.

When the pandemic happened everything was put to a halt, we couldn’t see each other, so the recording process was forced to become really personal.. I took the time to focus on songs we had been working on and recording them and recorded them in my bedroom.

I spoke about a lot of personal anxieties, and the power of being present in the moment.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I’m still figuring out and growing every day, as is the way I approach creativity, always flowing and changing.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Always keeping the original spark of why I make music alive.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

Everything is referential. It’s about adding something new to the past.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Synthesisers and Ableton Live changed the way I make music.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I usually enjoy working at night, most of the day is taking care of other things, walking outside.

When the sun starts setting is when I enjoy working the most.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

The Beatles Revolver changed the way I write songs and approach songwriting. Pop melodies over really interesting textures and different sounds.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I enjoy most listening to music alone with headphones on. But I equally enjoy loud music with friends and feeling the energy in the room.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Music dictates my world. There is music in everyday life, everything has dynamics, tone and rhythm.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Music has and always will be an escape for me. It’s my go to when I feel any certain way, good or bad.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Both involve lots of chemistry. :)

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

 I express everything through music, it’s my way of capturing a period of time in my life.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Energy. Everything is about energy and intention, you can feel that through anything.