Though 30-year-old electronic musician Nosaj Thing is still a young man, he sometimes feels like a relic discussing his introduction to beat-making.
“I’m talking about radio and cassette decks, which is the equivalent of people talking about 8-tracks when we were growing up,” said the Los Angeles-based musician (whose real name is Jason Chung), by phone from the road in Atlanta in late March. “It’s weird, man. I feel like hella old.”
The simple spirit that informed these earliest musical explorations surfaces again on his forthcoming long player, “Fated,” which is due out May 5 and includes a collaboration with Chicago’s Chance The Rapper (the trippy “Cold Stares”).
The press release for “Fated” talked about it as a return to simplicity.
Yeah. Electronic music has really progressed quickly over the years, and there’s way too many plug-ins and options. I was thinking about when I made my first album, and how I was kind of limited because I didn’t have a great computer. I liked the limitations and the simplicity of it, so I went back and started to explore that.
Did you find that mindset bleeding into other aspects of your life? Did you find yourself holding garage sales to get rid of the clutter?
I was doing a lot of that when I was writing the record, actually. I’ve moved every year the last four years, and every time I move I’m getting rid of a lot of stuff. I’ve just been trying to shed, purge, whatever you want to call it.
Your songs tend to rely heavily on texture, so I thought it was interesting you did a track with Chance, since his voice has such a gnarled, three-dimensional quality.
Definitely. I tried to strip back “Cold Stares” as much as I could because his voice is so powerful. I thought it gave it such a cinematic feel.
How did you two connect?
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We first met a few years ago through this guy named Will who does this artist series called Songs from Scratch. He basically gets two artists from different worlds into the studio to create a track. We just vibed out at the studio and talked … and then that beat was done in like 10 minutes. It just clicked; it was organic.
You’ve done a number of remixes, too. Was there anyone you were intimidated to remix?
I was very intimidated to remix Philip Glass.
Was it like someone handing you a box of markers and pointing you at a Van Gogh, like, “Have at it”?
When the opportunity came around I just really didn’t want to touch [the song], but it was a pretty great roster and I really wanted to be a part of it, so I just did it. But that’s how it felt. It was like, “Man, I don’t even know where to start with this.” I had to not think and try to have fun with it.
You’ve mentioned the importance of not over-thinking things a handful of times here. How much of the creative process for you is removing that mental barrier?
Yeah, I mean, this is a thing I’ve been battling. I feel like the best work happens when I’m not thinking too much, and it just comes together really quickly.
The album was born in part of a perpetual feeling of deja vu. Was that sensation new to you?
Yeah, it was a weird year. Even the album art is from New Year’s Eve. I’m holding a fork in a diner, and the knife just got stuck to it somehow. It was a random occurrence. That wasn’t even going to be the cover; I usually don’t like to have my photos out there, but it just fit.
Is part of not having your photo out there the idea that you like people to come into the music without any sort of image or ideal attached to it?
Yeah, I always like that. When I was listening to music growing up I never thought about what the person looked like, or what kind of person they were. Especially in electronic music everyone was so low-key, and I just kind of liked that vibe.
In the high school yearbook, were you the kid who always had “image not available” printed above his name?
[Laughs.] Yeah. I only took [a photo] once, and I still regret it.Andy Downing is a RedEye special contributor. @andydowning33
Nosaj Thing, 10 p.m. Friday, April 10 at Lincoln Hall. $17-$20.