Dance-driven psychedelia permeates through “kevinkevinkevin,” a euphoric slice of student 1’s forthcoming album truant (out June 19). Leading the album rollout for the Minneapolis-based artist on a particularly high note, it’s a meticulously textured single that studies dissociation and disillusionment in tandem with collaborator Demon Marcus. The interplay between the artists provides a brilliant back-and-forth that pushes student 1’s sound forward and finds him at his most explorative as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer.
The triple-threat’s truant promises to further delve into mental health, addiction, and grief, spotlighting student 1’s vulnerable lyricism and reflective emotional insights. Following up last year’s HM07 EP, its lead single is an aesthetic departure while still feeling true to the sonic world student 1 has built since debuting in 2018.
Around the release of “kevinkevinkevin,” we sat down with student 1 to discuss the encouragement from Demon Marcus that made his single manifest, a cheeky nod to Tame Impala's Kevin Parker within its title, and not compromising his creative vision from project to project.
“kevinkevinkevin” is an extremely lush, layered single, with so much warmth in its production. Can you take me through its creative process, including the initial encouragement from Demon Marcus to experiment and record to the instrumental?
Thank you, this song is one of my favorites so that means a lot. I made the beat in the middle of an exercise where I wanted to make at least one thing every day. Like, not even a song, just anything I can drive home to and be like ‘tight.’ The beat started to come together once I figured out what I needed the bassline to do. I didn’t write to it for weeks cause I was so excited about the beat, it kinda psyched me out of thinking I could come up with something for it. Austin (Demon Marcus) came over one day to run through potential beats to record over and he immediately lit up when he heard that one, so I figured “okay bet, I'll follow your lead.”
The single also features a killer verse from Demon Marcus. What does your collaborative process typically look like together? How did you envision his feature coalescing with the track as a whole?
He's a certified institution. Also, probably the reason I'm singing more now haha. Our processes are so different, I take what feels like forever to make anything and he's like ready to go at any moment. You could ask him how he feels about a beat you're making and 5 minutes later, he's in front of the mic recording over it and immediately getting GREAT ideas off. Super inspiring, the kind of energy that provides the perfect kind of guidance for anyone that has a creative process that feels like math.
Can you talk about the Kevin Parker inspiration for the track’s title? I feel like he’s a true enigma when it comes to popular music.
He's a what? I'm just kidding, I got into Tame Impala like 5 years ago and didn't know much about him before that. When I found out it's not a multiple member band and he makes all the music himself, I ran through his entire discography. That's so cool and funny to me. It's just one guy. Anyway, when I started doing falsetto stuff on the beat it reminded me of him so I rolled with it. When I played the first few things I recorded back my first thought was, "I guess I like Tame Impala." “kevinkevinkevin” seemed like the most appropriate title.
“kevinkevinkevin” lyrically touches on feelings of dissociation and disillusionment that are inherently personal – how do you bring that level of authenticity to your writing?
I just think of the stuff that I'm feeling that I never talk about, then I imagine other people also having their own version of that. The easier it is for you to consider that other people could be feeling what you feel, the easier it is to write vulnerably, and the easier it is to do a lot of things.
You’re announcing the release of your forthcoming full-length truant – being entirely written, mixed, and mastered by yourself, why is it important to retain that level of agency as an artist?
The short answer is because those are jobs and now you don't have to pay anyone else to do it haha. But furthermore, I think that there's so much room for crucial things to get lost in translation when important pillars of the music are constantly outsourced. Sometimes I can't articulate why the little trinkets in a mix (that are for sure burying the vocal) can be seen as an issue but are actually my favorite part. Sometimes I don't know what kind of beats I want to rap or sing over. Sometimes I'll finalize a song but it's too quiet and making it louder without creating problems is impossible. The best way to get around all that is to learn about those sectors of music. Then, nothing will compromise the vision.
How do you see “kevinkevinkevin” fitting into the broader context of truant? What can we expect from the project as a whole, both sonically and thematically?
It's one of the later additions to the album. It was originally gonna just be a loosie [standalone single] but it felt like a good ‘midpoint of the album’ song so that's where I put it. You can expect this album to feel like every song is its own little world. Some of the worlds are neighboring each other, some aren't. If you like the songs I've self-produced in the past, you'll probably find something on this album. I talk shit, I open up, I piss myself. A lot going on.
