We caught up with The Jack Cardigan Orchestra and Joseph Matick about their album WESTERN PINK released on 14 June 2024, how the album was made, the inspiration behind it as well as what brings them joy. Read our interview below:
For those yet to hear the project, could you tell us a little about it and how you would describe its sound?
I think it’s all spaceship music. – Kate to Jack in 88’ Bowery
It is purely visual music. – Jack clarifies
It is as if a man lifted his arms toward you with his palms facing out. And using his index finger and thumb, beginning to explain an idea to you. A scene. This is exactly what it sounds like, I think – Dir. of Western Pink, Ruthie
The album operates as an original sound track to an overarching film, could you elaborate on this more and why you’ve opted for this format?
The allure and mystique around the actual film is less conceptual than it is factual. The film is real. It really got made. A lot of people were invested in the work and the footage is nowhere to be found. I was employed to gather together the existing sonic media after a box of cassettes landed on my doorstep. It sounds like a joke. But fortunately, it is just an accurate and literal reality that makes this all very strange. I don’t even know if Joseph knows Jack or if he’s real, but it seems to be less important than the production itself. – Luke to Press
I just really got aroused by cinematic landscapes, larger forums and also had to find an outlet for the years of talented session work from my various cohorts and cowboys from the conservatory and/or the Sunday nights poetry gatherings. Hard to pinpoint. – Joseph, US
The release fuses a wide spanning variety of influences, all infused with an essence of psychedelia, what would you cite as inspirations for this project?
I don’t know. Everything I see and hear that I don’t know…it should make its way into the work. What is not understood is very important to me.
When, where and how was the project made?
Los Angeles, New York, Indiana, Montana, The Philippines, London, Chicago and Beirut and that’s all I can remember. Lots of cassette tapes. And a rigorous system for compilation. Making the alien sound human. Almost everything that sounds like an instrument on the record is actually a human voice.
How did the album find a home on Luke C’s Velvet Bikini label out of Los Angeles, USA?
I think Luke Cheadle asked Jack. Though it is hard to determine how they landed on his doorstep.
We can see from the liner notes there are many different people involved in this project, could you share the story of how so many came to be involved with this project and some of what their contributions were?
Joseph’s poetry night in Los Angeles happened for three years straight and brought together a sort-of circus of like minded spirits with nothing aesthetically in common. There was nothing really that made sense except collaboration. It is hard to say how or why anyone does anything together. Rather, it is hard to say why anyone does anything alone after knowing how it feels to do it together. Even harder to say why anyone would recite and record and rehearse after knowing the ecstasies of this type of ecstatic improvisation. In any case, these songs are deliberate cinematic and commissioned movie score compositions. Meticulous. Everything besides the compositions themselves are improvised.
The project evokes such a broad range of emotions, nostalgia, melancholy, hope, joy and more. For many, the main reason to create is to induce emotion from the art’s audience. What were you hoping to make people feel through these productions and is there a message you’re trying to convey?
I imagine. It is good to imagine and be curious. I think this is the only motivation and real possibility for any semblance of eternity.
It is good to be curious. And even about pain. Because curiosity leads to something else. This is a well crafted something else. I believe. It is good to believe as well. I can’t believe the movie was as successful as it was and we still can’t find it. Soon. I am certain.
There are many intricacies in the production techniques, are you a self taught recording artist or do you have a background in music production?
Yes to both. But early piano and consistently…lots of experimentation with studio artists and composers. I’m indebted to letting me use their space and equipment.
Sean, who is on Cello, is his own autodidact, but master of the academic. I don’t know, but the answer is yes. It is really nice to think about this now. But it is impossible to make a record while contextualising it. I really love the fact that this is out. I mean. It is really, kind-of…it means a lot to me and Jack and my son. And to the 222 + people involved. J’espere.
Lastly, can you please leave us with something that’s been inspiring you lately, a piece of art, music, cinema or anything else that brings you joy?
Money – Jack
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