To some, Jordan Chia may seem like a sound research hermit who just really loves his coffee. But don’t let that fool you – beneath his humble façade, this 25 year-old is the multi-instrumentalist behind Pixel Apartment, a one-man band that experiments with trip hop, electronic jazz, atonal music and even classical piano. This avant-garde electronic project began in 2009 and has now evolved to become one of the local breakout bands to watch out for.
How did Pixel Apartment come about?
I have been recording my own songs since I was 16. When I was 19, I decided to make things "official" and took on a more electronic and post-rock sound. I started composing for a friend's film, and released selected songs in my EP, Paper Aeroplane in 2009. I called the project Pixel Apartment because I wrote songs on a computer in my apartment. I also often felt that my neighbours’ units looked like little pixels, insignificant from a distance yet every bit intertwined with the fabric of society.
Describe your music and the processes behind it.
As of now, my music seems to have taken a darker turn to my ears, with far more minimal lyrics than my previous work. I think it is an attempt to truncate the verbose into the bare essentials – lyrics reduced to a single, loaded statement – while getting sound itself to move the listener on a visceral level.
Bob Ross once said that there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. I think that the best music I have come up with so far is seldom made up of calculated, structured formulas. Some of my beats and lines come from wrongly placed audio clips that displace the groove in a certain way. Going through tested "party tricks" is far too boring for me and it introduces tedium into writing - which is never a good thing if you want to inspire your audience. I leave the mundane stuff for the production and mixing stage.
What inspires you?
Fresh music on the block is always in my headphones - I constantly analyze and break them down in my head. Our brain has a way of absorbing information and spewing it out it in a truly distorted way at some random moment, full of your own personal imprint. You can't do that if you don't keep on listening. I have headphones on almost all the time unless I need to talk to someone.
But it is not just sound - film, photography, theatre, cultures and even philosophy can push me to create in the most unexpected ways. Films by Stanley Kubrick and Wong Kar Wai, as well as post-apocalyptic films like Blade Runner and 12 Monkeys have inspired me to no end. In the near future, I intend to mute the audio of some of my favourite films and see what I can come up with.
What is the direction you see Pixel Apartment heading towards? What can we expect from you in the future?
“See” is indeed an important word. Visual art will play a larger role starting from now. For a start, the name Pixel Apartment has taken on a new visual identity recently. My projection setup was inspired by a trip down to IKEA - to find a white cube like object that I could do projections on and to fold down for transport (I am a one man roadie too, mind you). I bought a few of those boxes which you use to organise clothing. They form my "cube towers", which not only served as an effective installation for projection mapping, but also as a symbol. Pixels = Cubes. Apartment = Tower. I couldn't be happier about how it has all come full circle. I intend to live up to that name - to arrest a moment in time and use it to create an engaging visual and aural experience.
Do you consider yourself a musician or a performance artist?
I consider myself a musician just trying to improve the craft of performance. But to me, a live musician must also be a performance artist. There needs to be at least some level of risk and indeterminacy to connect with the crowd - there is feedback happening back and forth, from the audience to the performer. It is critical to channel it back to them for a meaningful dialogue.
Can you comment on the music scene in Singapore?
I think the music scene has picked up a lot in the past decade. Bands are getting more proficient on their instruments, and put on tighter performances. The recent wave of electronic acts is highly creative - they might just set the stage for a new electronic subculture that we can call our very own. More importantly, there is now a rapid increase in youths supporting and listening to local music through social media and other means. Exciting times indeed.
Find Pixel Apartment: fb.com/pixelapartmentmusic
