Smooth, soulful, and funkadelic – meet Jerry Folk the 21 year old producer out of Oslo, Norway, who happens to be our current listen of the moment. C-Heads Magazine sat down with the young producer to chat with him about life and how he plans on taking over. Catch Jerry this weekend at CRSSD Festival in sunny California
Who is Jerry Folk?
I started Jerry Folk after a few years of producing as I was finally finding my direction and wanted to start fresh. I had been through a few phases sound-wise since I started, and had a pretty clear vision where I wanted to go from there. To begin with, I was using old RnB acapellas from songs I liked as a kid and made 4 on the floor music with them. I started getting some traction on blogs after a while and got introduced to the SoundCloud world. That’s when I started to feel like Jerry Folk was a thing.
Musical Start & Inspirations?
I started playing drums when I was around 9 or 10. I took classes and played in a band with some friends. I never got my own drum-kit so I never became that good, but it definitely got me hooked on music. When I was 15, I discovered fruity loops through a friend, started playing around with it, and watched tutorials on YouTube on how to sound like deadmau5. I then got into electro and did that for some time. I went through some house/deep house phases later on, and eventually got really inspired by people that made actual songs dressed as electronic beats – fellow Norwegians like Røyksopp, Lemaitre, Todd Terje, Lindstrøm and Finnebassen.
Describe your music
To someone who has never heard my music, I would describe it as a danceable electronic mixture of electric pianos, bass guitar, RnB vocals inspired by funk, hip-hop, and pop music danceable electronic mixture of electric pianos, bass guitar, RnB vocals inspired by funk, hip-hop, and pop music
Norwegian Inspirations?
I don’t think Norwegian music culture has inspired me a lot because when I was starting out I wasn’t really old enough to go out and enjoy the music culture. I mostly got inspired by stuff I found on the internet, music that my parents would play, and CDs that I bought. That being said, I believe coming from Norway has influenced my decision to do music full time. It gets really dark and depressing in winter so it gave me a lot of inspiration to spend time doing music.
Talk a little about your creative process
My creative process now is kinda different from when I started. I like to start with a beat, some chords and try to write a vocal idea. Once I have that I build around it. I try create the soul of the song first before getting to technical and arranging. now is kinda different from when I started. I like to start with a beat, some chords and try to write a vocal idea. Once I have that I build around it. I try create the soul of the song first before getting to technical and arranging.
What’re you listening to at the moment?
Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Tom Misch, Cozy Tapes by ASAP Mob, and Jamie Woon.
Whats next for you?
As far as releases go, I’m working on a bunch of material at the moment. I have a lot of music that hasn’t come out yet because I want to release it with the right packaging. Putting out a single hopefully within a couple of weeks or a month, and my plan is to follow up with more singles and an EP before summer. I’m excited to keep building on the vision I have for Jerry Folk and to work on the brand and the universe I want to create around it as well as playing shows and writing music with like-minded people.
Crssd Festival
Jerry Folk on Soundcloud
Jerry Folk on Facebook
