rise has been meteoric. 

Starting out as a Youtuber as a teen, he navigated the potentially perilous transition of jokey internet figure to established musician seamlessly. Now, five albums later and the owner of his own record label, the Californian singer-songwriter has cemented himself as a force to be reckoned with in the music scene, but one that’s never quite pinned to a single place. He floats on the periphery of so many realms – rap, folk, pop, the list goes on – that he is in the flatteringly rare position of being genuinely unpredictable. 

Known for blending genres, pondering existential crises and creating full films to accompany his music, he throws himself head-first and eyes wide into his craft. He isn’t your typical artist. He creates worlds, characters and arcs – and his efforts have cultivated an enormous cult following.

It was hardly a surprise, then, that fans were sent into a frenzy of speculation following the announcement that Quadeca’s latest album, ‘Life 1’ (due to be released this year), will serve as both a “debut and a finale”. Online forums have been rife with theories, from whether this album will be his last, to hidden meanings in the music videos for ‘Life 1’ singles ‘Dark Magic’, ‘Baby Steps’ and ‘Dark Magic’. 

CLASH sat down with Quadeca the day before his performance at All Points East festival in London to discuss ‘Life 1’ and what’s coming next for him – which, by all accounts, could be literally anything.

How are you? You’ve performed at Fuji Rock Festival, Lollapalooza, you’ve got All Points East tomorrow, the release of your next album ‘ a North American tour beginning in October. Do you enjoy such a busy schedule? 

I like keeping busy, but I like uninterrupted busy. I’m a real methodical artist and I really care about the smallest details, keeping everything immersive and making the best decisions. Not necessarily the right ones, but the most interesting, the most fun and the most free ones. Doing all of these festivals and stuff in the process, it’s an interesting interruption. You’re in your flow and then you’re reminded of a different way to perceive what you’re doing. So, yeah, I’ve been keeping busy and it’s been making the album good but different and I’m embracing that and being open to letting the universe move me around. 

Does your music get influenced while you’re out on the road and performing? 

Yeah, it’s weird. When you’re touring, it’s such an exhausting lifestyle. It’s hard to not be making music for me. When I was on the road, I found myself feeling very depressed, then I felt stupid for feeling depressed. So when I was on the tour the second time, I was like, “I just have to make music.” Because that would make me feel better. So I did. The intro song to the album was created when we were parked in Phoenix, Arizona. Everybody went to go out to a bar. Me and Fahim, the guitarist, were like, “Eh, we don’t really want to go.” And then I just played the shit on the keyboard and then he played his guitar and we made the song very quickly and it just felt so good. 

You said that the best decision isn’t always the right decision. Is that relating to in particular? Or do you apply that to all your work? 

Yeah, I find that with all of it. Sometimes I’ll listen to something old of mine and regret that I changed something because it was better when it was worse. Something I did with this album is I recorded myself playing a key on the keyboard and typing in different sounds. Then it would switch from a trumpet, to a piano and so on. And it’s just me looking for the right sound – but I was like, “Wait, that actually sounds great.” You literally hear the instrument being chosen, and then it becomes part of the song. No one would ever tell you that you should do that. So it’s a ‘wrong’ decision to leave that in the song, but it helps the song feel good, you know? 

Sometimes the more you polish something, it can somehow sound worse. You lose the original feeling of it, or how it even came about in the first place. 

I bet with AI and shit, people are going to be forcing all sorts of mistakes. That’s the beauty of art. But it’s cool to do things that no one or nothing would ever try to replicate. 

In the past you’ve collaborated with a lot of people and delved into so many genres. Will this be the same for ‘Life 1′? Where did your inspiration come from for the album and how does it compare to your previous work? 

This album I didn’t collaborate that much. Most of it was just me locked in. One thing I tried to do a lot was to go somewhere new. I figured out that everywhere that’s good in the world is a six hour drive from Los Angeles in any direction. Then you’re out of the radius of doom. So I went six hours towards Utah, I went six hours towards Arizona and then I went six hours in some other direction. I locked in and worked with a super reductive setup. It was a pretty solo thing, but I like working with other people. Sometimes I wish that I had almost more ethos as an artist and that other artists would trust me more. I’m not at that level where I can make everything happen, or feel secure enough in my relationships to ask a lot of others. Because you are really asking a lot of people to be involved in your world. You might feel awkward. It’s like asking someone on a date, you know? And there’s more stakes than going on a date because if you put out music then you are involved publicly.

‘ has been described as “at its core, treating existence as a mere first draft”, which I thought echoed previous themes in your music. What does it mean?

When I was making a lot of the first ideas on this album, they felt super rebellious and I was trying to feel as free as possible – this nihilistic freedom, but free of bitterness. That’s what ‘Life 1’ reflects. In a weird way, it’s like a reverent lie. There’s a lot of themes about reincarnation and this awareness of life and it’s almost like I’m telling myself this lie that “Well, this is just your first life. So don’t worry, you’re gonna get a bunch of other tries.” And that’s the comforting lie. 

You’ve said that is a debut and a finale. Can you give us a hint as to what you’ve got coming next?

I don’t know! It’s just how it felt to me. It felt like the first album of something, but also the closure of this chapter of my discography as a guy. Whatever I do next could be anything. I had an interview I did where I was like, “I may retire the Quadeca name after this album.” But I think a lot of people read into that so deeply, like, “It’s over! This is it!” But no matter what, I’m gonna be making an album and doing a project. It’s just that I like the idea of believing in myself enough to start from scratch with every idea. Whatever I do, I want it to be great. Every time I put out something I always like to think it’s my best thing. So that’s the standard that I’ll hold myself to, whatever the next thing will be. 

You said in an interview recently that you never want to do an album that’s worse than the previous one. How do you value your work? Do you measure its success by how it’s viewed by other people or how you see it?

That quote was a kinda stupid quote, because ‘better’ is such a stupid word with art. It’s like saying Indian food is ‘better’ than Mexican food. That’s just a stupid argument. Now I’m just trying to do different cuisines and I’m trying to make sure that all of them are the best variant of what that can be. I already know for when ‘Life 1’ comes out that it’s just different ingredients. It’ll make you feel different at the end of the album and whatnot. I just want it to be possible for it to be favourite every time. And all I can do is judge from my own limited opinion and experience, you know? 

Your past work has been so well received, especially your last album ‘Vanisher’, ‘Horizon Scraper’. Is there any sort of pressure that comes with releasing the next thing? 

Reception is as subjective as your own view. Certain types of audiences could love something and then another type hates it. I’ve seen it all, so it’s hard to take opinions seriously. The only opinions that I think end up ringing true and long-term are the personal feelings of whether I felt like I did it well or not. I don’t know how ‘Life 1’ is going to be perceived, but I think it’s going to be more of a grower album. On its surface, it’s really weird and a little bit silly and a little bit absurd. But I’ll try my best to not even listen to any reception because that’s honestly just a distraction from doing everything. It’s like an athlete who has just trained for years and they’ve done their Olympic sprint, they’re not gonna be like, “I’m gonna go read YouTube comments about my form!” How is it gonna make your sprint better? I just think it makes me worse every time I care about perception. I try to not care. 

Concept albums appear to be a running practice in your work. What drew you to them in the first place?

I love getting involved in a world of what the music is and I think writing from an outsider perspective lets you be in symbiosis with the production. With the ‘Vanisher’… album and ‘I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You’ album, I was producing very otherworldly, ghostly or nautical things – things that felt like a journey and a voyage. And so writing from that way felt like the best way to do the palette justice. Sometimes people think that a concept album in and of itself is like some statement, like some artistic feat, and it’s not a feat. It’s just a writing ‘extra’. It’s almost like a writing exercise. I don’t view my concept albums as inherently more valid or artistic than when they’re not. I wouldn’t commit to doing a concept album or not. It’s just whatever I feel the best project is going to be is what I want to do.

You mentioned earlier about how you immerse yourself in these worlds you create, not just as a songwriter but as a filmmaker. It seems like such an intense approach that no one else is really doing. Does this come naturally to you? Or do you push yourself?

I’m not doing it because I want to do it – that’s the distinction. I’m doing it because nobody else can do it. I’m too particular. I had experiences, like, five albums ago where I decided I was going to get this mixed by somebody and I felt myself being so neurotic and annoying with all my notes. So now I’m doing it myself so I don’t have to burden anybody else with having to do it and then dealing with me. 

Do you prefer to have total control as opposed to giving the responsibility to others?

Exactly. You could write the best song ever and give it to somebody and they just misunderstand what you’re doing and they bury something that’s important. Then it makes what you’ve done matter less. 

You started as a YouTube creator and cultivated a large and loyal following early on in your career. What’s that relationship like? How do you see the internet impacting today’s music industry?

It seems pretty difficult. When I’m involved with having to recenter myself for a video or an audience, then that’s a different version of me than the person that’s making the art. So I think a lot of other artists relate to that. That’s not the person that it’s actually letting their heart out or writing about something that means a lot to them. It just makes it harder for artists to compartmentalise the separation between them and the audience, which I think is the most important creative tool. 

Outside of music, is there anything that you’ve been exploring that’s been bringing you happiness?

I really like these . They’re these mint toothpicks. Those are giving me a lot of joy. What else have I been doing? Oh, I have an account on this betting app. And I just go in the comment sections and bet like five, ten bucks or something and then I’ll write these rants. That’s bringing me a lot of joy. Love that.

If you couldn’t make music, what career would you have? 

I’d be a soccer coach, youth soccer. Football. You better put that as football. 

‘Life 1’ is set to be released later this year.