My Music Episode 265 - Berkley

Portland-based Colorado-raised artist Berkley will release his new single 'Fiesta Day',previewing his debut full-length album 'Pueblo', to be released via Oregon label Big Secret Records. Interrogating the small spaces shared between what-ifs of the past and the realities of the present is where Berkley’s songwriting sparkles. On 'Fiesta Day', Berkley blows the dust off the events that shape us to reveal what follows. Over the pulsing rhythm that propels the track, Berkley revisits the end of a teenage friendship with clarity brought by time. The track pumps at a windows-down-driving tempo while Berkley pleads with the estranged: I don’t want you near / but I wish you were here / please understand me before the end of the world. Set during Fiesta Day, a local celebration of Latinx culture in his hometown of Pueblo, Colorado, Berkley reclaims the pain of growing apart by reimagining a final conversation. Warbling Moog synthesizers, shaky guitars, and a lonesome piano represent the haunting memories of a lost connection. Inspired by the first-person experimental video game Paratopic, which switches players’ perspective and place in time, the accompanying video takes viewers through different moments and locales in Berkley’s life, from a stretch of interstate in preCOVID New Mexico to Berkley’s early 2000s high school years, his 20s spent in Los Angeles, and a 2008 sold-out performance in a northern Colorado theater. All footage was captured by the artist in his efforts to audio-visual cataloge his career. Berkley is the musical moniker of Andrew Jones, a notable recording engineer who now channels his production and songwriting talents into this project. After exploring broad musical territory from recording with former Cher bassist and ASCAP award winner Bob Parr to 2016’s power pop collaboration with members of The Offspring to 2017’s “gorgeous” (AV Club) synthesizer project Sound for Bombs, Jones decided to sharpen his focus on electronic elements and pop song forms. Earlier, he released 'Pueblo Nights', backed up by members of the Austin-based band Watering, which explores themes of memory, youth, and growth in Berkley’s hometown of Pueblo, Colorado as he recalls being in young dumb love in a small city’s punk rock and heavy metal music scene. Its straightforward laidback pop grooves are driven by shaky electric guitar tones and chiming keyboards.