Back in early June, healing I saw J Thatcher May, viagra who performs under the name Holm, open for the experimental electronic act FuckButtons. May’s stellar performance caught me off guard, and stood out as one of the most interesting acts I saw over the summer. Holm’s unique sound blends ambient trip-hop, with a somber but energetic energy that is equal parts indie and electronic. Since then, I’ve closely followed Holm’s releases, and was excited to talk with him about his past, future, and songwriting.

AP: Congratulations on your new EP Ithaka, and I hear that you’re releasing a new EP soon titled I Feel a Great Peace. Can you tell us a little about the upcoming EP?

JTM: Oh, yeah, exactly dude. Ithaka was cool, but I’m 100 times more stoked on the next one. I’m way happier with I Feel a Great Peace. It’s the sound I’ve been going after for years, because I grew up listening to mostly indie music that didn’t have any electronics in it, but I always made more electronic music just because I grew up playing drums. So, I didn’t really know how to play more melodic instruments, so electronics were the way that I could make my own songs, you know what I mean?

AP: Yeah you can fill out the percussion with electronic production. What direction are you heading with I Feel a Great Peace?

JTM: Hm, I would say a lot more indie kind of rockish. I mean there are a few electronic based songs on it, based around samples and stuff, but mostly it’s all live instrumentation.

AP: Very cool, man. I’m very excited to hear it. When can we expect the full EP?

JTM: Well the lead single should be out in two or three weeks, and then the full album in September. There’s a video coming out along with it, which should be out in two or three weeks as well.

AP: Awesome. Are you heading back to the woods where you shot the “I Don’t Mind” video?

JTM: Actually, yeah! There’s some woods in it. It’s shot in a bunch of different places mostly down in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, so there are definitely a lot of woods in it. That’s kind of the vibes I guess.

Check out the woodsy video for “Cares.”

AP: So, when and how did Holm start?

JTM: Holm started, well it’s hard to say. I’ve been making music since I was like fifteen, but under a different name. I started out making just ambient music. I was making ambient music for a couple years. Then around 2012 I started making music under the name Holm, and started making beats. Like jazz, hip-hop beats and trip-hop, and I did that for a while. Then I progressed through a bunch of different styles of music, but I think now with Ithaka, and with the next EP it’s kind of settling into it’s sound because you know, every artist needs a few years to develop their sound.

AP: Right, just refining and tweaking your general sound. Speaking of which, your music draws from so many different genres, which makes me interested to hear how you would describe your sound.

JTM: That’s super tough. I guess I would describe it as I try to make things that make people, well at least in the last couples months, translate to positive feelings and vibes. Music for me has always been my outlet to deal with problems, or issues, or bad vibes, so I try to get rid of that with music by making music that can push those feelings out.

AP: Music as an outlet.

JTM: Yeah, yeah, just music to feel good about.

AP: When you first started out who were your musical and aesthetic inspirations? Did you have “musical role models,” so to speak?

JTM: I guess it really depends on the time period. But, when I first started like way back it was probably this hip hop producer Nujabes, he’s from Japan. He was a big influence on me wanting to make music, and also this ambient producer who goes by the name Eluvium he was real big. When it came to indie music it was Tokyo Police Club and Interpol and those kind of indie-rock bands.

AP: What’s been your favorite show to play, and how long have you been performing as Holm?

JTM: I’ve been, well it depends. I’ve been playing for about a year and half or so, but I would say that the shows I have been playing the last couple months have been my first real shows with live vocals and drums. I’m not sure if I would consider those first shows real shows. So, I’ve been playing show shows for the last three or four months.

AP: So your performance opening for FuckButtons was one of your first live performances?

JTM: Yeah that actually is, I would count that as like the first.

AP: Hell of an act to open for. Like I said in the write up of that show, I thought that performance was stellar.

JTM: Oh thank you very much man! Yeah that was kind of the debut, because what I was doing before I was just playing…like I had toured the previous summer a little bit, but my sound was so different it was all just instrumental hip hop beats and such. I would say, it wasn’t really live.

AP: Right, right. So, you mentioned that you’ve been playing music since you were fifteen. Would you say that the foundations of Holm have existed since then?

JTM: I would say so. I’ve been in bands, and playing drums since I was like eleven or twelve. I always loved doing that, but I always wanted to make my own music because there’s something super liberating about being able to do whatever you want, achieving whatever you want to achieve. When you’re in a band there’s always a clash between you and your bandmates. So, I always wanted to make music as a solo artist. I mean, I collaborate with people all the time, but Holm has always been in the back of my head.

AP: Right on. So what do you hope for the future of Holm?

JTM: Honestly, I hope a lot. The main thing that I hope for is to make a career out of music, out of Holm, and get to the point where I can be playing big festivals. And, you know just have people who are into the music. Being a musician has been what I wanted to do since I was like fourteen or fifteen. I never thought of, I could never see myself in another type of career. So, with Holm I’m just going to push this as far as I can take it. As far as I can go is how far I’ll go.

AP: Did you grow up around Boston?

JTM: I did. I’ve always been in Massachusetts. I lived down on the South Shore for my early childhood and then for awhile I’ve been about twenty minutes outside the city. But, I’ve always had a strong connection to Boston because all of my music friends have been in the city. So, I’d say I’ve always been a part of the Boston, electronic music scene.

AP: Did you go to Berkley or any other Boston-based music school?

JTM: No, I actually went to school for music in NY for the past year, and I left school last spring after my first year. Just because I was going to music school up there, and I don’t know. I guess it’s the same reason a lot of people leave music school was the same reason I left school. You know, if you’re doing music then there isn’t that much school can teach you, I feel.

AP: How would you describe your songwriting process?

JTM: I’m pretty structured with how I write songs, but it happens in a number of ways. Say, on Ithaka, for writing that one I was listening to a lot of 1940’s and 50’s jazz and big band music, and most of that EP is samples, like there are six songs and I think three or four of them are Frank Sinatra samples. For that one, I kind of just listened to songs, and would hear like a two to five second part of the song. Then was like “wow those two to five seconds were really beautiful. I would love to make a song out of that.” Then I would go, and I would make the beat, make something I’m happy with, and as I’m doing that the words kind of come into my head, and the melodies. I typically don’t really know what I’m writing about until after I make the song, and then I realize that I wrote a song about this event that was already in my mind. I would call it subconscious, and after that it’s just finishing touches. But, it always starts with the song, as opposed to the lyrics.

AP: While we’re talking about your lyricism, do you draw from actual experiences when you’re writing lyrics.

JTM: Yeah, it varies song to song, but I think that I always write songs about first-hand experiences. Whether they are my experiences with other people, or events. Or, sometimes, at least on the next EP a couple of the songs are about friends, and their experiences. I’ll write about those kind of issues, but it’s always something that I’ve experienced first hand. I’m not really the kind of person that likes to write music where the audience has to search for meaning, for me personally I like the meaning to be there point-blank.

AP: Right, that overt lyricism comes through on songs like “Stars.”

JTM: Yeah! Generally I don’t try to make songs that are super vague. But, vagueness can be really cool, some artists do that as a way to make their music super relatable, but for me it’s more blunt. I just like to say “This is what the song’s about.”

AP: Right, but there is some vagueness if your song writing. In “Update Failed,” and “I Don’t Mind” you address someone with the pronoun “You.” Is this “you” a specific person, or a general “you?”

JTM: Nah both those tunes are very specific, which is the funny part. Both of those tunes are made with certain people in mind.

AP: Do you have a favorite drink, or do you drink?

JTM: Ha, well the funny thing is that based on my style, and the way that I act and stuff, like if you saw the “Don’t Mind” video it’s pretty ridiculous and stupid, and that’s pretty much how I act all the time. I’m always the dude people ask for drugs and stuff, but actually I don’t drink and I’m pretty straight edge. But I totally don’t have an issue with any of that, it’s just not what I do really.

AP: Word, I totally get that. Well, in that case what’s your spirit animal?

JTM: Oh man, well I’ve never gotten that one confirmed, but I always like to think it’s a polar bear.

Check out Holm on SoundCloud