By FB
Becoming fast known for his natural aptitude to effortlessly tease the lines between genres, Stef Pesic is an artist who isn’t afraid to carve his very own individual space in the current soundscape. His latest single ‘Call Me’ is a glowing example of that, with its grungy backdrop juxtaposed by bedroom pop propensities, the track is a carefully crafted piece of well thought out musicianship. With a narrative just as thought-evoking, Pesic creates a conversation about the tiring and cyclical nature of breaking unemployment, visits to the job center, and the never-ending calls. Fresh off the back of the release, we were keen to speak to the artist about the origins of the track and his music more generally…
Hey Stef, congrats on the release – how’s it going so far?
Hey, it’s going really well! Happy how it’s been received.
For you, what’s the most exciting part about releasing music?
I think it’s just having it actually out, all the work that goes into it before any song is up on streaming platforms, the writing, recording, producing etc. it’s just a nice way to showcase the entire process, and it feels very gratifying.
‘Call Me’ crosses over a few different genres – where does you source your musical inspiration? And how would you describe your music?
With this song and most of the songs that are a part of the “Now Would Be Good” Ep, a lot of it came down to the resources we had. ‘Call Me’ was recorded mostly remotely – so the sort of lofi/bedroom pop production kinda of came through just by how we were doing it. In terms of inspiration, I’ll usually be jamming something on my guitar, have some kind of melody and then come up with the lyrics after. The lyrical narrative came quite quickly for this song, which isn’t the case most of the time. I would say my music is a mix of Indie-rock, with some folky and jazzy elements thrown in. I like to push myself and try new things!
‘Call Me’ carries political undertones, more specifically about the struggles of the unemployment system, how have you brought this to life in the video?
Yeh so around the time I started writing the song, I was unemployed and had to go to the job centre quite regularly. The first thing I noticed was how poorly it was run – and my work coach would always change, I think the one that was assigned to me was ill. So yeah the song pretty much stems from those experiences and generally feeling quite lonely and wanting some company. Drunken nights, late-night calls that sort of thing. But it’s all done in a sarcastic tone, covered up by a cutesy sort of indie-pop aesthetic.
What do you want your listeners to take away from your music?
I hope they can see the craft and time it’s taken to make it – Jordan Bate, my producer and I worked so hard to try and blend quite a few styles in and make it all work. And yeh hopefully they can relate to the things I’m talking about and hopefully, they like the tunes.
What is to come for Stef Pesic this year?
Some more singles off the EP and another music video – I love to tie up all my music with some kind of visual aesthetic. The EP will be out later this year – really excited about it!
