Q&A: Twin Synergy with Coastal & Shane Sato
THE WORK/LIFE BALANCE IN MUSIC – can be tricky. For all the community-focused collectives and collaborative tendencies, there’s an equal amount of one-upping and jealousy behind closed doors. The equal footing between San Diego producer/arranger Coastal (Charles L) and Orange County multi-instrumental Shane Sato exemplifies the best connection music-making can offer. The honored peers, musicians, and friends become one in their instrumental electronic-jazz EP, Airwaves.
Airwaves is a six-track project born out of genuine connection. Without featuring any vocalists (the sole feature is Glen Turner II, a high school buddy of Sato’s laid down some Soprano saxophone and flute on “Shimmer”), the tight 17-minute project doesn’t feel rushed or overly intricate. It feels breezy and light on the ears, but its production contains enough layers to rival most cakes and a few amateur croissants. It’s a carefree, vibrant joyride through the peninsula or a fuzzy nightcap during a beach bonfire. Either way, listeners are in for sweet piano melodies, fantastic guitar chord progressions, and choice synth modulation.
Despite the dusk settling in earlier, the summer feeling can carry into the holiday season. To learn more about Coastal, Sato and their Airwaves EP, read our interview below.
LUNA: How did you guys get into music?
COASTAL: I took piano lessons for a few years but I’d rather noodle around on the keyboard sound effects than practice piano. I didn’t seriously get into music until high school when my cross-country team would slap a lot of EDM before races. They’d play UKF Dubstep or Dillon Francis or god knows what. I dove into that stuff before starting to DJ and posting mashups to SoundCloud in 2012. Ableton came a year later and Coastal technically started in 2014.
SATO: I started my journey playing drums when I was about five years old. I didn’t make elementary school band as a drummer but I got super good at trombone. As I grew up, I learned Beatles songs on piano and my mom and grandma both played classical piano. One of my best friends even got me playing Guitar Hero so I ended up practicing everything. I just started cultivating all these different instruments.
I played in marching bands, jazz bands, and the big band when I attended UC Santa Barbara. It all just helped each skill get better. Now I play drums professionally in some settings. When bands through Los Angeles and need a hired gun, I play with them.
LUNA: How did you two meet?
SATO: It was February 2021 and I had a roommate in college named Thad. His younger brother, Clay, was in a music collective with Charles. He was the connecting piece and we finally met at a session–one of my first sessions ever–at Charles’ old studio. I pulled up with my guitar to a session of 10 people, all masked up and that’s where we met. Charles would produce for artists who would need some guitars on their songs and he pulled into the mix.
A week later, he called me up to work again. We just started talking, mostly about our love of Steely Dan. Charles had a Steely Dan anthology book out of the three books he kept in his room. We got around to playing and quickly found what worked together. Charles would set up a session and arrange all the parts while I played the guitar chords and knew a little bit of music theory.
COASTAL: That first session was great. Everyone loved Shane and wanted him back. I think it was session one or two when we made “Airwaves,” which would be the first song we made together.
LUNA: How did that progress into making a full EP together?
COASTAL: We released “Neon Tides” first, which was a song I was working on and he helped finish by adding guitar. We decided on a collab to get his profile up a little bit more for his upcoming solo project, so he featured me on “Airwaves.” He already started “Shimmer” so we readied that one pretty easily. But honestly, we didn’t finalize the idea of making an EP until August. We only had some singles out of the pipeline but we just pushed to get the last few tracks done.
SATO: We’ve been in grind demo mode for a year, so we just pulled a couple of songs out of the vault just to get it ready for release by the end of the year.
COASTAL: The beauty of Airwaves is it’s a snapshot of the sound we’ve worked toward for the past two and a half years.
LUNA: What do you guys have planned for the rest of this year? Or next?
SATO: We're finishing on a high note with this project and then we have our own solo projects coming out next year. It’s a solid wrap to this year and then a good step in the right direction for January.
LUNA: Who designed the album cover?
COASTAL: Shane, his fiancee, my girlfriend, and I designed the cover. We had a little couples’ wine night and we just cut out all these various things from Dollar Tree. Another great connection.
LUNA: Why do you guys think you work well together? How do you keep everything a 50/50 effort?
SATO: Someone who knows both artists, or even just one, can hear how both influences kind of merge into the Airwaves sound. Charles is the “arranger, producer, and beat” guy. I’m the “come up with some guitar licks and piano chords every so often” guy.
COASTAL: (Laughs) Every so often?
SATO: Every so often. Charles has signature beat styles paired with my melodies. It’s the combination of two creative minds coming together from completely different backgrounds, but similar tastes. We respect each other’s tastes, each other’s workflow and we’re just here to make good music.
