Unapologetically Soft and Distinctly Fresh, Billy Uomo Talks His Process & More with ‘Looking Through Tears’
☆ By Cathleen Kerrigan ☆
Photos provided by Billy Uomo
USING THIS UNEXPECTED PAUSE IN THE WORLD AS A TIME TO STICK TO HIS CRAFT — Billy Uomo seems to have hit the sweet spot of balance between utter bewilderment, unease and artistic hard graft, as his newest musical project proves. “It's just a crazy time,” he said. “To be completely honest, I don't even know how I'm doing. I'm just continuing to make music because that's what makes me happy … No one knows what the hell is going on anymore, but we can still all just focus on our own projects and try to make sense of ourselves at least.”
Being released on Terrible Records, Uomo’s upcoming EP Looking Through Tears is the fourth EP in a series of 10, following up Wasted (2017), Hello (2018) and All Trash No Love (2019). This structure has allowed him to test the boundaries of his concepts and switch up his processes while giving a determinedly fierce pace to his output.
“I don't think I could make the music that I'm making right now unless I set those preceding goals of, ‘This is going to be 10 EPs. It's gonna be 40 songs.’ I think that I would probably have stuck more to my wheelhouse.”
With more records already in the works, Uomo’s consistent workflow is impressive, but as he puts it, “With what's going on in the world, I don't have any other place to go. So I really have no excuses but to just make music, you know?” Uomo’s previous project, Babes, was pure West Coast stoner pop. With funny, self-aware, sixties-influenced and lyric-centered love songs, his current material feels sharper, and much more personal. “My friend Dan, who helped me produce some of it, said it's like going to outer space — like in a Doo-wop machine or something.”
A fan of the audio double take, Uomo is inspired by blending the usual with the unnatural to confuse the ear and catch your attention. “I like the idea of crossing genres or blending ideas. So that when you hear [it], it doesn't sound like a genre or an idea that you've heard before. That's really my favorite place to be — I like to take two sounds and put them together to make a new sound. Or at least try.”
Uomo’s latest single, “Feels like the First Time,” is a playful tune about true love and how everything is fun and light with that person. An earnest celebration of love that feels wholesome and nostalgic, the track features laid-back surf rock guitar paired with Uomo’s soft crooning vocals. Both in sound and style, there is a gentle sadness and undeniable Japanese citypop influence. With vocals that feel from the same realm as Homeshake or Tame Impala, as well as a heavy Prince influence, you can certainly see how it’s built on the music of Uomo’s past, however it manages to feel modern, fresh and new.
Can a songwriter be ironic and sincere at the same time? Uomo tries to strike this balance to a very pleasant effect. It’s a musical snapshot of his present and is unapologetic in its portrayal of a sensitive, unashamedly soft man. “I am a dichotomy … I'm very much excited and turned on by kindness,” he said. “I'm a very sensitive person — that's what I gravitate towards. A big part of what I write about is [how] I just want to be treated nice.”
It’s all about forward momentum with Uomo — he’s an artist who could never be accused of sitting stagnant in the one place. Each musical output openly and consciously shows progression from his last. Not one to be precious about his work, Uomo is happy to take us along with him on the journey to getting there. He’s an artist who not only allows a window into his creative process but invites you along for the ride. He’s happy to share that this latest project has challenged him and that “doing this project has made [him] really focus more on musicality in a lot of ways that [he] never did.”
Previously considering himself a lyricist first and foremost, Uomo has had to hone his practical skills in song making and Looking Through Tears only serves to highlight how technically proficient he can be. Refreshingly, he’s not about to jump on the trend for self-deprecation. He’s not afraid to say he’s actually into his own music. “If you're not, you’ve got to switch it up!”
Uomo is also open about his music being as much of a path of discovery for learning about himself as it is that for his listeners. Listeners are simply bystanders that are observing Uomo’s development as an artist in real time. It's intriguing to see how he will continue to evolve over the next six albums, and we have the pleasure of sitting back and watching it unfold.
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