Indie Folk Artist Jacob Weil Shares Debut Album, Lived In feat. Focus Track “9999”
After years of crisscrossing North America, Europe, and the U.K., playing in bands such as Sam Weber and Luca Fogale, Jacob Weil found himself with a collection of his own songs that he was ready to share. The indie-folk debut record, Lived In, was produced by Sam Weber. The album’s production is fast, innovative, and intelligent, and the songs are filled with strength, grit, tenderness, courage, and nostalgia. Like a string of images, Weil leads us through observations and experiences that have led him to where he is now. Â
Co-written with Luca Fogale, focus track “9999” is about multiple realities – more specifically it represents the nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-nine ways out of ten thousand that your life could have gone, had you made one specific decision, as opposed to another. It’s a reflection on a life, a relationship, whatever, where you made a decision, and things ended up one way instead of another.
Listen to Lived In below and learn more about Jacob via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey, I’m Jacob Weil, indie-ish-folk-alternative-whatever-artist currently from Vancouver, BC, formerly from Hamilton, ON, and I’ve spent most of my life in the background, making other people’s music. That is to say, I’ve been a touring musician for most of the past decade, playing with Canadian Indie/Folk artists Luca Fogale and Sam Weber. But in the back of the van, I was always writing short lyrics and melodies from my own perspective, reflecting on the lives of the people I’d meet on the road and the folks I’d left back home. My debut EP, Feeling My Youth came out in January 2021, and my latest release Lived In released on August 18th of this year. Now, I’m trying to live both lives, playing as much as I can and touring my own music, telling those stories across Canada and the US.Â
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
My debut full-length record ‘Lived In’ was recorded on a whim. We got the opportunity to record at the legendary Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo Texas, in the same space where Bon Iver recorded ‘i’i’, and Fiona Apple recorded a bunch of ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’, and I just had to jump at that chance. I had these songs written anyway, and I was searching aimlessly for how I wanted to capture them. My band and I drove 12 hours straight from Los Angeles, where I was staying at the time, and we only had 5 days to record. I think we spent 15 hours or more each day recording these songs, mostly live off the floor, and tried to approach each song from a different angle than how we initially intended. We acted fast and didn’t dwell on mistakes, and I think the album really benefited from it.Â
The overarching theme of the record is the feeling of being part way through a life, and seeing the way it, you, and those around you have changed; starting to show the signs of age – starting to feel lived in. It’s 11 (plus an intro) songs, each with a unique feel and energy that aims to capture those feelings, and that week, in a single space – one that itself feels comfortable, and nostalgic – like home.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
I pull most of my inspiration from observing those around me. It’s my way of trying to understand the world a bit – taking the stories, or troubles of my friends and those I’ve met along the way, and either trying to tell them directly, or create characters based on them. From there, I like to ask questions of the characters and take a little creative license; try to weave a little bit of how I’m feeling into the plot as well. I find a lot of joy in writing songs that way.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
Right now, we have no shows officially announced, but have an upcoming Western Canada and USA tour planned for the end of 2023. Stay tuned!
What’s your goal for 2023?
My goal for the next three months is to share this new album as much as I can. My favourite thing in the world is to play live and re-imagine my own songs, again and again, each night. Hoping that I can use the last few months of this year to get out and play as much as I can – and share these songs with a few new people every day!Â