A Peek into the Diaries of Appleby
Photo by Jessica Robinson
An Appleby record is the kind of song that can be enjoyed in any relaxed setting. You and a few friends might listen to one of his tracks on a Bluetooth speaker during an evening bike ride around your neighborhood. Or, maybe you decide to cue a few of his songs to compliment your you time on a Sunday afternoon. Whichever setting it might be, Appleby’s songs are undoubtedly comforting, meticulous, and even have the tendency to feel therapeutic.
Almost a full year since his departure from Chicago and just about two years since the release of his Happiness EP, we caught up with our dear friend Appleby to learn more about his experiences living in L.A, his process of refining his creative vision and his newest release “Luck,” - a product of his experimental series “Diary Demos.”
Read our exclusive Q&A with Appleby below, and stream his new single “Luck” here.
You recently moved to LA - how's that been.... do you miss us...?
Sorry it's taken me a little to get back. Lowkey this week was wildly challenging. Had me a scatterbrained. But to answer your question, overall I've loved being in LA. The year round good weather reminds me of being back in Miami. The relationships I'm building here both personal and creatively have been awesome. Then i have days where I think about you guys, my mom, other friends and fam and it makes me miss Chicago so damn much. Like, I can't even have my favorite pho whenever I want anymore.
You drove cross country to do so, can you tell us what that trip was like?
I haven't driven cross country like that since my days of playing tennis. This trip was so unique because I experienced nature in a way I hadn't before. My friend Garrett and I made so many random stops and fun airbnb choices. We decided to do the trip in 8-10 days so we took our time and took full advantage of it. He's a fire photographer, and some of those memories were caught on camera. Hope to figure out a way to share some of them one day.
With the current state of everything, how've you been spending this extra time? -
Initially, I went into super productive mode but quickly realized that I was losing perspective and burning myself out. So I copped Sims 4, and dropped music as a whole for a second lol. Connecting and reconnecting with my family has been amazing. My mind can be a little more at ease because for now, we're all okay. Creatively I'm back in my bag mode haha, but I only start ideas when I feel I have something to say. Outside of that, lots of facetime & zoom calls and Netflix Parties. That's been my favorite thing to do!
Recently you went 5 days without listening to music, how'd that experiment turn out?
Yeah man.. that experiment worked out well. It was brief but brought a lot of clarity. In that time, I sat and really tried to establish firm goals for myself and my intentions with my art. I don't have all the answers yet, but I can say I have a vision for myself now and that feels amazing.
When we chatted the other day, you said you've felt really in tune with your creative vision & what your artistic aims were as an artist professionally - can you share a bit of the insights there?
So I didn't realize that I hadn't set many clear goals outside of benchmarks that let us know we're moving forward. I think it felt okay at the time for me because there was progression. But I didn't have concrete answers to questions like "what is your purpose with music?" "who do you want to reach and why?" "what point do you have to reach to feel like you have enough?" I have honest answers to those questions now.
The Diary Demos you've begun to release have been really great... can you tell us about that series & the video editor you paired up with for it?
Ayee, thank you. Back in January, I decided I wanted to start experimenting with production. At the time, it was to build basic loops for me to write songs to. From there, I'd find the right producer to help me turn the demos into polished songs. Then I made "STATIC" and was like.. "oh, I need people to hear this immediately." I just had to figure out the best way to share it. The idea was to pair it with a short video edit and then maybe that would be the start of creating a visual representation of what's coming. It didn't turn into a tangible series though until after Madison was down to do a second one lolol. But I connected with her early 2019 after stumbling onto some wildly beautiful video edits of a couple Frank Ocean songs from "Endless"... Y'all should see them. They're gorgeous! But, yeah I was super in love with them and told her via dm I believe. She got back, and after my fanboy gushing over her work, she told me she had some of my songs already in her playlist. Suddenly it's like... aye we're mutual fans! Cut to March 2020, I finally had a reason to seriously ask if Madison was interested in working on something together. Luckily she said yes. Now we've made a few and people seem to be enjoying them. And with everything that's happening right now, I just want to bring a smile to someone's face.
The Diary Demos have led us to your first single in a couple years, “Luck” - can you tell us a little bit about the song & the feeling of releasing music again?
Man, sometimes I fear I’m too good at being alone - like I don’t quite know how to make space for someone else. “Luck” is about a time where I was forcing connections and failing miserably. It’s my first release in two years and I’m excited because of how honest it feels. It’s me admitting that I don’t have everything figured out. Hopefully, it can exist as a conversation starter normalizing black men vulnerability.
Looking ahead, what can fans expect from Appleby in coming months?
They can expect more diary demos for sure! Well if Madison is down?. lol and I'm working on something larger but gotta get it done first :)