Insightful Pushes the Envelope with his Distinctive Folk and Electronic Sound on his new Album FODDER

With a history in DJing and creating electronic music, designing “unsettling” digital art, and emanating a folk influence reminiscent of Bon Iver and Neil Young, independent multidisciplinary artist Insightful uses his distinctive background in traditional art and many years of production to make unparalleled musical pieces. His blend of sounds is unmatched to any artist currently producing music, as it stands at the apex of folk and electronic. In this interview, Insightful took me through his musical and artistic journey, illuminating subjects such as his production style, his newest album, heartbreak, fatherhood, and vulnerability. 

From looking through all of your projects, I see that you're very multidisciplinary — you make digital artwork, videos, and music. What inspires all this art, what is your muse?

I've been raised around a lot of types of music. My father was heavily into folk music. On my mother's side: ABBA and show tunes. I had an older brother, who introduced me to Wu-Tang, Biggie, and Tupac [at a] super early age, probably when I shouldn't have been listening to that type of music. That has evolved into what I'm making now in some way shape or form.

Does your digital art and your music go hand in hand?

 I think it's all coming from the same universe. The music is one side of me and the art is another side. [The art can be] a little off-putting. There are certain things I can say with my art that I don't really say out loud, it's a side of me that is harder to convey via music. They go hand in hand like storytelling. 

That's really cool. How did you get started in music, and how would you describe your sound?

 It all started with a laptop that I would make hip hop music on and record rapping on GarageBand — shaker loops, flute loops, and a chipper sound you'd hear on a PowerPoint presentation. I ended up going to college for visual effects. I met a lot of different musicians along the way, and both worlds just intertwined naturally. Around 2012, I got sucked into the Soulection world, which is a label based out of LA. [It] shaped me just being around the instrumental electronic dancing music — bass heavy, mix heavy. I got to play Coachella, tour in Europe, and do a lot of cool stuff through DJing and producing. I moved to LA and started to pull away from DJing, focusing more on songwriting and producing for artists. Now, I've been producing for myself as an artist versus for an artist. For the first time in my entire life, I feel like an artist. 

My sound [is different depending on what era] you come across [in] my music. You could be coming across me in the early 2010s sounding like a Flying Lotus type or experimental electronic stuff. [Currently, I’m] a little more singer-songwritery.

That's amazing. So you just released a project this year called FODDER. How long have you been working on that project? And how did it come about?

FODDER was the product of heartbreak and realization. I'm a father to a two and a half year old demon. There's a lot of learning that comes with fatherhood, on top of heartbreak and adjustment. The album came from a buddy of mine, Phil Smith. He would send me these introspective, beautiful, calming pieces of guitar. The whole album blossomed from that vibe.

I listened to your album prior to this, 33. That album was an upbeat, intricate love story, but it had a lot of ebbs and flows. It still had that electronic influence, whereas this album was way more acoustic. Where were you in those two places that made that juxtaposition?

The contrast between the two albums was because I wanted FODDER to lean into my folk-y side. I love Bon Iver and really stripped down music. It's really powerful when you hear words very elegantly said over a non-highly produced record. It was a challenge for myself [to do that with FODDER].

You have a lot of different emotions that come out on FODDER. So what's the biggest message that you want people to take away from that album?

Hopefully you can relate and not feel like you're going through those things alone. There have been a couple of really sweet messages from people about certain records saying they have experienced similar circumstances to the lyrics. They're in different parts of the world and speak different languages. There's something universal about pain and love and heartache and trauma. That’s beautiful to me. 

And you were mentioning that you have a toddler. Do you think that your daughter has helped you with this vulnerability? How has she affected your music?

She just made me a little bit more tender and re-opened this child mind that I think we all have that we close off as we grow up, and allowed me to not overthink things. 

What is your personal favorite song off of FODDER? 

I like “The Long Way.” When I'd be in a car with my daughter, I would play some of these records as demos. I didn't realize how much she was picking up on. So by the time the final mix came, I played it… and I heard her in the back of the car, singing the record. It was one of those moments where it was like, as long as she likes it, I’m happy with it. That one just lyrically hits home with me.

Where did you get the inspiration for the name Insightful from?

I was given the name through my friends. Everybody had stupid rap names when they were rappers early on, and it kind of just stuck. I might look back and be like, “Dang, I should have been a little more conscious of my searchability,” but I kind of like having that ambiguity and the ability to hide behind it. 

So I actually discovered you from your song “DD.” That will always be one of my favorites. What's the story behind that track?

That song was made in 2018 and through another heartbreak moment. I was just out of a pretty long relationship and in my mid 20s into my 30s, dealing with a lot of insecurity. There's this internal battle of figuring it out and respecting myself. That’s the area in which that song arose.

I saw that you were featured on a huge project in 2020, called Home Buddies, and a few of the tracks accrued over a million streams. How did that collective come together? Who was a part of it? What was that experience like? Were all of you independent artists?

Home Buddies was the product of the first year of quarantine. When the pandemic hit, my dear friend Monty and I decided to make an Instagram thread full of producers and artists. We put together this ragtag group of talented musicians, and then started file sharing. Someone would share a melody at a certain BPM, one of the producers would put drums behind it, someone would add bass, then someone would lay a verse. It was handled like a label but just super DIY feeling. The music came out incredible, very pure and everyone spontaneously contributed, which adds a bit of magic to the final product. For the most part, everybody’s pretty much [independent]. 

And what is your favorite song for that project?

I really like “Pick Up Your Phone,” but my other favorite is “Stuck Inside,” just because there's a serendipitous, dope moment in the verses where they switched the pitch [when] it was going from one artist to the other. I remember first hearing it and knocking everything off my desk because it was such a moment.

You had mentioned that you had a whole B-side to this new album that has not been yet released. Do you have any more new music, tour dates, or anything that we should look out for?

There are two albums set for the rest of the year and so much more to come. I'm excited!