One of my favorite styles of music tends to be shoegaze, or shoegaze-adjacent styles of artists that blend effects-laden dreamscapes into what they do. A big reason for this is much to do with the fact that this particular umbrella of music focuses a lot on atmosphere, or at least something that feels very textured and expressive. It’s hard to find the proper words to summarize what it all sounds like to me, but, I guess one way for me to put it is to say it’s like the audible form of a cascade; where even if the music itself presents more minimalism than the succession of stages that the term ‘cascade’ typically implies, it’s like a giant wave of sound projected from a more singular source. Be it vocals, guitars, or just the reverberations applied over the entire master of the mix, I find myself always onboard for some good shoegaze. What’s more, is when you combine the aurally pleasing aesthetics of shoegaze over with themes and concepts of a beloved (and sadly recently passed) artist, David Lynch – and what you have now is what some might consider a masterpiece, and thus I’d like to present today’s Weekly Featured Artist, none other than RVA’s own always other!
Began from the mind of Jack Sullivan, always other exists as a project inspired from, as Jack puts it, ‘Slowdive, Argento, Fulci, MBV, Coldplay, Lynch, Monet, Wong Kar Wai, failed relationships, my child, the people I love, so very many things‘. Existing since 2021, the solo-project-gone-live-act-with-friends started simply as a concept alongside a desire to do something more band-oriented. Releasing their first track right around Halloween of that year, it wouldn’t take long for Jack to build upon this concept and release a myriad of music thereafter, all bearing references to the aforementioned and more. Releasing their first full-length, dead summers, hold you, in July of 2022, a decent following would also gather in support of the ethereal, grungy, dreamweaving work of Jack, with tracks like “it doesn’t matter [what i do]” and “i just wanna see you [one more time]” being among listener’s favorites.
‘always other is a project that I (Jack Sullivan) started around 2021, releasing my first song “our love is god” on October 31st I believe it was. I play live with friends and love having my friends contribute, but the majority of the songwriting, recording, etc, is all done by myself. I started considering this around 2020 when I knew my old project was running dry. I had been doing a solo bedroom pop style project for about 5-6 years, and knew I wanted something different. I ruminated over it quite hard, it was very difficult to put a new name to something, and to start fresh. But I knew I wanted to make more ‘band music’ and I was getting more and more into shoegaze at the time. I also wanted to share my love for film as a piece of the project, which I hope is clear to people, and has acted as a throughline since the beginning. I knew when I had made “our love is god” that it was something new, and it was very exciting to me. I’m very glad I made that decision.‘
Navigating the Bandcamp of always other, it’s easy to see that Jack is a hard working artist with plenty of material crafted and out there to be heard. Amongst a myriad of singles and EP’s, Slowdive, Wulven, and Coldplay covers, and a collaboration with Triangle Rain Club, one of my favorite releases in their discography can be found from October of 2023, far from everyone you know. Spanning 11 tracks and full of chorusy, reverb’d, emotionally devastating goodness, this is one that hits the nervous system from start to finish. Arguably, that could be said about each release always other has done, but for me personally? This album holds a particularly special place.
Tracks such as “how did i get so far from everyone”, “there’s love and death in the woods (part one)”, “scarlet”, and the Blue Velvet (1986) dedicated, “velvet dreams”, all make for perfect examples of the type of ‘audible cascade’ I touched on at the beginning of this article. This well-blended mix of poppy hooks, gritty, distorted guitars, angelic vocal work, hazy textures of effects and synths, and even some harsh voices with heavier layers thrown in make for something much beyond even what you’d expect from the genre; As much as it’s everything you’d be looking for in a good shoegaze act, it still hits you with pleasant surprises. The description of ‘shoegaze for crying and crowdkilling‘ couldn’t summarize it any better.
‘I was ardently recommended Twin Peaks for some time by friends online. I gave it a try and watched the first few episodes, but it didn’t click for me. I think I felt embarrassed not knowing where ‘the line’ was, IE: the line between sincerity and irony, not knowing when to laugh and when not to. A few months later, however, I was going through a breakup and I tried watching the show again, and in my sorrow I think I related to it on a deeper level. It (and many of his other works) inspired many songs; “velvet dreams”, “there’s love and death”, and “it was laura living in my dreams”. David Lynch’s approach to dreams and the surreal is something I’ve always felt a deep kinship with, and feel there’s a strong coalescence with in shoegaze. A blurring between reality and dream. Noise, walls of guitars, that still somehow bring peace and comfort. There’s a spiritual relationship there to me.‘
Their latest release, sleepwalker, gives us a slightly more polished and enhanced level of their usual production quality. With every full-length giving a strong, hazy, enchanting sound quality, it would be no surprise to listeners who have been along since the beginning to see the upward progression in their work, but this latest issue serves as a new pivotal point for always other. As Jack had mentioned, shoegaze seems like a naturally perfect reflection to the kind of art we were given by David Lynch during his lifetime. Virtually anyone who saw so much as a few scenes including his imagery paired with the musical work of Angelo Badalamenti would likely have a hard time walking away without some level of inspiration, but I believe that always other is an artist that genuinely echoes the sort of spirit we tend to absorb in any given work by Lynch.
To say always other merely echoes it would feel diminishing, however; Jack has absolutely cut their own path with what they absorbed. When you’ve got something to say, something to sing, something to express – you just know. As I spoke with Jack about how it seems as if they find their own meanings within the references they make to David Lynch‘s work, they detailed how they felt a sort of catharsis in their releases for what personal messages were perhaps more easily spoken through these interpretations. As I’ve mentioned in many WFA‘s before, music and art are absolutely some of the deepest and most personal forms of therapy we as human beings can get. One might consider this style of music to lean more into being ‘depressing’ or ‘sad’, but I think it’s so much more than that – it’s simply an artistic formality of being reminded we’re all human and enduring the human experience each and every day. We are all the universe having our own individual human experiences, if you will; Just as we are all unique and different, we all ‘go through it’, and we all find our way, somehow.
‘There’s always a piece of myself within the art, even if it is expressed through the vessel of another person’s paint colors if that makes sense. “velvet dreams” is a deeply personal song, as it relates to Blue Velvet. There is something very mirroring about seeing a young person thrown into a dark world they do not understand, wishing to be pure, and searching for love and meaning, but often met with dreadful darkness, that resonated greatly with me on an emotional level. There are of course many ways in which to interpret the film, this was just one of the ways in which it felt personal and relatable to me.‘
…Touching on the meanings and some stories behind sleepwalker and “nowhere, june”…
‘“nowhere, june”, is a reference to Gregg Araki’s Nowhere which is a brilliant film that really inspired me. But the lyrical content is about a relationship I was in that was failing (and did fail) and how sometimes you give your all to someone and maybe it’s too much, or it’s just not the right time, you can’t force things, you must always let it be as it will be. My favorite section of the song is the end where a wash of noise falls over the track, it’s several layers of white noise I made with my microphone making weird noises and running distortion pedals and such. It creates such a strange overwhelming emotion. it feels like a wave overtaking you. Much like the feeling of being forgotten.‘
…Also touching on releases, far from everyone you know and Distortion Therapy…
‘far from everyone, I could speak on for a very, very long time. To give a short synopsis, that album was written partially alongside dead summers, hold you during late covid and was largely inspired by feeling very isolated and directionless. My kid had moved with their mom to the west coast (I live in Virginia) and it was deeply difficult to miss so much of their life. I was having trouble maintaining relationships, juggling my job and being a parent with dating, etc. It spawned from a very difficult time. It appears to be my strongest work, and I am very proud of it. I’m very glad people enjoy it so much. Distortion Therapy was a collaborative effort between myself, Dramamine, and Nostalgiaisfun, I think it was Pete’s (Dramamine) idea? But it was a lot of fun to put together. I mastered the tracks. My song “(the white) lamb” is heavily inspired by Elm Street, my relationship to religion, and Foucault’s writings on humanity, his infamous quote about humanity being washed away like sand on the beach. That song I do like a lot, the lead guitar on the chorus really feels big.‘
Being a part of a music scene in a city particularly known for its art, music, and weirdness, always other is in one of the perfect places to flourish with their style and melancholic serenading. Richmond, VA is well-known for its connection with Edgar Allan Poe, an entire, huge cemetery (Hollywood Cemetery, to be exact) of which people casually walk through and picnic in on a nearly daily basis, being historically burned down and rebuilt twice, and as a place obsessed with artistry, good brews, and virtually anything involving self-expression of some form. Not to mention, we’ve got quite the many awesome spots to grab a bite to eat at, but I digress. With all this and more being priorities, so to speak, within the culture of RVA, always other naturally fits right in.
Sometimes it’s hard to make a project leave the bedroom, so to speak, even when the sound calls for a live setting and adoring fans are eager to see you perform live. Even some of the best solo artists don’t always find the proper means of translating what they do into a live setting, and even as modernized and efficient as backing tracks and other means of pulling it off live have become – sometimes you just don’t like having to do it all yourself. Similarly, as always other has performed live when and where possible, Jack has found much more preference and satisfaction out of incorporating friends to accompany them for live shows rather than perform it solo. One may not always exactly plan for this translation to happen, but when it does, it can be a beautiful thing and further the presence of that artist within their scene, for sure.
‘It’s always better to play with people, it’s much more true to the songs that I make. I have played shows by myself, and I am comfortable with doing that, but the songs I think require the loudness, and all of the instruments to be present and felt, to present the full picture. I like to play with my friends live, it’s good to be with a group. I’ve grown very fond of Richmond, there are many talented and great bands and artists here. I often feel alien to much of it however, there are times where I feel that the respect is not reciprocated between myself and other musicians. That said, I am grateful to anyone who comes to our shows, or buys a piece of merch.‘
Music is and always has been an especially important part of life for many. Whether it’s writing, recording, or even just playing it as a hobby or profession, being a teacher of it, or even just an avid listener who has a playlist for every motion they make in a week – even the most simple, and seemingly meaningless piece of music and art has meaning to somebody, somewhere. As such, always other is yet another artist local to my place of living that has struck a particular nerve with me and quickly become a regularly-listened-to artist within my daily rotations since sometime towards the end of last year. I always say I hate making comparisons, but, I still wind up making them somehow. For always other, it’s as if we got a version of my bloody valentine featuring past members of Cocteau Twins, with Anthony Green on lead vocals – and even with how magical that concept sounds, still the actual result exceeds it in quality.
With so much awful news being pushed through the channels as of lately, having that soundtrack to help you through your real-life David Lynch film experience (especially one by an artist directly inspired by him) can feel like a god-send. It felt increasingly appropriate, as I walked through always other‘s discography and penned down the questions to discuss with them, to feature them as a Weekly Featured Artist. With the aura of their music exudes equating to a nice, cold drink at your favorite pub on a Friday night after a long, stressful week that left your soul empty and your heart in yearning for even some sort of sensation to take the edge off. That seems to be the kind of energy, moment, and struggle that Jack writes to; That familiar void that even if never goes away, can be temporarily lulled into the eye of the storm, if you will, when given the right song to do so – a depressed mind’s spiritual serenade, reminding it that things will (maybe) be okay someday.
‘Writing songs is the thing I enjoy the most. Playing shows can be amazing, I love meeting people through music too. But writing songs, feeling myself and my emotions reflected in a song, is what has always meant the world to me. I’ve been doing it nearly 2 decades now and I intend to do so until I die.‘
Bringing this WFA to a close, I implore you to follow always other. If you find yourself anywhere near the East Coast, keep an eye out for a live show they’ll be at and make it out when and where you can! For those of you already in the area, be sure to make it out to their event on March 1st, 2025 at Bandito’s in Richmond, VA. For those of you non-showgoers who like the music for listening purposes only, be sure to stream and purchase their music via Bandcamp, and keep up to date on all news and other announcements via their Instagram! This is an artist that is sure to tug at your heart strings, and as a final send-off, you can get insights on what plans they have in the coming months and more below:
‘We have a show in Richmond March 1st! I have a few more singles for the coming months, and an album I anticipate will release this summer. The album is something I have been working hard at for a very long time. I’ll have more to say at a later date. But thank you so much for the thoughtful questions, and for your time.’
always other is…
Jack Sullivan – songwriting, guitar/vocals (live)
