by mariah estran
photo by sergio de la torre
When Derek Simpson was twenty years old, he took his first solo plane trip. Making the voyage from Boston to California, he wondered if he would know how to navigate the airport terminals. Stressed and overthinking, his sister Alex provided a reassuring point. She said, “Derek, think about how many people go into the airport on a day-to-day basis. They have to make the signage clear and concise to everybody who’s coming through there.”
During that pivotal explanation, Simpson found beauty in the simplicity signage holds. Designs capable of being understood by the masses. Could that universal awareness translate through another art form, through music?
Signs, the newly released sophomore album in Simpson’s discography, might be that. Through eased, playful production, he’s found a way to discuss topics that are otherwise confounding. Inspections on relationships, connections being found and lost in an instant. Those typical scenarios are factually portrayed through each track, erasing continued emotional disorder.
“The music was taking a turn towards being more minimal, intimate, and about relationships,” the artist explains. “But not really from a place of judgment or trying to paint characters in relationships.”
It was 2020 when Signs began taking shape. On the heels of a breakup and state-mandated stay-at-home orders, the odd standstill in time gave way to tracks being thoroughly contextualized. “It starts with this song that’s talking about recognizing there’s a connection between you and another person, but you don’t know exactly, what it is,” he says. The first track, “Hide + Seek,” holds that sentiment by describing a desire complete with juvenile tendencies. By song five, the listener is met face first with the perplexity relationships contain — specifically, within the digital age. “Talking To Strangers” shines a haunting light on a familiar dating predicament —‘ghosting.’ Through funky, R&B bass lines, Simpson reminds the listeners that we are simply talking to those truly, unknown. And there’s no answer to why the disappearing act is the move of choice. “It kind of ends on this note of I still don’t know what’s going to happen,” he shares when talking about the rollercoaster of emotions putting yourself out there can reveal. “But I know that what I really enjoy is getting to know somebody, getting to know this person.”
Simpson makes it clear that the album has no resolve. No grand conclusion, which solves our relationship woes. Yet, in short, that makes it sensible. Do we ever have a clear-cut solution to how we feel or understand? “Traditionally, I feel like there’s not a lot of albums about relationships or about intimacy in this way,” he states when describing the LP. Adding there’s typically a painted perception of connections compared to what he has produced. “I feel like this doesn’t get airtime, ever. The real things about relationships, figuring it out.”
There’s a tinge of profoundness in Simpson’s tone. He confides that he’s unsure of his thoughts on these layered-filled topics because it takes time to dissect them.” I just knew that I was feeling,” he says when looking back on his songwriting. “I still think about things and still get equally confused. So much of that is unclear because it involves other people. Your feelings are changing all the time, and to try to become okay with that is a weird thing.”
photo by sergio de la torre
However, those sizable feelings are balanced out track by track. The record's groovy essence takes the listener on a kaleidoscopic ride. Chill-approved energy that Simpson calls 'International Vibe Maintenance.' "The best thing I can do is supply something very calm, still very groovy,” he explains. “I think music that keeps me feeling centered, calm, and peaceful is doing this incredible work that is hard to do.” The work started with falling in love with playing again. From preparing for a future of live performance to simply picking up an instrument, it was a process. While the songs he says are simple to play, simple to perform. It’s the production that brings each track to a hypnotizing level. He finally let go. “I’ve learned to allow myself to be playful with live instruments or things that sound live,” Simpson explains.
Finding a sudden infatuation with the Beastie Boys and their use of boundary-pushing sounds. Those brazen mixtures of tones would become handy. “I’m finishing up ‘U-turn,’ and I’m like, but it needs something else,” he recalls. “Then I listen to something that sounds totally different from it, and you hear the approach they had. They put this weird, wiggly synth over these super hard guitar chords. It was almost like it was reminding me to be playful.”
For the musician, his previously released album, King Sun, was that rule-following product. One that he confesses wasn’t perfectly executed. He knows that overthinking could be a hindrance, and so can going in with a particular genre in mind. But now, that’s changed, and the proof is Signs. “I think, coming to these newer releases, and Signs as a whole, as a record, it feels like I’m getting more comfortable with music being what it is,” Simpson describes.
While the LP derived from the tumultuous shifts in relationships, there’s still room to look past those deep subjects and be immersed in the actual music. Simpson finding comfortableness in production allowed for transcendent moments. Moments of pure delight, such as the six-and-a-half-minute closing track, “Kid The Moon.” With elation towards his own work, he says, “Whenever I put it on, it just rides out. A six-and-a-half-minute track can feel indulgent, but with this one, I want to live in that groove. I just want to live in there.”
Simpson found his own comfort in his music. Accepting the perplexity of human emotions cuts the bullshit. Making music is a process, and discovering a new connection is just as onerous. Acknowledging this seems to have given us songs we can read into; or simply enjoy the mesmerizing journey the sounds take us on. “I hope that while it’s on, it can feel like a great surrender experience,” he says, thinking on the impact of the record. “Even if you enjoy it at that moment and never hear it again. I feel like some quality has been added to that person and their experience on earth.”