LONDON: In 2017, Dubai-based rock band Jay Wud released their third album, “Transitions,” which brought the group international media acclaim, with outlets including Kerrang, Metro and Metal Hammer marking the group as one to watch. Three years on, their eponymous frontman — Lebanese musician Jay Wud — is talking about a new record. But it’s not the one some may have been expecting.
“After 2017, I was like ‘OK. What am I gonna do now?’” Wud tells Arab News. “‘Am I going to do a rock record to top what I’ve done with Howard Benson? That’s gonna take me some time.’”
Wud was encouraged by a friend — musician and producer Elie Afif — to take a more technical approach instead, and to experiment with synthesizers and samplers.
“Nabad” is Wud’s just-released electronica EP. (Supplied)
“That opened up a whole new world to me in terms of sounds and genres,” Wud says. “I didn’t know I had it in me to express myself in that way. I became obsessed — studying, practicing, writing and producing every day to get better at it. I’ve probably produced around 50 tracks from 2017 until now. Out of those, I picked four that made me think, ‘That’s the sound.’”
Those four tracks became Wud’s just-released electronica EP “Nabad.” The name — which translates to ‘Pulse’ — was the moniker Wud had initially chosen to release the new tracks under, to avoid confusion with his previous, guitar-driven work. But over time, Wud began to see “Nabad” as less of a departure from his back catalog, and more of an evolution of his sound.
“It took me two or three years to fully understand that I’m an artist and I can express myself in any sound I want,” he explains. “If I want to do a blues record, an electronic record, a hip-hop record… in the end, it’s gonna be me and my sound.
“From my first record, I’ve produced, mixed, written and performed. That’s still the same now. But the difference in going electronic is the balance of genres. It’s like discovering there’s red, blue and green to use, where before you might have thought there was just black and white.”
Wud was encouraged by a friend — musician and producer Elie Afif — to take a more technical approach. (Supplied)
Ostensibly, “Nabad” seems like a striking stylistic departure, but the EP actually contains elements that can be traced back to Wud’s earlier records. There’s an atmospheric, cinematic mood that suffuses the new material, and elements that showcase Wud’s expanded sonic palette.
“If you listen to ‘Aymata,’ you can hear guitars chugging away,” Wud says. “This is me, that’s my sonic print, so I can put it on an electronic track and it’s still me.”
Wud teamed up with Lebanese hip-hop star El Rass for two of the tracks. It’s a regional collaboration that’s particularly important to him — Wud says he has lost count of the number of times he’s been confused for an American artist.
“I wanted to do something where I showcase talent from the region,” Wud explains. “I’ve been a fan of El Rass since 2012, so I reached out to him. I sent him the track, he wrote the lyrics and recorded his parts, we reworked the structure of some stuff — it was a cool back-and-forth thing. I have so much respect for him. He’s a poet. He has so much depth in his words.”
Of the 50-odd tracks he has produced for the project, Wud recalls early songs sounding like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead — both acts which have had a huge impact on his sound, but not ones that he wanted to simply replicate.
“I had to pass through those stages. And it’s good that I waited, honestly. Being patient as an artist is the best thing you can do. You need the time to invest in yourself, and in your art.”
Now, Wud believes he’s identified a sound that’s uniquely his — and that’s what’s showcased on “Nabad.” But that doesn’t mean he’s done evolving. And when people can make the link between the guitar-led Jay Wud sound of 2017 and the genre-spanning, synth-heavy new record, it serves as a form of vindication.
“That’s the reward I want, that people can actually relate to what I’m doing. And ‘Nabad’ is part of that journey,” he says.
To underline that point, Wud says that, during the UAE’s COVID-19 lockdown, he’s already put together “an album’s worth” of new material.
“I spend every day practicing my art,” he continues. “I produce a track every day. And honestly, it’s becoming more advanced. Now I listen to the four tracks (on “Nabad”) and I wonder if I should have released it.” He’s joking, he says. But there’s probably a grain of truth.
“I can’t keep pushing myself and not releasing material though,” he reasons. “I think it’s part of the growth element of being an artist. Khalas. Let it out.”
