Hi Pal,
About Fepeste: One of the deepest dichotomies that we have to wrestle with is the rift between our knowledge and our hope, our understanding and our lack of it, and our faith and our worry. It is a constant struggle to find the anxious tension between responsibility and inability.
Eric Jett of Fepeste is a constant worrier and with three kids and a wife, he is never without something to feed his anxiety. His new album, "What You Don't Know", is his most recent attempt to try to wrap his mind around omnipotence and providence, rest and courage, faith and doubt, and the simple inability to see around the corners of the future.
Introduction
Eric Jett’s music had a profound effect on me earlier this year with the release of his latest album, What You Don’t Know. There’s a vulnerability to his music that gives value to the mundane, as you listen to him wrestle with everyday life and attempt to reflect the hand of the divine in the seemingly unspectacular things.
I am excited to have you comb through some of his thoughts in this brief conversation.
The Conversation
Q: It feels like the year kicked off yesterday but we’re at the tail end of 2023. How has your year been?
It’s been a crazy and hectic year for me so far, my son broke his arm earlier in the summer and had to have surgery on it, and my daughter just recently had oral surgery. Also, the small church that we’re a part of basically moved buildings twice in the past year and there’s work.
It’s been a challenging and stressful year at work for me, although my sister is about to give birth to her first kid any day now so that’s super exciting. [Editor’s Note: This interview is being published about three months after, so I’m guessing congratulations are in order]. On top of all that, I released some new music this year.
Q: Speaking of your new album, What You Don’t Know. How would you describe the reception so far?
The reception has been great. A number of people — yourself included — have told me that they really like the album and have connected with some of the songs. That means the world to me because I’m never gonna make money doing this.
It’s something I do for fun and it’s not a about the numbers either, so it is really awesome that there’s anybody out there at all that connects emotionally with these songs that I’ve written at night when my kids are in bed where I just kinda put these things together.
It can sometimes feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing, but the fact that some people really seem to enjoy it is pretty amazing to me.
Q: On the album, there is a clear thematic focus on topics like anxiety and stress, particularly around adulthood. What are the things that inspired the creative direction of the album?
The songs for the album — and really my music in general — starts out as prayers or thoughts that I’m having. Music is one of the ways that I process and work through things. I’m a pretty anxious person. I worry a lot and stress about things pretty easily.
I feel wholly inadequate and unable to be the kind of person that I want to be for my wife and my kids and my church and friends and at my job. I also feel unable to do the things that I want to do and there is a sense that I am out of control to some degree.
These songs were written in a season — I’m still kind of in that season — of giving those cares, worries and anxieties over to the Lord. Being in prayer about these things and singing about them helps refocus my mind to the Lord and to trust in Him to put my life — this small insignificant life — in the grand scheme of things.
My music helps me put that into perspective a little bit and so it wasn’t really a conscious decision to make the album about some of these topics, it just flowed out of what I’ve been dealing with personally.
Q: The sound of this album is quite different from your debut, All Glory (2022). Can you talk about the production process and any inspirations that you had for the sound?
Most of “All Glory” was recorded in this big, beautiful house in Denver with the help of my friend Jesse and we really wanted the house to influence the sound of those songs. So, that album has a much more open feel to it and it definitely has a strong folk vibe to it. We actually started recording those songs back in 2014; it just took me forever to actually release those.
For this new album, I recorded and produced it all myself and it was a very different process. It was just me spending nights and weekends here and there, chipping away at the songs, adding a part, trying something different here or there until I got something that I kinda liked.
I had some help from some friends. My friend Thea sang on most of the songs and my buddies Nick and Dan were kind enough to contribute a few parts and I think those ended up being my favorite parts in the whole album. I produced, mixed and mastered it all myself. I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing most times so when I look back on it, I think the album could probably sound better. I was never totally happy with the end result but I‘d learned a lot along the way, so that was cool.
Speaking of the inspirations for like the sound of the album, I think my love of 60’s era music, surf music, shoegaze and indie rock definitely influenced the sound of this album a lot more than the previous one. There’s still folk vibes on the album, but things moved a bit away from that to a grounded indie rock feel.
I just wanted to try some new sounds out. Since most of the songs for “All Glory” were written 2014, I think my musical palate has shifted a little bit since then and I was just trying different sonic combinations.
Q: What is your deepest expectation or hope for those who will listen to this album?
If we exist to glorify God and to enjoy Him, I don’t think we can fully do that if we’re constantly worrying, anxious or stressed about things outside of our control. So my hope for this album — for anyone that listens — is that these songs will help to reorient our thinking. I hope that, even briefly, these songs could help remind us that God is good and that He provides for His children. He provides us with everything we need, not everything we want.
Also, these songs are a reminder that there is just so much that we don’t know. We might think we know or are certain about somethings, but we just don’t know. We are mere creatures, and He is the Creator, and even if it’s just for a short 3-minute duration during a song, if someone can listen to that, relate to my own struggles and hear my attempts to try to lay these cares down at the feet of my Lord; I just hope that they would take heart, hear that and be encouraged knowing that they’re not alone.
We are all doing our best to trust in the Lord. If someone could be encouraged, even for a brief period, that would be amazing.
Q: Is it too early to ask about future projects? If not, can you talk about it?
It’s definitely too early. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head, but I’ve been so busy lately and I really haven’t had a chance to sit down and even try to start working them out. I think it would be really cool if I could release another album by 2025.
The problem is, I prefer albums over singles and it takes more time and requires more work to make one. So, we’ll see. I know that whatever I do next, I would like to involve more people in the process.
I learned while making this album that it’s a lonely process for me when I’m doing it all on my own and my favorite parts were bringing other people into the process. So I would love for the next project to be a lot more collaborative, bringing in other musicians would be a lot of fun and I think it’d be a much better album for that.
I’m looking forward to writing stuff, I just don’t know when I’m gonna be able to fit it into my schedule.
Q: On a final note, please share any scripture that has been a source of encouragement in your journey of faith.
When I’m in need of reminding of the glorious eternal perspective in light of these silly worries that I have about this silly little life, my go-to portions in scripture are chapters like 1 Peter 1, 2 Corinthians 4 and Romans 8. I mean these are just such beautiful chapters and I encourage you to go read them, the whole chapter.
We have this inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading that’s kept in heaven for us and these momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. These are beautiful chapters of scripture that I can never get enough of.
A big thank you to Eric Jett for taking the time to answer our questions.
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