Q&A: Junior Pro Flexes His Extensive Musical Chops on Debut LP ‘Cool’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY AVERY HEERINGA ☆
Photo by Emory Brown
JUNIOR PRO FINALLY STEPS UP TO THE MIC—After years of writing and producing music for artists including Natalie Prass, Molly Tuttle and Kacey Musgraves, Kyle Ryan is ready to introduce himself to the world with his debut LP Cool, out today. Under the moniker Junior Pro, Ryan lets his sharp and punchy voice lead listeners across a collection of intricate and sunny arrangements.
From twinkling guitar to a baby’s coo, the drip-drop of percussion to jangling keys, Ryan deploys his impressive breadth of experience as a producer and writer across the record’s 11 tracks. Ryan tackles topics like love, family life and more in finely-tuned pop songs that unfurl in diverse sonic directions—sometimes veering toward coffee house indie pop and other times leaning alt-rock.
The end result is one, as Ryan himself describes, able to tailor itself to the listener’s desire, whether that be a soothing soundtrack in the background or a stirring foreground accompaniment. “The hardest part of lettin’ go is knowing something new will grow,” Ryan sings on “The Other End” at the record’s midpoint. Not so much a resolute “stop” to his work with other artists, Cool proves that something new has indeed grown.
Read Luna’s conversation with Junior Pro below.
LUNA: What has the lead up to this album’s release been like?
JUNIOR PRO: It’s funny, it’s just catching up with me because some of these songs started three or four years ago. I had made a lot of music with other people, but had never really looked to see who I am. I tried a few songs and I actually made a whole record and ended up bailing on it. That was maybe three or four years ago, and then [I] opened it back up and found out that I didn't hate two of [the songs I’d made]. I've gone through the rollercoaster of [feeling] like, “I made it, I finished, I made it, I gave up, I made it, I'm back, I finished it, and now it's finally real.” I think it'll probably hit me a week after it's out and [I’ll] be like, “Oh shit, I actually did something.”
LUNA: I'm curious where the moniker Junior Pro came from.
JUNIOR PRO: Let’s call it “phase one” from a couple years ago—I had a different idea for a band name, and when something's in the zeitgeist, if you don't act, it gets gobbled up [by someone else]. My name that I came up with four or five years ago—there was a record that had the same name, and then a band that came out that had one of the words, and then another band, and all of a sudden I was like, “Oh, I missed it.” Some months ago, my wife and I were wandering around looking at vintage clothes, and we found a jacket that said Junior Pro, and it was an old ‘70s coach jacket, and it just immediately clicked. I guess ultimately it spoke to me feeling a little bit like maybe I peaked in middle school or something. All the potential you have, and then you grow to be what you are. So, I guess that's why it resonated.
LUNA: You've worked with such an expansive set of other artists, spanning genres and sounds. I'm curious what your approach was for defining your own artistic sound. What did that look like?
JUNIOR PRO: I guess it reminds me a little bit of decorating or something. If you were to see my weird ass house, this might resonate or make a little more sense, but I feel like I’m just drawn to objects, and maybe I don't always have a vision for the big picture. But if I see a lamp I like, and I'm like “That's the lamp,” and then I see a chair I like, and I'm like “That's the chair,” I just trust that if I liked the lamp and the chair and the rug and the couch and they're all in the same room, [then] it will fit together because they all resonated [with me].
I tried to approach the recording a little bit like that, being like, “I like drums to punch.” I was a hip-hop kid, so I like bass lines. I tried to allow each fragment to smoosh together and then say, “I guess that's me.”
LUNA: Is there anything that you think you took from those earlier collaborations with other artists and used in this new work?
JUNIOR PRO: Definitely. I've made a ton of music with an artist named Natalie Prass, and we wrote a ton of music that became some of her records, and I always feel that coming out of me. I think that collaboration really helped me dive deeper and explore what aspects of music that I'm drawn to.
Another big one is definitely Kacey [Musgraves], who is just an absolute genius—musically, lyrically. The main thing with Kacey is that [we] sometimes call her “the axe” in the studio because she has a great sense of [asking], “Is this piece serving the song? Is that guitar part helping? Mute. Get it out of here.” If something isn't 1,000% helping, get it out of there. I definitely have her in the back of my mind sometimes like, “What is that actually doing for you?” If it's not saving the day or selling the song, I’m trying to get better at just cutting that shit out.
LUNA: One of the songs is titled “Synesthesia.” I'm curious if there's a connection you have to that, whether in a literal or metaphorical sense?
JUNIOR PRO: That’s a really interesting song for me. I'm [usually] just helping someone sculpt their words in a way that will make it feel more like a song, even though the words are coming from them. If I'm working with someone, I want it to be their voice. But when it's my voice, it was an interesting process to try to figure out. On the surface, that song came from my fascination with synesthesia. I was always just like “That is so cool,” and was a little bit jealous [of people who have it]. It feels like a weird superpower that I was feeling like I didn't have and I was jealous of.
But once I wrote it, it definitely took on a deeper meaning about my identity and things that I've allowed and not allowed [in my life]. It’s funny how songs will do that. My craft brain will be like, “That’s a topic, that’s a good thing to write about, that’s a fascinating thing.” When I started getting to the end of it and [listened] back to myself writing it, I was like, “Oh wow, I'm having a therapy session with myself.”
LUNA: What’s the best setting or environment for someone to listen to this record in? What might that look like or what might that be?
JUNIOR PRO: I never thought about that. When I was making [the record], I was constantly being like, “I want this record to be fun.” I want to be funny at times. I want people to have fun. So, maybe in a room with some friends having drinks where sometimes you're listening, sometimes you forget it’s on, sometimes you're dancing.
