Based out of New Haven, Connecticut, The Other Realm is an alternative-pop duo formed by brothers Kenny and Billie Ward. Listeners can expect story-centric songwriting, clever rhymes, and slick, moody productions that take ‘a humorous, sometimes scathing look at current ideas.’
In 2019, the band's lead single ‘The Whole World's Melting,’ was a top-three winner at the Annual Hawaii Songwriting Festival, and was also awarded first place honors in the Coffee Attic Songwriting Competition.
With their forthcoming album ‘Maladaptive Behaviors’ set to be released later this year this dynamic duo teases listeners with their latest single “Average Jeaux.” Fusing together elements of their endless creativity, the infectious grooves surfacing from the melodies dispersed in this track are surely something to write home about.
Having a mid-tempo instrumentation truck along with eclectic synths and mesmerizing snaps to keep the tempo intact, we can’t help but fall into the witty lyricism founded by The Other Realm’s ability to be their quirky, authentic selves. Captivating us with a series of layered vocals more enticing than the last, we get wrapped into the warm blankets of a soothing delivery laced with the unique flair of extensive ambiance. What we admire the most about the presentation of each lyrical motif is the fact that “Average Jeaux,” is based on everything an average Joe represents. The Other Realm pokes fun at every stereotype you can think of and has your average hipster from the neighborhood on full blast.
Completely allowing their well-thought-out realm of imaginative soundscapes to take precedence, “Average Jeaux,” has The Other Realm sending their fan base through a spiraling tour of how they execute their craft best.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, The Other Realm. The theme of “Average Jeaux,” is so well thought out. We hear the fun that you had creating it! Could you please share the inspiration behind creating a song of this caliber?
Kenny: Thanks for having us! We’re glad you like the track. In terms of writing, it’s a song that I wrote at least five years ago and it has slowly morphed over the years into what we ended up recording. Lines have changed and chord progressions were tweaked, but it was always the same concept from the start. When I’m writing a song, I like to get straight to the point and cut out the fat--I like being specific and making sure each line has some type of a twist or a joke that supports the overall point.
Billie: In terms of production, we started with the percussive lead piano part, and then built out the rest of the production. We were really trying to keep the song upbeat and poppy but still wanted it to have an indie vibe. The song originally had a bridge that sampled lyrics from Carly Simon’s song “You’re So Vain,” but we knew it would be tricky to release that commercially and we decided to make it an instrumental break. I threw down a harmonica part that we thought would be a funny addition since it definitely builds out the production, while still adding a little nod towards hipster culture, too.
How do you find that “Average Jeaux,” compares to other songs heard in your music catalog?
Kenny: I would say that “Average Jeaux” is the most fun we’ve had recording a track so far, and I’d like to think it shows when you compare it to the rest of our catalog. A lot of our songs have some level of snarkiness and lightness to them, but with “Average Jeaux” we wanted to really have fun and be a little silly and sarcastic. It’s funny, as the band has progressed, we’ve definitely honed our sound and style a lot, and I think “Average Jeaux” is a good representation of that growth and of where our sound and style are headed.
What went into the creative and recording process in order to bring this song to life? What does each of you contribute to the sounds that we hear?
Kenny: We record everything in our home studio and we’re completely independent, so we have a lot of freedom when it comes to how we want things to sound. For “Average Jeaux,” the version that ended up getting released was the third attempt at recording the song! We have two other versions that weren’t really up to par, or just didn’t really have the right energy that we wanted for this particular song.
Billie: We can definitely be perfectionists with our productions, but it’s nice to be independent and have the freedom to take our time and make sure what we’re releasing is exactly what we want.
Kenny: I’m the primary songwriter for the band, and you’ll hear me a lot on lead vocals. I do a lot of the initial building out of the track, but my brother is more detail-oriented and really helps clean up our productions.
Billie: Yeah, Kenny will usually record a scratch track and build out all of his different ideas for instrumentation. Then I’ll come in and play around with what he’s done, re-record some of the guitar parts and do percussion. On this track, I actually wrote a post-chorus refrain that has me on lead vocals, too.
Kenny: It’s a lot of us bouncing the trackback and forth and sitting with it independently, and then usually the final stage is that we really sit down together and level it and add any finishing touches that we think are missing.
We’re so excited to hear about your forthcoming album, ‘Maladaptive Behaviors,’ set to be released later this year! What do fans have in store and what can we expect?
“Maladaptive Behaviors” is going to be a fun time. “Average Jeaux” will be on there, and so will our previous single, “Solitaire,” but then it’s a bunch of other tracks we haven’t put out before. A lot of the songs are autobiographical, and most of them take an emotion or a story and go over the top with how it’s expressed. They’re not all stories or songs that are related, but we tried to tie them together in a way that tells a little bit of a story.
What's next for you?
We’re putting out another single, “Antidote,” leading up to the album, but then we’re just going to keep releasing more music. The past six months have been pretty prolific for us when it comes to recording, so we have a really nice cushion of songs to pull from. Right now, we’re already looking at the next EP or album and trying to put finishing touches on tracks and decide which songs will go on there.