A Conversation with: Cory José
Thumbnail and Social Media Photo: Kirsten Southwell and Maggie Famiglietti.
Cory José is an indie and DIY musician through and through. You may recognize his voice from fronting the Chicago-bred group Laverne. Now embarking on his own solo work, José recently released an extraordinarily intriguing 3-part single under the name “Warmth.” The chamber-pop track follows the life of someone in love with a married person. Furthermore, the soap drama-worthy lyrics are juxtaposed by an orchestral production entirely composed by José on a midi controller.
In addition to the engrossing storyline within its lyrics, “Warmth” is oddly comforting and reminiscent of European chamber pop, mixed with a bit of modern rock stylings on the bass and guitar.
Juniper got the chance to speak to Cory about “Warmth,” life in the quarantine, and what 2020 will bring forth for the resident Logan Square musician.
Juniper: So first off, I just want to ask if this whole virus has impacted anything for your work or just living in Chicago in general?
Cory: You know, I will say, I think it's been a little bit hard, like promoting this new song whenever everyone's in chaos mode. And I feel, I feel a little guilty doing it. But I also think I dunno, the odds are always stacked against your, this is just like one extra thing, you know?
Juniper: It's so hard, especially with all these tour cancellations too.
Cory: My band Laverne actually had to cancel a show at the Empty Bottle because of it. And the band we were playing with had to immediately fly back to Norway
.Juniper: You mentioned your role in Laverne. What prompted you to do this solo work? And are you still planning on doing both?
Cory: One of the nice things about being in Laverne is even though I write all the songs in that band, it's kind of more of a band dynamic. The songs may sound one way when I write them, but then they end up being a totally different thing whenever the band gets hold of it. And I really liked that dynamic because it kind of allowed me to develop as a songwriter. A we're still actually working on our third record right now. But for the solo stuff, it really felt freeing. I kind of set myself some parameters and I was like, okay, this is something I want to be extremely mobile, something that I can perform totally by myself if I want to. And just something that is really pushing the boundaries of my abilities as a musician and an engineer and a singer and a songwriter. So I feel like I accomplished that considering the first single is three parts.
Juniper: You can definitely sense that in the first single. What was the process of making your three-part orchestral suite?
Cory: Yeah, so I in general have always been a big fan of different European folk music. I really love the like Italian pop music and the chansons from France. I’ve always been inspired by how lush those genres tend to be. And America used to do a similar thing with artists like Nancy Sinatra and Scott Walker. And even [Dusty Springfield] she's not from America, but I feel like America kind of adopted her. But even like Dusty Springfield, where it's very lush pop music. And I dunno, anytime someone does chamber pop or orchestral pop, it is more for the indie crowd. And I wanted to make something that like, you know, my mom and her friends would like, but then also like my teenage cousins would like and, and my friends who are, you know, record buyers would also like
Juniper: With the chamber aspect of your music, are you classically trained in any way? What’s your musical background?
Cory: I've never been properly trained as a musician. I'm self taught, I play guitar and I’m self taught in piano. But one thing that just always really stuck with me too is getting better at composing and understanding notes and chords and just music theory in general. What was really nice about “Warmth” was I utilized Logic Pro to allow me to have real chamber sounds in the strings and overall sound. And even down to like the choir that's in it. And, it allowed me to feel like a great composer without shelling out $30,000 to hire an orchestra.
Juniper: You mentioned using Logic. Would you say that you were using that just as much as you were in the studio or did it come out to being equal?
Cory: Well for this song, I composed everything in Logic, including the drums. The drums are not real drums, but I tried to, I had to think like a drummer essentially. So I had to listen to how my band member drums on all of our songs, and then I kind of took that approach into using the Logic smart drummer. But then once we were in the actual studio recording vocals and guitars, it was kind of like everything was already there. It really cuts away the really lengthy process of making a record.
Juniper: It just feels more natural that way I guess too. What are you looking forward to in 2020? Just assuming that Corona eventually fades away and we can all go back to our regularly scheduled lives?
Cory: Well, I really think 2020 already is the best year for music that I've heard in maybe seven or eight years. There's something about the quality and just the mindset of everybody right now that people are done with when making music. That is, I think people are less depressed, and more and more angry, you know. Well, even though depression, you know, it makes great music, there's something about being frustrated that we really need as far as music goes and we just haven't really seen that in a while and it's, it's exciting to hear.
Juniper: Do you have any records that you're thinking of right now?
Cory: As far as singles go, there's a lot of really good singles that are phenomenal. “Container” by The Wants. I really love this song called “Football” by a band called Courting that is really good. There's a lot of really good stuff coming from the UK and Australia right now.
Juniper: Oh I agree. Plus there's just a lot of rage that people are building off of from last year as well. Punk music was super big last year.
Cory: Yeah. And I think people are ready to start dancing again, which is funny because during my quarantine time, I’ve been working on a song. I just finished mastering it today. But I wrote a little disco jam inspired by being indoors.
Juniper: Hell yeah. When are you planning on releasing that?
Cory: So I set the Spotify release date for March 31st
Juniper: What do you think about all musicians doing live streams? Do you think that that's a good idea or would you consider doing that?
Cory: Well, so I definitely would consider doing that. And also, 10 years ago, I was saying that, considering how polluting touring is, I wouldn't be surprised if one day musicians have more of a live-feed type of concert thing. And I think a lot of people saw it coming. But it probably would have been 20 years down the road. And coronavirus I think just sped it up a little bit. I think it's speeding up a lot though. I will say what I, what I think is like, I don't know. I think it is very rare. Like I always talk about this. I think this is the perfect comparison. But I really think that there's some musicians who are terrific at online personalities, in the same way that someone could have the perfect Tinder. But, but then I think there's other people you have to see them live to really get the full experience. And you know, obviously with Tinder, it's absolutely the same way cause I'm underrated in both ways.
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“Warmth,” in reality, is a path forged forward for José and for its listeners. With the daily added stress of feeling trapped in the fish bowl of one’s one apartment or bedroom due to the quarantine, the 11-minute long single offers a refreshing level of escapism that even a 3-minute-long song simply could not accomplish.
Stream “Warmth” now on all platforms and look out for “Soupçon Salissant/Lines” on March 31.