When it comes to creation, sometimes you live by the words, "It's done when it's done." Such is the case with "Confusion Fruit," an album almost four years in the making that finally releases today.
The man behind it goes by Makebelief (aka Schuyler Petersen). He originally spoke with Nick Brunner for Hey, Listen! in October of 2018 while working on the album.
"I grew up in Iowa, and pretty much have only ever wanted to make music,” Petersen said. “After high school I landed at a now-defunct contemporary music college in St. Paul, Minnesota. where I studied music production. I had been playing instruments for about 10 years at that point, but knew basically nothing about recording music or anything about making music on a computer. That was the real starting point for the music I’m making today."
While Makebelief’s music tends to lean more toward the ethereal, there are also poppy elements laid through his work. But you have to actively listen to hear them. One surprise for me was learning of Petersen's appreciation for arguably San Diego County's most well-known band.
"I fell in love with Blink-182 when I was young and got really into pop punk and emo music, which I think still permeates my sense of melody and predilection for overly emotional expression to this day,” he said. “Modest Mouse was a big turning point for me though when I was thirteen, and I started listening to 'weirder' stuff from then on.”
From there, Peterson said that artists like Animal Collective, Baths, Daedelus and Slow Magic inspired him to explore more experimental and electronic forms of music. He may take a page from a few other books but the sound, weird, wonderful and warbly, is all his own.
You can see Petersen play songs from Makebelief's debut album on Saturday January 18 at The Red Museum in Midtown Sacramento.
