You'd have a hard time finding an Australian who doesn't recognise the first refrains of Jarryd James' monster single 'Do You Remember'.
The smooth-flowing beats melt into your brain like warm butter, which is probably why it's still being rinsed on repeat by fans all over the world.The fourth most Shazamed single of the decade, 'Do You Remember' kicked down industry doors for Jarryd allowing him to be a full-time musician.
Though he acknowledges the pressure involved in living up to his earlier success, Jarryd is hungry for this type of challenge. "I'm always going to try and make better music every time I get in the studio."
The only issue was, the idea of a seeing the same four walls for months on end felt creatively claustrophobic, so Jarryd hit the road.
His latest album, the forthcoming 'P.M.' that is scheduled for release 22 January, 2021, is a musical compendium of his trip around the world.
"When I go back and listen to all the songs on the album, I'm transported to where I was at the time. There are songs from New York, LA, ones that I made in the jungle in Nicaragua. It's pretty special for me, each song is a memory."
When Jarryd says jungle, he really means jungle. "It was a pretty full-on trip. All we could hear were howler monkeys the whole time."
To give you a feel for what that was like, each howler monkey sounds like it has an entire death metal band in its mouth. Multiply that by a whole jungle's worth of the creatures and you've got one hell of a free concert.
"They actually used recordings of those monkeys for some of the dinosaur sounds on 'Jurassic Park'," adds James.
Somehow, those death metal monkeys created the right kind of vibe because a crazy amount of work got done.
"We were there for about eight days with a bunch of artists, and we jumped in a different setup every day and tried to make something fresh. It was an exhausting trip, but an incredible creative experience."
The craziest part about this global adventure? It wasn't pre-planned. Each leg of the journey naturally rolled out in a way that took James to amazing places and introduced him to talented people. "You can't really plan that stuff too much. It's just the way it all happened.
"I feel very fortunate to be able to travel so much and create in so many different places. Getting a change of scenery is the most valuable thing for me when I'm trying to write."
Throughout his travels, Jarryd developed an uncanny ability to find artists who vibe with his style.
"I've been really lucky to work with pretty much my favourite producers on the planet. If I could choose anyone, it would be the people I worked with, so I count myself very lucky."
Fresh from this epic musical mission, Jarryd alighted in Australia just in time to hunker down with his loved ones as the pandemic took hold.
"I've been married for nearly ten years now, and the last five of it has been a lot of time apart. So it's been nice to have solid home time."
Not one to let difficult circumstances interfere with his creative drive, Jarryd dedicated his time in lockdown to learning about production. "It's a whole other world. I'm normally the one writing and recording and playing instruments, so running the sessions for other artists has been a crazy experience."
By stepping into the producer's role, it gave Jarryd new angles from which to approach his own music. "It's good for my brain to step away from my thing for a bit so that when I get back into it, it's a bit fresher."
Though 'P.M.' won't be released until January, you can get a sample with his latest singles: 'Problems', 'Slow Motion', and 'Miracles' – the latter of which comes with a gloriously trippy film clip.
This is new territory for Jarryd, but now that he's dabbled he's keen to delve deeper. "I'm really looking forward to the next single. It's going to have some cool, creative stuff going on with it as well."
'Overdue' is likely to be the next film clip you see, and Jarryd says you can expect more "cool trippy stuff".
For someone filled with so much creative fire, Jarryd has a remarkably laid-back and flexible approach to life. He is the ultimate chiller, happy to go with the flow and allowing it to inspire him creatively. New songs can rise up at any time, often in the most unexpected places.
One of the tracks on the new album, 'I Do', found Jarryd when he was making his way through the New York subway.
"There was an old Chinese man playing one of those single-string instruments, and it sounded so beautiful. I recorded it and it just expanded into a whole song. It's how I do it every time. Find one thing I like and then build from there."
'I Do' invites you to slip into the musician's mind for a moment. The subway sample rises up in all its raw beauty, and then a slick cavalcade of beats evolves out of it, accented by lyrics that flow with the comfortable cadence of your own thoughts.
It's crafted from the same special something that made the world repeat 'Do You Remember' until it had almost lost all meaning.
Yet Jarryd isn't rushing to analyse what that enigmatic quality is. "That's what you're always searching for really. It's what I did today and what I've been doing every day for the last five years.
"Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't, so I just follow my instincts and challenge myself to make sure I'm always going for the best possible version of everything I make."
