"One Foot in the Future and One Foot in the Past": How Jai Wolf is Evolving in His Blue Babu Era

The mud has settled however the document is nonetheless spinning for Jai Wolf.

Jai Wolf, whose actual identify is Sajeeb Saha, aspires to “make music that feels like it could last,” he tells EDM.com. Instead of churning out single after single, Saha paces his productions leisurely. He takes time to build worlds that listeners can immerse themselves in long after they hit pause on the music.

The tracks Saha released over the first half of 2023, which arrived three years after his previous single, aren’t part of an EP or album. Rather, he describes them as part of a “new era” for Jai Wolf. “It’s having one foot in the future and one foot in the past,” he explains. “I want to evolve my sound and try new things, but also stay true to why people listen to me.”

That wasn’t the first time Saha veered his sound. His first large push was ditching his dubstep alias, No Pets Allowed, to craft nostalgic, chillwave music as Jai Wolf. This was a time Saha centered on ’80s-inspired, synth-driven songs like “Drive” and “Gravity.” A couple of years later, he shifted to indie-dance along with his debut album, The Cure To Loneliness.

Now, Saha’s Blue Babu period sees him tapping into an uptempo, high-energy sonic palette, which stems from his perception that folks wish to be on their ft in a post-pandemic world. Plus, a private need to be extra unfastened and collaborative along with his artistic course of. “I didn’t do too much of that before,” he confesses. “A lot of producers, myself included, sometimes overthink their creative process, so I’m just having more fun with it.”

View the unique article to see embedded media.

Letting unfastened, most of Saha’s new tracks clock in at over 130 BPM with a “backbone of rhythms and drums,” he describes. “Thematically and lyrically, I’m taking a stronger role as a songwriter in the sessions,” he provides. This thematic shift is on full show in “Paris,” a monitor that stacks stirring vocals atop a soundscape mixing drum & bass with indie-pop.

Meanwhile, “Want It All” bridges outdated with new. It options synths followers will acknowledge from Saha’s earlier period alongside a garage-inspired groove. The monitor involves life in a music video the place interpretive dance narrates a story of relationship trauma and therapeutic. AI-assisted animation stitches scenes collectively, conjuring a futuristic visible environment.

“AI is like a bogeyman, but there’s going to be good and there’s going to be bad, it just depends on how you use it,” Saha says about whether or not AI will assist or hinder musicians in the long term.

Citing the weird viral renditions of Drake singing Okay-pop, he acknowledges it’s unethical to make use of somebody’s voice with out consent for AI-generated music. But he believes it’ll be a pressure multiplier in the case of streamlining a music producer’s workflow.

“I’m not for making a beat out of thin air, but if I’m writing a song, I would love to have more shortcuts for certain things,” Saha explains. “Parts of the process will just be sped up or efficiently done because of AI, similar to automation where you now have ATMs instead of a bank teller.”

When it involves fixed evolution, Saha is impressed by his favourite artists, notably Childish Gambino. “Over 10 years, he’s pushed and developed his sound from being kind of a nerdy backpack rapper,” he says. “He’s made some really experimental records like Because the Internet, which to me is one of the best albums of the 2010s.”

But it’s extra than simply the music for Saha. “I love how he’ll play into a character and create this world that goes beyond the album,” he provides. “I do try to add as much as I can beyond the music, be it like a music video or some sort of online experience. I think that’s the kind of thing that engages fans. ”

World-building is a vital a part of the Blue Babu period. Before releasing any music, Saha ushered followers to “exit the loop” in a cryptic letter posted on social media. Signed by Peter Babu of Hikikomori Inc., the letter eluded to imminent hallmarks of Blue Babu with phrases like “a demonstration in the desert” (signaling Jai Wolf’s Coachella efficiency) and “an analysis of consciousness transcribed into sound” (indicating new music).

View the unique article to see embedded media.

Shortly after, Saha printed hikikomori.world, an interactive widget that served as a window into the world of Blue Babu. A type of extreme social withdrawal in Japanese tradition, hikikomori is one among the important threads operating by Blue Babu’s narrative. “It’s like looking inward and seeing the harsh truths inside of you,” he says of how the idea interprets into his undertaking.

Though Saha needs to maintain the narrative explicitly enigmatic in order to depart room for listeners to search out their very own attachments to it, there’s one facet of Blue Babu he’s open to divulging. “Babu is what my mom calls me,” he says. “It’s a term of affection and endearment which means ‘child’ in Bengali.”

While Saha says the identify represents the truest a part of himself, he doesn’t need its cultural roots to overshadow the important message he’s attempting to convey. “It’s really tapping into what it feels like to be a child, finding that innocence again as you grow as an adult and come across different hurdles and challenges,” he emphasizes. “A lot of people that I know want to hearken back to those simpler times.”

Perhaps the most hanging ingredient of Blue Babu is the reside present. Embracing evolution, Saha retired his iconic Orb stage for a extra intimate type of manufacturing for his first tour after 4 years. “It’s the most connected I’ve felt to the audience because nothing is covering me,” Saha says of his streamlined stage.

View the unique article to see embedded media.

The Orb stage was a bodily barrier between Saha and his followers, evoking a sense of security and safety. Getting rid of it has despatched the power of Saha’s reside reveals hovering. “Not only that, but in terms of room size, you’re really limiting yourself at the maximum height of the Orb,” Saha provides.

In bringing the Blue Babu stage to life, Saha took inspiration from different artists—however not in the method you would possibly assume. “We did a lot of research in terms of how other artists run their shows—by looking at other artists, you can see what they’re not doing instead of trying to emulate them,” he explains.

That’s how the round nature of the stage was born. “My idols and all these other electronic artists putting on a show don’t really have circular risers or circular lighting arrangements,” he says. “So our lighting designer—Devin, who’s so gifted—helped design the whole rig with a circular theme.”

View the unique article to see embedded media.

But it isn’t simply the visible course that Saha’s reimagined for the Blue Babu period. For the first time, his reside set is all unique music. “It feels fulfilling to have a show front to back that’s just 100% your own,” he gushes.

On stage, Saha is surrounded by pattern pads, drum pads, a customized fader, and an results rack. “It’s very similar to the effects on CDJs but we rigged it so that it controls Ableton,” he says. “I don’t think anyone actually has this setup.”

A customized setup empowers Saha to “reinterpret his discography” on the fly. Classic Jai Wolf anthems like “Feels” and “Indian Summer” are embellished with lush keys, shimmering synths and roaring drums to suit into Blue Babu’s high-energy, dance-focused soundscape. “I really wanted to dig deep into finding some of the fan-favorite songs, but then transforming them in a way that feels relevant in a 2023 context,” he emphasizes.

View the unique article to see embedded media.

On sure stops of the tour, like his hometown present at Brooklyn Mirage, followers had been additionally handled to opening and “Club Babu” closing units from Saha.

“I think the Blue Babu show is—I don’t want to say serious–but it’s 100% me, it’s my heart and my soul,” Saha says of his introspective headlining performances. “So what’s nice about Club Babu is that it’s just fun, it’s not me bearing my soul. I don’t want to think too much about genres or anything, let’s just get people sweaty and dancing on their feet.”

Mixing desi-flavored bangers, like Voodoo’s “Pan Jabi,” with thundering home à la “Turn off the Lights” by Chris Lake and unrelenting bass music like RL Grime’s quaking edit of “In Your End,” it’s protected to say Saha delivered on his promise of a no-frills after-hours set.

View the unique article to see embedded media.

After being on a bus for 9 weeks and taking part in 37 reveals, Saha is taking time some well-deserved time to decelerate. But with loads of unreleased music heard throughout his tour—and an obscure letter from Hikikomori Inc. to welcome 2024—the story of Blue Babu is removed from over.