An encounter with Julie + Justin from Summore.

Everything we do with the music, from lyrics to melody, is a collaboration between the both of us. We craft everything in a bespoke way. Sometimes, the music comes first, and sometimes the lyrics. Sometimes, it’s just a mood that we want to capture. We started making music together a long while before we ever decided to share it with the world. It started as a cool way to express ourselves. We never intended to share it outside of close friends, but they all encouraged us to release it publicly. Ultimately, our music is about love. Love (or lack thereof) for ourselves and others. It’s about personal growth, meditation, therapy, and becoming what we will be. Sometimes, all it takes to change our experience in the world is a hard look in the mirror or into the abyss.

Our art comes from the heart; expressing ourselves effectively will connect with the right people when and if the time is right. We aim to do what feels right for us in each moment of our creation, reflect on our behaviours, thoughts, feelings, and emotions and deconstruct them into pieces. Time will tell if it is timeless, but new meanings and perspectives may emerge from the music over time that breathe new life into the songs. We don’t aim to push boundaries or break moulds other than the ones we’ve created for ourselves. We don’t want to be a carbon copy of another artist, either. We want to express ourselves through our homemade brand of dark, existential bops that make the booty shake and the mind think.

Our influences are quite broad. You may hear some right away, while others might just be a theme or tonality. Projects like Portishead, The Knife, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Outkast, Massive Attack, Boy Harsher, and The Cure are just a few that have affected us. On stage, we do our best to be ourselves and share the moments with the crowd. We are sometimes animated, but not as a gimmick or anything. We always aim to connect with the music and each other on stage, to feel that we gave ourselves to the experience.

Sometimes, our darkest tracks have a twinge of optimism, and our brighter-sounding songs have a darker meaning. We love to juxtapose themes to balance the moods. At times, our sound expresses as downtempo pieces, but we have been leaning towards more of a dark and danceable sound as things have progressed. We usually approach our collaborations on a case-by-case basis. If a song calls for a specific sound that we can’t make, we try to find a dear friend who can bring their magic into the studio. We have had several talented artists join us on some tracks from New Pain.

New Pain, our latest album, is about the horror of being hit by a drunk driver while eating in a parking lot after a show in the fall of 2022. New Pain chronicles the story before, during, and after the trauma. The album is meant to feel a bit repetitious and trance-inducing during some songs. It probably isn’t for people with short attention spans, but it’s the way we chose to express our suffering. Recovery is long and challenging, but we continue to persevere. Most of all, we yearn for well-being, happiness, and peace, internally and externally.

The most important thing of all our work is self-expression; whatever comes from that is part of the journey. Since the wreck in 2022, we have had more challenges when it comes to performing, but we are resilient. Even if ten years from now, all the venues in the world are digital theatres in VR headsets, we will happily keep performing and expressing ourselves through our recordings.

Julie + Justin

https://linktr.ee/summore
https://www.summore.net/
https://www.youtube.com/c/SummoreOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/summore.music/