”$timmy,” the new song by the chad browne-springer project Dreamvoid, isn’t just a candidate for hottest single of the summer; it is also a project unto itself, birthed from a New Haven-based afterschool program where students and teaching artists became creative collaborators.
“This project inspired me in a different way to reach out,” said browne-springer of their experience as an instructor in the six-week program, which will culminate in an album of eight songs. The first, “$timmy,” is an instantly infectious single — out Friday — that makes it nearly impossible to not sing and move along to the groove.
A member of the New Haven-based band Phat Astronaut as well as a solo artist, browne-springer was asked to participate in Sound Garden, an interactive program that the a cappella group Yale Spizzwinks does in conjunction with the Co-op High afterschool program, though this year it had to be done through a virtual classroom.
“With Covid life, they needed to navigate differently than usual,” said browne-springer. One of the members of the Spizzwinks reached out to them to collaborate and a plan was discussed.
“Originally, we were making the minimum of a song. An album was ambitious. I would be happy with three songs, but I wanted to challenge myself and what is possible to create. I thought maybe four or five songs, push the envelope a little bit.”
Their initial plan was to gather vocal loops, but that did not work out. The next idea was to curate sounds by having the students “grab” them — that is, record them on a device, like a phone — from anywhere they could.
“For example: if you want birds chirping, you got to go outside, grab birds with an iPhone, and now the birds are in the song,” said browne-springer. “Not having an objective was good. It created something beautiful.”
Some students grabbed a grandfather clock. Others grabbed shakers and a guitar plucking. “It was always different and led to a different series of styles and music,” browne-springer said. “Students could make something from scratch, curate sound from the real world: a teapot boiling or cars on the street. [I would say] ‘go grab that, discuss the sounds and what moved you, then give me a week and I’ll turn it into something.’ A week is plenty of time. I like a deadline, a sort of impending doom, people relying on you to mold and digest their sounds to show them you can be inspired anywhere, and you can conjure magic.”
The class included other aspects of music making as well.
“I made a playlist on Spotify of my favorite songs with sounds I love and uplifting Black and multicultural artists” said browne-springer. “First week I asked, ‘what do you want?’ and then also taught them the logistics of music, like copyrighting, and then we went from there.” Twenty-minute sound gardening sessions followed, with students grabbing sounds that spoke to them, and browne-springer was able to create pieces of music and eventually songs with ongoing input from the students and the Spizzwinks.
“It was nice to have that back and forth to digest and give it back. Up to the third week I was curating sounds, then had enough to work with.” In the second half of the class, browne-springer said, “I presented a song or two, and by the last week we had eight songs from this batch of songs.”
Like most programs during Covid, attendance waxed and waned, but that did not deter browne-springer from their goals. One student in particular attended consistently, and, as it turned out, “he is a bonkers producer,” they said.
That producer — who goes by the name of Expired Mocha and already has his own Soundcloud and Spotify slots with original music — “was impactful in the mixing and remixing of songs,” said browne-springer.
The two worked through the songmaking process to keep everyone up to date on what was happening, and “basically, we started a band,” said browne-springer.
They welcomed the challenge of making music in this new way.
“On my own I do sing and … sometimes I do fifty vocals if I want the sound of a choir,” said browne-springer. “As time dwindled down and deadlines approached, it made me use my skills in a different way.”
Browne-springer’s excitement and enthusiasm for the music and its creation was evident as they walked me through the process of creating “$timmy,” bringing up the Logic Pro X program he uses for recording and production.
“This is what class would look like going over the songs I’m presenting to class. I share the screen and give a literal view as to what I’m seeing. They send a file … maybe just a few seconds of a strum or piano keys.”
They then played me “the sound that sparked my ideas for this song, an original sort of dreamy chord progression that I heard.” They then added drum related samples, noting that they will “create from a structure that’s not necessarily what the song will be in but gives an idea of where my head is at.”
The song was then sent to Expired Mocha, who “rebuttals this creation with this bop.” Browne-springer then played that “bop” — a more layered, rhythm heavy piece. “This groove, the way the drums hit, it’s not the musical thought process I would land on. We decided everything we landed on we were going to use because this is all an experience. And I end up making music I would not make on my own.”
Browne-springer then had to address the lyrics.
“The next step was what is to be said on that song. I’m a lyricist so without it, it feels incomplete. There’s a story to be told on top of it.”
They then played me the piece with the lyrics: “$timmy got me banking. $timmy got you thanking.” Browne-springer’s voice was a melody unto itself as they expressed all the ways their stimulus check made them feel as they took a walk, anticipating its reception.
“It feels good, like summer, lighthearted,” said browne-springer. “This unexpected collaboration bringing this lyrical notion out of me … I tend to write some dark things. I think hard, so to be lighthearted was really beautiful.”
Browne-springer’s own learning extended to production techniques. “Objectively I’m not a great engineer. I’m learning on the go. Objectively to my ear this kid is a much better audio engineer. We mesh sonically. The choices are fun and reflective of his style and being a solid producer. I sent him my vocals, and he returns with this version. This version is cleaner, crisper, and you can hear the vocals more. He seems to know how to touch sound in a strong way. We send tweaks back and forth. He’s open to critiques.”
The next process to be completed was the mastering. “The mix of sound needs to be remolded again, so it functions across a multitude of mediums for listening,” said browne-springer. They sent the song to be mastered by multiple people since “mixing is subjective. I wanted multiple sonic opinions.” They ended up choosing the version done by their friend Andrew Oedel of Ghost Hit Recording.
The song will be available to stream on Friday, on SoundCloud, Spotify, and YouTube. Eventually it will be available on all streaming services. “It’s worth the extra effort because it’s good,” they said with a smile.
The teaching experience has only added to the artist’s multi-layered and ever-changing approach to music and creativity in general.
“I was a lifeguard. I gave swim lessons. I worked at an artist collective in Hartford doing choral direction, but to the degree of creating something from scratch, I generally created on my own. But the past handful of years I’ve changed my creative perspective and collaborative skill set. Now I know I can do it.”
The Sound Garden classes are now over, but browne-springer is still in touch via group chat with those who attended, the Yale Spizzwinks and artists Paul Bryant Hudson and Stephen Gritz King, who are the after-school liaisons for the program, reporting all the steps of what they are doing with regards to the music created, its promotion, and plans for releasing the full album of eight songs in the beginning of June.
“This song isn’t even the total experience,” they added. “There’s an angsty punk rock grungy tune, there’s trap metal, there’s a more emotional one. We came with a game plan, but we had to be flexible. It’s reflective of the diversity of the class, and the diversity of what I like.”
Browne-springer’s enthusiasm was as warm and bright as those summer days ahead. “They have no idea what’s coming. It’s nuts, and I couldn’t be happier.”
$timmy by Dreamvoid will be available on Soundcloud, Spotify, and YouTube this Friday, April 30. The song can be pre-saved on Spotify here.