Jai Wolf Explores the Long Road to His ‘Kindred Spirits EP’

Aryeh Harris-Shapiro

Jai Wolf is exploding at only 23. Wolf’s newest single, “Indian Summer,” released through Odesza’s Foreign Family Collective, is the latest in a series of Wolf triumphs that began when Skrillex played the remix of his own “Ease My Mind” at the annual Glastonbury Festival. The exposure turned Jai Wolf into one of EDM’s hottest young names and the “Kindred Spirits EP” showcases his expansive, melodic sound. Saha, real name Sajeeb Saha, recently spoke with Entertainment Voice about his unexpected success and how he found his own path to it.

How does it feel to be back on the road?

We’re pretty excited. We’re about five shows in, so it’s still just the start of the tour. Things have been going really well. Denver’s a really cool crowd too, so I’m pretty stoked to be back here.

You moved around quite a bit until you were a teenager. How does touring compare?

I kinda lived all over the states. I first lived in Illinois for seven years, then I lived in Pittsburgh, Pa., for seven years, then I moved to New York when I was 13. I’ve been here for the last 11 years or so. It’s more fun now, because when you’re a kid moving isn’t the most fun thing. It kinda sucks. Now it’s cool when you’re touring because you get to do a lot of fun activities in different cities. Your environment is constantly changing and if you’re surrounded by good people it’s always a good time.

Your fans may not know that you’re actually a classically-trained violinist.

My parents signed me up for violin lessons when I was a kid. I would have a private tutor who taught me for a long time. When I got to school I was in various orchestras and stuff. I didn’t really necessarily give it up. I just stopped taking lessons in high school because there was a lot going on in terms of my academics and applying to college. I’ll still play violin from time to time, dust it off and see if I can still play.

Were your parents heavily involved in your musical development?

Yeah, for sure. They’re creative people too, so I think they always pushed me to pursue what I wanted to pursue and make sure that I fostered my own creativity through music.

You began making dubstep in 2011 under the name No Pets Allowed before setting aside the project for Jai Wolf in 2014. What was that transition like?

It was definitely much-needed. I felt like what I was doing under the No Pets Allowed project had a ceiling and I felt that the music I was writing didn’t have a lot of room for growth. And I also felt like I wasn’t taking my creativity too seriously, so I wanted to take a couple steps back and hit restart before I moved on to the next project. It took about a year or so to really transition into Jai Wolf, but I think it worked out pretty nicely.

How does Jai Wolf allow you to better explore your creativity?

I just feel like the music I’m writing under this project is a lot more honest. I feel like it’s not so reliant on whatever’s sounding trendy right now. I think that the common thread between all the songs is a sort of emotional vulnerability behind the music.

Like many EDM producers, you started on remixes before releasing original material. Was that an intimidating leap?

Yeah, for sure. The thing about remixing is that you’re sort of given a template. For me, it’s really easy to build around an existing concept like taking a vocal and making a whole new song around it. It gives you an edge, almost. Writing original music was definitely a little intimidating at first, but it’s something you just have to dive into, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been writing music for eight years, and before I was even doing remixes I was writing originals, so it’s interesting to go from making original music under different projects to doing remixes for a long time, then going back to original music with a fresh take on approaching writing.

One of your earliest successes was your remix of Melanie Martinez’s ‘Dollhouse.’ How did that come about?

We actually knew someone who worked at Atlantic Records, the label she’s signed to, and they just offered for us to do the remix. It was the first time that we were approached by a major label. Before that, if you don’t know anyone or don’t have connections, you have to do a lot of bootleg stuff through Soundcloud or whatever. That was the first official opportunity to be released through iTunes and Spotify and all that stuff.

You rose to prominence on crowded web platforms such as Soundcloud and Hype Machine. How can you stand out as an artist?

I don’t know, to be honest. I question that myself. It’s not necessarily up to me. A lot of pieces fell into place at the right time and we got seen and heard by people from Skrillex to Odesza. I feel like we just got really lucky with it. There’s really no action you can take to make that happen, it just happened on its own. We weren’t trying for it, it happened it really organically.

How did it feel when you heard that Skrillex played your ‘Ease My Mind’ remix at Glastonbury?

It was really crazy. I really looked up to him for like three or four years before it happened, so it was crazy to get support from one of my idols.

Your debut EP, ‘Kindred Spirits,’ comes out Nov. 18.

I’m pretty excited and I’m hoping that a lot of people will enjoy the project because it’s a long time coming. “Indian Summer” is a year and a half old, and I think people were expecting a larger project to stem from there, which is what this project is. I’m happy to finally put it out into the world, and hopefully, people really connect to it.

You’ve released half the songs off the EP so far, including “Indian Summer,” “Drive” and “Like It’s Over.” What new material do you most want your fans to hear?

There’s this song called “Gravity” that I really like. It’s a collaboration between me and this singer named JMR. He’s super talented and has this really cool voice. I think it’ll surprise people because the style of song might be a little different from anything I’ve put out in the past. There’s still some sort of consistency in the theme and the sonics, but people will be very surprised by the song itself.

How do you find your collaborators? Is there anyone you haven’t worked with yet that you’d like to?

A lot of the songs you just pass around until someone connects to it, but with Chain Gang, I’m a big fan of that band. We sent it over to their team to see if they’d be interested in writing on it and they were, which I was really pleased with. Cam the vocalist is super talented, so to have him on the track was super cool. As for MNDR, I’ve seen her name next to many different artists over the past few years, but the record that really drew me to her was the song she and Flume did together, “Like Water.” I thought that I really wanted to work this artist because it sounds like really honest music, and her voice and lyrics are true to herself. That was the kind of person I wanted to work with. As for future collaborations, I’m a big Halsey fan. It’d be cool to do something with her.

What should fans who haven’t seen you live expect from your tour?

I’m gonna be playing the entire EP at the shows, but also something that’s a little different than your typical DJ set. We have a really cool stage design that I’m really proud of and I think it’s really different from a lot of the shows out there. I’m hoping that when people come out to the show they’ll understand the whole concept behind “Kindred Spirits,” the idea of strangers coming together for one reason, because of music. If you think about it, the concert is all these strangers coming together because they enjoy the music I’m writing. So those themes aren’t just explored on the EP but also the live show and the stage production too.

What’s next?

I think the natural progression is to do a full-length. It’s still very early but it’s never too early to start getting ideas down about how I want it to sound. I think this tour is going to be really cool because we’re going all across the country. It’s going to be really dope to be inspired by all sorts of different environments. It’s the perfect jumping-off point for writing the album.

Jai Wolf’s “Kindred Spirits EP” is available on Apple Music Nov. 18.