On ‘Scorpio Sun,’ Frecks Repaints Her World
By Alex Ramos
Collage by Alex Ramos. Photography by Allison Barr, courtesy of the artist
When I listen to Frecks’ EP Scorpio Sun, I imagine sitting on the steps of a church platform, staring at its high ceilings while a friend, close by, strums on a guitar. Released throughout 2020 and wrapped up at the beginning of 2021, Scorpio Sun is a diaristic account of singer-songwriter Jayden Shuster’s love and loss. It takes personal anecdotes and fragments them into a broken looking glass, forgoing the superficial and reflecting what’s true.
Despite her expansive voice — hazy with reverb — there’s a warmth that permeates through the clarity of her instrumentals. Lyrically, Shuster places people close to nature in her music, highlighting the distance the latter occupies, as the former moves away from each other. “You know I'll wait for you / Until 2:22 / I'll stand outside your room / Till the sky isn't blue,” she pleads on the introspective “222.”
The Portland artist portrays relationships with care, never splitting them into characteristic victims, cheaters or martyrs — just people. But as the title of the EP suggests, Shuster explores more intense, romantic themes like the stars and its synchronicities. It’s fitting for an artist who possesses a Scorpio sun, a sign known for injecting intuition and passion in all facets of life.
Over Zoom, Frecks and I discussed the recording process for Scorpio Sun, lightbulb moments and how astrology influences her work.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Alex Ramos: Can you tell me how you started writing and playing songs?
Frecks: Yeah! Well, I've always wanted to be a musician. Like, ever since I could remember. When I was 5 years old, I just loved performing and being the center of attention and all that stuff. And then, as I started to grow up, I learned guitar; in about, like, middle school, I really wanted to learn how to write music but it was really challenging. And I kinda just, like, plateaued and dropped off for a few years. And then, in high school, I really started to write stuff, but I would never share it with anybody. I was really nervous and shy about all that stuff. It was a very vulnerable side to myself.
So, I've always wanted to release music and do that whole process ... but it wasn't until quarantine started where I was like, "Okay. You never know if you don't try." I picked some of my best tracks and kinda saw it out, honestly. Because in the beginning of 2020, I was like, "I wanna do this whole project — a three song EP." I just wanna do it. If it sucks, it sucks; whatever, at least I know I can do it, you know? And then, quarantine kind of gave me that extra nudge of like, "Okay, well, you have the time now. You gotta finish it." And it was really fun 'cause I feel it's a very overwhelming and scary task to like, sit down and write music, and be like, "Okay, well, you love it. But like, people may hate it." And you just kind of have to be okay with that? So, I've been writing ever since I was 14 years old. But I haven't really started sharing until recently, and like, putting it on display.
Were you recording yourself when you were younger? Were you documenting it in any way?
Kind of. Like, I have a lot of voice memos, just like sitting on my phone. On my iPod, my old iPod Touch, I have videos of me playing. But I do have notebooks full of stuff and just random things here and there. But I didn't really sit down and record something on Garageband and then Logic, and do the whole like, recording process with learning the software and figuring out what levels you have to record at. The whole process ... There's a lot to learn.
Is there any part of the process — whether it's songwriting, producing, mixing or recording the instruments — is there a specific part that's special to you?
Yeah! When I was writing my music — or when I started the whole project, back in February 2020, January 2020, I was just doing it just to get through it. And I feel like that's a lot of recording. It's not like, super, super fun. It's a lot of little moments where you're like, "Oh my god, this is why I'm doing it. This is so exciting." It was when I was recording my first song, "Alone Again." And I came up with this guitar riff, just sitting there ... And it was the guitar riff that's in there, towards the end. It was really shoegaze-y and dreamy.
Once I had that moment, I was like, "Oh, wow. This is what it feels like to put a song together. This is what it feels like to make something you're really proud of, and have an aha moment." It just gave me a huge boost of confidence. This is how it's supposed to feel. And I feel like I go through a process like that, a similar process like that, with every song. I feel like, with any art form, you really love something in the beginning because you know what it can become, but you have to go through processes of like, hating it, then you keep going, then loving it. And then hating it, then loving it. I think I just fell in love with that kind of process, of being okay with having it suck sometimes ... but still being able to see it out 'til the end.
While you were recording, did you have any albums or songs that you played on repeat in the background? Like a "goal" sound?
Yeah! Do you mind if I look at my phone to look at my playlist?
Go ahead!
Okay. Yeah, I feel like what you're listening to is really important at the time because it really does show what your style is. I was listening to a lot of stuff, but I was also going through a break up, so I was feeling really sad and like, in my feels. So, a lot of that ... I was listening to Goth Babe, his first EP. I had discovered it for the first time ever. And he has a lot of garage-y, shoegaze indie rock vibes. That was really inspiring. I love Current Joys. Current Joys is always a good go-to for me, like, sound-wise. I love how dreamy and almost ... sad it can sound. I'm a Scorpio — I love getting in my emotions. I'm very intense. Dayglow is a huge one. I really loved "Junior Varsity," that album. Also, he came out with a YouTube series of how he made all his music. So, he was releasing that as I was recording things. It was just like, boom, boom, boom.
Great timing!
It was really inspiring, too. Oh, and Small Forward. It's a small band; they just broke up this year, took a hiatus. But they came out with a few songs that I really liked and I started getting into them. They came out with an album that ended up being my favorite album. It's their debut — is it their debut album? But that album really just, like, harnessed in on that chill, easy listening sound that I really wanted to go for. And just like, a lot of acoustics, and good melodies and harmonies, and build ups. I'd say it was a mixture of a lot of people.
In your introduction, you mentioned writing about undying love and introspection. The former can ride the line of being scary, but also being warm and romantic, like an ideal. Is there a side you lean more towards when you write your songs? Or are you trying to balance it out?
I feel like it's a mixture of both. Because sometimes I just write and see what comes out of my mouth. Sometimes, it surprises me because I'm like, "Whoa. I did not know I was feeling that way!" I feel like it’s a mixture of both; it's a healthy dose of both. Because undying love, for me — it's not full-on obsession and "I'll love you 'til the day I die." It's more like, "I cherish the time," or "I cherish that moment." And it will always sit with me, forever. Therefore, it never dies. It's a memory within me, you know?
When you were thinking about these things, did you have any inspiration outside of music? What were you looking for inspiration in?
I look for it in all channels of my life. It was a lot of things falling into fruition. But I think it was a lot of things I was going through at the time. And just like, being able to repaint my world in a way that I could build myself back up. It was so black and white, so dark for so long. Going through this EP and making it was kind of, like, the inspiration that I needed to draw on those aspects of my life and work through it. I'd say that was part of the consumption. And just, like ... being alone, I think, was a lot of it. Just being alone with my thoughts. And learning more about astrology, and my tarot, my spiritual side of things. That kind of helped paint that picture for me.
Your EP is called Scorpio Sun. What's your relationship to astrology like?
I love my relationship to astrology, I guess. [laughs] I feel like ... There's just like, a new wave of like, modern takes and all that stuff coming in right now. I feel like I have a healthy relationship with astrology. When I first got into the spiritual community, which I mean — astrology can be spiritual, but it doesn't have to be. It's just a tool. But, for a while, I was using it unhealthily in the sense that I would let it, like, dictate my moods or how I feel, or let it define me. Whereas now that I've worked through that side of things and learned more, and studied it more as a hobby. I use it as a tool to self-reflect and bring self-awareness, rather than to dictate my every move.
Do you think it influences your music, whether through writing or the sound? The aesthetics of astrology are very interesting. I'm a Leo, so I tend to gravitate towards things that appeal to that, warm colors and all.
Definitely ... It doesn't necessarily influence, but it helps me bring out — I guess you could say — that side of me. As a Scorpio, I feel like I'm very esoterically driven. I'm very drawn to analyzing things and psychics, and all that stuff. Just like, intuition, really feeling things out and thinking things a little deeper. Scorpios are known for having really intense emotions and being able to really channel that; I feel like, yes, it definitely comes through in my music. I feel like my music is a little intense — lyrically, at least. I just don't always reflect that because I am a Leo Rising. So, I'm very loud, boisterous and like to be the center of attention, a lot of the time. But when I sit down and write my music, that's kinda where my Scorpio side comes in, where I analyze my feelings and try to bring them out.
Aesthetically, I do like dark colors. And I think Scorpios are associated with the colors black and purple. I do wear a lot black and purple. [laughs]
I do hear that in your songs. They're dreamy, but they're also very dark. There's a lot of haziness in them.
I want it to be like, kind of scary, in a way. Not scary, but like, haunting. Like, it kinda lingers and sits with you a little bit. ◆
Stream Scorpio Sun on Spotify. Keep up with Frecks via Instagram, Twitter and Bandcamp.