Nightjars Selects
Photography by Say Spezzano
Nightjars is the solo project of Adrian Jade Matias Bell, a singer-songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. This month, he released his debut album, Modjeska, which explores his childhood and adolescence in Southern California. I met AJ early in college through USC’s college radio station, KXSC. Since then, I’ve gotten to know his sweet, contemplative soul even more through his music. I remember an intimate KXSC Nightjars live session where I sat back on a sunken-in couch in the station soaking in his poignant lyricism. Catching a Nightjars’s show at the beloved Junior High or AJ’s other project, Deathless Gods with Human Bods around the city, are some of my fondest memories of discovering underrated talent that lurks around LA and of basking in the creative, queer community that such artists reside within. It’s been so nice to catch up with Nightjars for “Artist Selects” and hear about the effort and thought that went behind Modjeska.
Listen here to “Nightjars Selects” while you read the Q&A:
It’s been well over a year since we’ve all been coping with the pandemic. How have you been spending your energy over this period of time aside from working on Modjeska? Have you developed any new hobbies or interests?
Everyone loves to joke about their quarantine sourdough, but my starter has become a beloved companion, and I plan to keep making my weekly sourdough long after the pandemic ends. I've also learned how to machine sew on a very hardy vintage machine I bought for cheap off Craigslist. I'm slowly learning how to make clothes!
I remember hearing you play some of the songs on this album at shows with just yourself and your GORGEOUS guitar. It’s so fun to hear even more instrumentation and fully-fleshed production along with your touching songwriting and compositions. What was it like reworking, transforming, and revisiting some of these songs that you’ve written and released in other forms years ago?
Because most of these songs have been with me for so long, it felt very cathartic to hear them built up into full productions. I remember recording the drums for "Balboa Island" in particular – I had chills nonstop from Jessy Reed's first take. It felt like parts of the song that I hadn't previously been able to capture were finally being brought to life. Transforming these songs during the recording process allowed me to feel like they were finally finished after, in some cases, many years.
Photography by Say Spezzano
Some of my favorite artists and friends like Rosie Tucker, Bella Porter, Eden Hain, and others recorded, produced, played, and created art for this album. Could you tell more about the development of your first LP and what it was like to work with such a talented bunch?
In early 2019, I was hemming and hawing about maybe recording some of my songs but not knowing where to start. Rosie's enthusiasm to get the project going was what made me think this album could actually exist. They very patiently recorded the whole thing in a practice space, a studio space, and (in some cases) at my house, and they also produced most of the songs. They are the reason I can play to a click track now, and I'm eternally grateful for that and much more.
As a solo artist, working on this record taught me to stop worrying about getting everything done "myself." Nothing actually gets done that way: it's corny, but we all need each other in order to grow as artists and as people. Everyone I worked with on this album was someone I already knew, from the cover design to mixing and engineering to distribution, and I learned from all of them. Their generosity with their time and skills allowed the album to be what it is. I feel honored to be surrounded by such talented and kind people!
My favorite tracks are “17” and “Modjeska” but I’d like to ask you which songs are your favorites. Are there any that you’re particularly fond of or have a special meaning to you that you’d like to share?
I'm always interested to hear people's favorite tracks! I think "Modjeska" might be my favorite to play. "Ready for the House" is a lot of fun, too. I think it's a lot more lighthearted than some of my other songs, and also kind of catty, which is a nice balance. I tend to skew sincere, as you may have noticed by now.
Digging further into your songwriting, I’d love to hear about how your hometown of Orange County as well as other themes like gender, love, family, and friendship informed your process. Could you reflect on how these topics inspired you?
Absolutely! I grew up in San Clemente, in southern Orange County. The earlier songs on this album were written when I was still late in my teens, so they're more literal and less self-aware of their own context. As I got older and got closer to trying to shape an album out of some of my songs, I started to reflect a lot more on the themes captured by those earlier songs, as well as the nature of the place I grew up in.
In particular, I became interested in how Orange County has this reputation as being super boring, rich, white, and bland – plenty of "I gotta get out of this town" type songs have been written about Orange County, and about Southern California in general. But when I started to ask myself how and why Orange County got this reputation, things became more interesting. I started to see that reputation as, in some ways, intentional. The all-the-same McMansion suburbs came from racist housing policies and a history of colonial land development. There's a strong Catholic tradition because Spanish Catholics were the original colonizers of the area, and because they intentionally wiped out and forcibly converted thousands of Acjachemen people. Everything is dominated by malls and strip malls because the communities of Orange County as we know them today were knit together by global capitalism in the mid 20th century.
I don't think most people in Orange County think very much about how the place they live got that way, which is also part of why it is what is. I also don't think Orange County is any more inherently evil than anywhere else in the so-called United States (take that as you will). But, basically, I began to think about my personal experiences in the context of my existence as a settler on Acjachemen land in the early 21st century. I did this less as an exercise in superficially "checking my privilege" and more in an attempt to understand, as deeply as I could, why I had had the experiences I'd had. To understand the forces that created my circumstances, and how those forces determined what power I have, and lack, in the world I know. So the songs that are about big themes like family or love are not just about those things, but about the specific context in which I came to know and experience them.
As live music is gearing up to come back, what would be your dream lineup and where would you want to play? Do you have any plans to play with a band?
Oh, to play with a band! My pre-COVID dream was to do a release show where I played through the whole album with a full band, and I do hope to still make that happen eventually. As for venues, to be honest, anywhere that would have me (not a joke; this is a sign; please email musicbynightjars@gmail.com...). I love the thought of playing in spots like gardens, libraries, museums, state parks, etc. It would be so cool if the return of live shows means increased creativity in where shows are held.
Most of all, I'm so excited to play shows with my friends again, and to meet new friends by playing shows with them!
Who are some dream collaborators that you’d like to work with such as other artists, collectives, organizations, etc.?
The absolute dream is to have my work arranged for an orchestra, or at least for a more complex assortment of instruments than I usually have lying around. I really admire Owen Pallett's work as an arranger – it always sounds so balanced and lush to me. I would love to work with them someday. (I forgot to put À L'Ombre Des Cyprès by Klô Pelgag, which Pallett arranged, on the playlist, but go listen to it! Banger.)
I also think a lot of my dream collaborators – artists and collectives alike – aren't out there yet. I'm always so excited to meet other trans musicians, and I hope that, especially as live shows return, trans people can continue building thriving musical communities with one another. Crossing genres, crossing art forms, helping each other not just survive but thrive: that's the dream, and I have a good feeling about it.
Photography by Say Spezzano
Last but not least, can you explain some of the picks that you’ve chosen for this playlist?
Every song I've included is one that I've listened to over and over; each one feels like a perfect self-contained world that rewards multiple listens, which is (to me) the sign of great songwriting.
About half the artists represent a small sample of some of the incredible musicians I've met and worked with: Maggie Gently, Silverware, Rosie Tucker, Sonia Maral, Giulia MC, Harvey Forgets, Another Bummer, Eli Winter, and Wolfy. If you like their stuff, please buy their albums! Everyone I've listed has a Bandcamp, and some even have some pretty sick physical releases if you're into CDs/tapes/vinyl.
The other half, like I've said, is just songs I generally adore. Some of them I admire for their cleverness, like "Collected Views from Dinner" – some, like "Words of Love," I admire for making me cry a lot. "Dirty Work" is a Steely Dan cover that I like better than the original (sorry, Dan & Friends of Dan). My partner and I have been yell-singing it at each other for the past month. Kind of a weird duet with your significant other, but it's so fun to sing.
Don't let me talk any more! Go get into those tunes!
