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Detroit, MI-based musician Jasper Dean (they/them) has been developing their craft as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter since their early tween years. Despite not pursuing evident elements of Detroit’s iconic Motown sound, Dean proudly boasted the credentials of their city. “We do it all, and we do it really well,” they said with a smile. 

Diving into the world of electronic experimentation and house music at age 11, Dean began to cultivate a musical landscape that would later become their desired template. The foundation of the sound has remained stagnant, though Dean confidently stated they have made considerable efforts to expand their sonic reach.

The result of this growth is Dean’s latest full-length project, TOY COLLAGES. A collection of wily, chaotic tunes Dean themself describes as “crazy sounds,” songs like “MARGARITA SUMMER,” “CAPTAIN WHAT JUST HAPPENED,” and “FREAKING IT OUT” challenge the listeners mental stimulation. Dean’s vocal tonality and rhythmic pacing shifts at the drop of a dime, and their often warped and stylistically oppressive production elements remain unpredictable. This appears to be the goal, as Dean craves the listeners acknowledgement of the converging systems, even if they have not yet been exposed to this kind of auditory aesthetic. 

As the sole creative across the board, Dean expressed experiencing feelings of hyper perfectionism, fixating on minute details within the production that, for some, may serve as solely “ear candy” and, for others, may be largely unnoticeable. During this interview, they cited “MARGARITA SUMMER” as an example, stating that, amid a period of solitude, they would proceed to work themselves into a frenzy, only to nix the excessive number of tracks added to the docket. This is a commonplace practice, as Dean’s preferred space of creation is, in fact, by their lonesome.

Dean, dubbed a “disco milkman” in the comments of their recent music video for TOY COLLAGES track “SUN” due to their futuristic, eccentric wardrobe, approaches their visual accompaniments from a similar perspective. They are not afraid to fixate on a singular concept, riding the way of freneticism for the entirety of the visualizer for “FREAKING IT OUT,” though an official video is set for release in the near future.

Following in the footsteps of artists like Jane Remover, 2hollis, and Ninajirachi, all supporting a sound Dean says rose to prominence during the pandemic, they have learned to exacerbate their emotions. Those emotions are then connected to songs that exemplify the unbalanced nature we so often feel, but may be hesitant to discuss. Then, suddenly, we find ourselves in a room with others, whether that be 50 or 10,000 others, who are desperate for that kind of refuge. Dean’s music provides that refuge, even if it isn’t always the safest one. 

OnesToWatch: What do you think your vision is now versus when you started? 

Jasper Dean: I think it has changed quite a bit, actually. When I was in my teens, I was definitely making bedroom pop, and a little before that, I was making EDM. But, I was always listening to punk music, new wave, and lot of other genres, so I always wanted to make that kind of stuff. Recently, I found a way to combine my love for making music on the computer with my love of those genres.

You’ve been playing instruments since you were 11, yes? 

I only started playing guitar when I was 16, but I started producing at 11. I was making dub step tracks, future bass, and progressive house music. A lot of that has still stuck with me as far as what I make and how I feel about music.

Detroit is known for its soul music, classic Motown. What is the scene there like right now? 

Detroit’s biggest strength is how versatile it is. There’s anything from hyperpop, ghetto tech, alternative rock and dream pop bands. I have friends who are brilliant classical composers. We do it all, and we do it really well. 

Do you have a relationship with Motown?

I love it. I went through a big soul phase this past winter, and I found myself listening to a lot of Otis Redding, mostly. There was a large wall of sound that I always loved. There are so many layers to pick apart. 

Is your relationship with instruments and vocal production, arrangements, etc. based primarily on skill or do you have some kind of synthetic reaction? 

I typically write everything using my computer. I’ll usually record something, either bass or drums, and then I’ll loop it and keep it going and see what else I can figure out. 

At what point did you feel like you had earned the right to trust yourself to play every instrument on a record? 

I cheat my way there a lot of the time, and then I have to play catch up later at the shows. When I made the album, I really tried to home in on my bass skills. I still can’t play keys. I have an Ableton Push One that I use for the drums, keys, and synth parts. I can work myself around a keyboard, but I’m not a savant or anything. 

What’s your vibe for live shows? Are you playing to tracks or with a band? 

I have a full band now. We’re doing everything live, no tracks. It has been fun to figure out how to translate all this stuff live. it’s very loud. 

Had you been a bandleader prior to this? 

Not at all. Before this, it was just my brother and I, with him on drums with tracks. Now, it’s a few friends and I with all of our crazy gear. 

Being that you are so creative in the process, how do you know when it’s time to tap out, musically? 

That’s a good question! It’s usually when I start focusing on VERY small details that no one will ever notice, and, at that point, I’m like “I need to step back from this, because there’s something else that I need to do here, but I’m in too deep to see the bigger picture. 

Do you have an example of that from this project? 

I got really carried away on “Margarita Summer.” That one took the longest. My girlfriend had left town when I was finishing that, so there was no one to tell me I needed to take a break. I was in there for hours and hours, and I’d added around 40 extra tracks. None of them made it onto the final mix. There is definitely a lot of stuff on this album that only I can hear. It’s like leaving little secrets for myself to listen back to later, but I feel like they all add to the overall sound. 

Does that make it difficult to play live? 

Because they’re mostly just ear candy, I try and make the essential song work with just a band. That was my goal with this album. To try and make music for a band, and then manipulate it to be for a solo act.

At what point of the creative process do you start to think about visual elements, and how much of that are you able to do yourself? 

The whole time! I’m always thinking about visuals. I’m very visually driven. The reason I got into music was because, when I was in elementary school, I really wanted to compose films. Mostly, I shoot videos with my friend Sudo Stranger, and I just shot one with my girlfriend. 

The video for “dashcam compilation,” (off the 2024 project of the same name) is extremely maximalist, but for “FREAKING IT OUT” it’s just you against a wall going crazy. What is the distinction between those two ideas? 

There will be a full video for “FREAKING IT OUT.” It’s in the works. I just felt like I needed some kind of visual, so I just went over and turned the light on and filmed myself dancing in reverse to it, which was way harder than I thought it would be [Laughs]. 

What about the hyper-pop and/or indie-sleaze sound is the most accessible to people of a certain demographic with acts like 2hollis, Jane Remover, and Nate Sib doing it on a more mainstream level?

I really love Jane Remover. I also really love underscores, and I was very much in that scene during the pandemic. It’s really special, so I’m glad to see them all get their flowers now. I don’t feel like I fit into that label, and it’s weird because… what are they calling it now? Sleaze pop? It’s too broad of a classification. Genre is dead at this point. It’s such an amalgamation of every sound ever created because we have the internet, and ideas and sounds are able to be shared so freely. It’s just hard to put a label on anything nowadays.

“TELEMONKEY” is described as a satirical take on indie sleaze. Is that accurate? 

Yes, definitely. I wrote that around the time The Dare was popping off and everyone was getting on board. The modern indie sleaze movement really isn’t the same. It leaves a lot of the rawness and raunchiness from the first wave, that I felt was really special, out of it. I was just trying to poke at the fake attitude. People were more so chasing an aesthetic rather than trying to find their own sound. I want people to do their own thing their own way, and I think revivalism is cool, to an extent, but after, like, five people do it, I think it’s over. 

What are the factors that cause you to weave songs like “TELEMONKEY” and “CAPTAIN WHAT JUST HAPPENED” into each other, and do they need to be connected thematically in any way? 

The idea came to me when I was about halfway through the album. I was listening to Quebec by Ween a lot, and that album does the same thing. It feels like a drug trip. It gets more absurd, louder, and more chaotic, and then it falls off and you’re left in this sobering reality. So, I wanted to emulate that feeling of ramping up, with a sudden bring down, as much as I could. 

What dictates the dynamic levels at which you execute the vocals for some of these songs? 

I have no idea! [Laughs] “CAPTAIN…” was a result of heat exhaustion in my unairconditioned apartment at that time. I was having an identity crisis, so I wanted to go crazy with the vocals. I like to play with dynamics. There’s not a lot of them in music now, which is really sad. Volume is one of the most important things about sound in general. An extreme difference in volume of tonality is very exciting.

So, you feel external factors result in you wanting to yelp, or scream…

Yeah! Also, it’s me imitating vocalists that I like. There’s a Jean Dawson quote from a while ago where he talked about not doing features and just imitating artists he liked on the tracks. I thought about that a lot. It’s cool to have a wide range of, not just pitch, but voices you can do. 

Who are some of the voices you’re emulating here? 

I really like Tim Taylor from Brianiac. They’re my favorite band EVER. I started to get really into Geese at the time I was writing this, which was around 2024. And Dani Ford, DIVO, Cornelius. 

Cameron’s live version of “$0” from Carnegie Hall destroys me. 

[Exasperated] Oh please! The first time I heard 3D Country I was like “What the fuck IS this???” I had it on repeat for hours and hours. 

How do you know a song has earned a structural shift? 

When it feels right! I write songs chronologically, so at some point I get bored, and I throw stuff out of the window. I try and really grab the first idea that comes to mind, and usually it’s completely off the path of what I’m doing.

The second half of this project is much more instrumental heavy than the first. Was than an intentional choice based on where you were at in terms of the narrative of the project? 

I think so! It’s kind of a release towards the end, but by that point, I was getting really burnt out creatively since it had been four months of nonstop writing. By the time I wrote “we are totally doomed,” I was like, “This is it. I have nothing else left in me.” 

Which is funny, because it’s the longest one AND the busiest instrumental with the most subdued vocal.

By that point, I was experimenting less with writing band music, since that’s what I’d done for the rest of it. that one has been the hardest for my band to figure out. It’s hard to keep everyone on time with the synth loop. 

What was the quickest or easiest song to write? 

I think “TELEMONKEY.” I wrote that really fast. It was a notes app idea I just went back to. 

What song do you want to pop off the most? 

I really like “MAN VS MAN.” That’s my favorite song I’ve ever written. It has a very good message and I feel like I conveyed it in a poetic way. Also, the song structure is written to convey that message. 

What is a sound that you can pull out of the air and turn into something musical? 

I like making my guitar sound like not a guitar. That’s always very inspiring for me. I’ve been trying to figure out how to make dubstep with it. Guitarists will try and make their instrument sound like anything but the instrument they bought.

Do you think that requires a certain amount of skill? 

Kind of! A little bit. I’m a sound design nerd, so I spent a lot of time messing with my guitar. I’ve taken it apart and put it back together more times than I can count. 

Did you study it? 

No! I’m just a nerd. I spend a lot of time in front of Ableton messing around with effects.

Does that affect the way you listen to music, or go to shows? 

I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile, but when I’m listening to music I have to remind myself to not ruin it. a lot of the time, I focus on “How did they do that? I wonder how I can do that!” instead of just focusing on the emotion of the song. I’ve been trying to do a good mix of both.

Listen to TOY COLLAGES below: