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Photo by Nathaniel Copes

Known for a weighty sound that imposes, Scarlett House crafts music that often feels physical, a gravity cementing you through your senses. While that layered heft exists, in his latest release “MADE FOR YOU,” it’s very much in the background, with a beautiful, light melodic part of this dynamic artist’s vocals living in the forefront. Feeling intimate, raw and crucial, all the reasons we’ve loved this artist just got more numerous and complex: made for our every mood. Curious about this artist, his Warped Tour live set, and more, we caught up with the man himself here:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist?

Scarlet House; Why am I an artist? I'm an artist because it's all that I am. I don't even know how to answer that question, actually. 

Very artist-like of you. 

I want to trace it back to grade school and high school, just growing up trying to find my way. Nothing ever seemed to click except music and art. So I think by nature, I was just pulled into this world of art. 


Is there any other art form that captures your attention the same way music does? 

Movies. Not at the same level, but I'm a big movie guy. 

You definitely dedicate a lot to your visuals. Is that influenced by your film taste? 


For sure. This might be a basic answer, but I like a lot of the A24 horror movies, so I'm big into cinematography and the look of movies – they always kill it. NEON is another film company I love. I like to pull some type of inspiration from all those. 

I always know an answer's not going to be basic when someone says this might sound basic. 

I'm scared of the basic sound. 

That's why I love these questions. They're very revealing. When were you confident enough to put yourself out there and write music with the intention of releasing it to complete strangers? How long have you been doing that?

Honestly, it's been a while. I was putting out music in high school and it was terrible.
So bad, but nobody around me had the will to tell me it was bad, thankfully. I just kept pushing and honestly, I never cared too much about how it sounded because I heard the vision in there and figured someone might like it if I do. I just kept going. 

Fair enough. You are your audience on some level. Let's dive into your process a little bit. Do you have a methodology? Do you approach songwriting in a similar fashion every time?

I'd like to say no, but yeah, I do. The artist in me wants to say it just comes to me. But really I just sit down and I usually start by picking up my guitar and strumming some chords and I'll just be coming along and then I always build out the instrumental first because my favorite part is singing, but I do obviously like the production element. So I build it out first so I can focus on that. Then once I have the skeleton of it all, I'll go back in and send it off to somebody. 

Is it a skeleton at that point, or do you have a full instrumental track done? 

The process has changed a little bit. Before the latest project I just worked on, Angels, I was doing all the production alone, so I would, bare bones, just go and add a guitar here and there and then call it a song. But this time I did my usual method of building drums, bass guitar, all that, then I sent it all off to another producer. His name is Brody, and he has helped beef up everything and level it up. So I guess my process is changing a little as I'm still creating. 


How comfortable are you collaborating, even with a producer? Is that new to you? Is that uncomfortable? 

It's person to person – another basic answer here – I feel like it all starts with a friendship and connection. I've had random sessions where I get thrown in with some guys and stuff comes from it, but I think I always enjoy friends and people I'm close with because I feel like it's a vulnerable thing to be in a room writing your feelings and singing. It's nicer to do it with people you trust. 

Some people like to trauma dump on strangers, though, you know? 


Yeah, that's a good point. I don't think I'm one of those people. 

Let's get into the record. First of all, congrats, what a beautiful piece of work. Walk me through it. First of all, like, you don't see many 14 track albums anymore, so there's an inherent ambition in that that's kind of wonderful. I love that it has a start and end song. Tell me about the whole work. 

My biggest musical inspiration ever is Frank Ocean. I was looking at Nostalgia Otra, and he had start and end as his beginning and final tracks. I thought that was so cool because it also ties into that cinematic feel to it. I knew I wanted to do that, too. And then overall, I got out of a pretty serious relationship. It was my whole youth, my developmental time, so coming out of it, I was in a weird spot. I just got off tour and I was trying to find my way as an individual while processing all this. I just kind of put it into song form or project form. I didn't want to focus too much on my situation because as relatable as it is, I want to make it broad enough for other people to connect to it. I just wanted to tell a story, start-to-end of a relationship where the feelings are very high in the beginning and over time it all turns to turmoil. 

What did you learn about yourself retrospectively diagnosing that relationship? 

That's a good question. I was able to see my passion more clearly. I was able to see my flaws. And also, I was able to exercise certain things that I would want to get out. As far as the artistic perspective, I was able to grow in some areas of songwriting that I was not always sure how I could achieve, but I worked through it and got something I'm proud of. I built some confidence through this project as well in my own self, reflecting on who I am as an individual. 


Love it. Do you have ambitions for this work? Do you want the audience to take something from it specifically? Are you happy to let people interact with it, emotionally, however they see fit? 

Yeah, I'm happy just to put it out there. As much as I'd love for someone to understand this or that lyric and connect it to all the things I see, I know people are people as perspective is perspective, so everyone's going to take what they want from it, and all I can do is hope for the best.


If everything goes as planned, whatever that is, where are you musically in 5 years? Are you doing anything even remotely similar to what you're doing now? Is there a bookend? 

I definitely want to stay in guitar-based music always. I am in the beginning of my career, but especially early on, I was kind of classified as shoegaze, but I want to explore more. I want to do more modern alternative leaning things, indie things, feel it all out.
So 5 years, that's a hard question to answer, but I will still be making guitar-based music, that's for sure. 

I like that you hinted, that you're defying genres in a little while. What's really interesting to me about your sound is that there is a nostalgia – because I think I'm old enough to have lived through the shoegaze peak. Why do you think that music seems to be having a bit of a niche revitalization?

I think shoegaze is great music and good music is always going to come back around. Whether it's shoegaze or R&B or whatever it is, life has a trend of bringing back things that were popular. You know, you eat your favorite food and then you're like, oh, I need a break from it, but then you come back after a break. I think it's human nature to revisit things that are great. 

I've heard some people associate it with feeling raw and analog in an era where everything is digital, that the gravity of the guitars and everything reminds you of the physicality of life and its corresponding emotions. Does that strike you as maybe a reason why people are reaching for it now? 

Honestly, I never thought about it from that perspective, but that's a beautiful take on it.
Maybe it gives people a feel of simpler times. I think that's what we're all looking for. 

Can confirm. Let me pivot to some more fun questions. If you could put together a dream lineup, who’s playing? 

I would want to choose from all my biggest inspirations. Frank Ocean is going to be there. He might have to headline, honestly. 

Hope he shows up. 


The Fray, that would be sick with the original lead singer. Shout out to the new guy, but the OG guy has my heart. I'd be wrong not to say Deftones. I'll throw one more random answer. Lucky, he's a rapper. That's my favorite. 


Okay, cool. When you need to reset, meditate, what do you do? Where do we find you? 

Right here. I'm a homebody by nature. I find my most calm times when I'm either in my room or on my patio or somewhere in nature out here in Charlotte. I think the common factor there is being alone. 

You need the social battery to recharge.
If some friends ambushed you at your house, disturbing your solitude, and they were hungry, could you whip up a meal? And if so, what would it be? 


Yes, but I don't think people would like what I eat. I've been very into the gym for the past year, so I'm eating a lot of ground turkey, avocados, and sweet potato – that’s my go-to meal every day.
If I want to mix it up, I'll throw a steak in there, but my friends will not have fun eating over here. 

Do you meal prep all week, even on the weekend? You don't have a cheat day or anything? 


It depends, I play pool a lot, and if I go out and play pool and get drunk, I'll end up at Taco Bell for sure. So, yeah, I'm not perfect. 

You are human. I would love a non-music recommendation. So it can be something to do in the gym, a place to visit, something to read or watch, just anything that's not music. 

Well, okay, it kind of ties back into the album, but it's a movie. You know the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I went through the canon event of watching that movie after a breakup, it shattered me and turned into this beautiful piece of work. So watch that movie.

That's a great movie. Not an easy watch, but definitely a great movie. You can probably anticipate what the next one's going to be. I would love a music recommendation. 


Have you heard of Love Spells? 

Yeah, we love him!

I've also been listening to The Shins a lot. 

We just want to end on your words, man. Any advice, antidotes, jokes, promo, shout outs, hi moms, whatever. 

Hi, Mom. Hi Dad. Hi, my girlfriend. That's pretty much it.