Time to keep the music magic alive as the Thanksgiving holidays approach with much eager anticipation. Not only will this break be one that is sorely needed, but people will be traveling to and fro with the need for musical escapism all along the way. One band in particular can help people in that regard. They are called Night Talks. Cali Musicians; Soraya Sebghati, Jacob Butler, Josh Arteaga and Cris Arteaga bring alt-rock front and center for a whirlwind of stellar sounds to make those long family car drives more bearable. To gain a little more knowledge on these four rockers, they took some time to share their musical journey to date.
Music seems to have been a huge element in their lives early on and has obviously persevered well into their adult lives. “My parents made music [and] I thought this was what I had to do when I grew up,” shared guitarist Jacob. Soraya, the vocal muse for the group, made it clear all the way through, “At a certain point in my life, I realized that nothing brings me the same amount of happiness.” In the end, people have to do what they enjoy to keep the balance. For Josh the bassist, he plans to keep using his musical ability to progress it all forward. “Ever since I was little, music played a big role in my family life. I want to continue and expand on how important that’s been to me.” Well, they have already succeeded in a major way with their work. If this a sign of things to come, they are honoring the field by leaps and bounds.
On that musical note, the crew had some of their own favorites of their work past, present and future. Jacob shared his favorite one that will soon be made available to listeners, “we have a song called Glass I’m really proud of. It’s moody, and has a little bit of a sad western vibe.” Soraya gave her take as well, “two of my favorite songs on our upcoming album are Drift and Jungle.” Take a listen to Jungle below and see the glory of which they speak.
They hope to continue to exploring their musical style as well by, “[messing] around with every possible instrumentation when we are writing and demoing stuff [and possibly adding] more synth,” as Jacob and drummer Cris put it simply. This can be attested in their musical inspirations by musicians such as Thom Yorke and Bjork. Soraya went on to express her love for the bizarre Icelandic singer, “I look up to Bjork in a lot of ways. Her career has had an incredible trajectory.” Perhaps Night Talks will follow in the same footsteps?
As they continue to pave their way through the musical universe, the band have some serious ambitions as far as venue choices go. Aspirations range from playing with Jools Holland, performing at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and the simple yet grand experience of playing a stadium. Fingers crossed all of these and more can happen!
Even during the endless touring, as many working musicians must and love to do, it has not been smooth sailing. Jacob gave a brief example, “we opened up for metal band, who I love, but the crowd was just not on board with what we were doing.” Tis a shame, however it is hard to win everyone over. He went on to elaborate a bit on the musical sphere as a whole to better showcase this notion. “I think there is great stuff out there, and not so great stuff out there. I think it’s hard to break out as an artist unless you have something really distinct and original about you.” In the end, artists have to keep at it as best they can.
Night Talks have great plans ahead and not all of them are centered around music completely. For Soraya, she has high hopes, “I definitely want to return to academia and maybe get my masters in literature or be a visiting professor.” Josh has even more of an adventure ahead as he lays out his simple pleasure. “I really enjoy playing video games. Hopefully I can get involved in the music portion of gaming.” When not planning for the future the crew can be seen eating sour gummy worms and watching Dragon Ball 2 while at the same time working on their second album.
If these folks sound good, just have a listen to their tunes. Not only will they win music fans over, their work will be in the musical loop for years to come. Go give them a listen or better yet see them live. Listeners need more worthwhile art like this, simple and sweet musical pleasure.
Jam On.
