So!YoON!
You guys are listening to the commentary album of So!YoON!’s 2nd album, ‘Episode1 : Love’.
The track we’re going to be talking about is ‘CANADA’, which premiered earlier alongside ‘Bad’ as a pre-release single. I was lucky enough to be able to go abroad a lot for various work including my time in SE SO NEON in 2022. So, I was able to make a lot of musician friends, share music with them, and experience and learn a lot of things. Jon, whom we’re about to meet, is one of my precious friends that I met then. So, I worked on 3 tracks, ‘Bad’, ‘CANADA’, and ‘OUT (to be continued… :)’, with Jon while coming and going from Canada to the U.S. 3 times last year, and I was able to achieve great results thanks to that. So, let’s invite and have a chat with Jon who co-produced 3 tracks from this album including CANADA. Hi Jon

Jon Nellen
Hi Soyoon

So!YoON!
So what time is it there?

Jon Nellen
Ah I think, 11pm here.

So!YoON!
Yeah here is 11 am. I know you must be tired but thank you for taking the time to talk with me.

Jon Nellen
No thank you for having me. I'm not tired, not yet

So!YoON!
and long time no see!

Jon Nellen
long time no see yeah

So!YoON!
maybe one month

Jon Nellen
no longer

So!YoON!
I think we first met through a message or Facetime. Eventhough I’ve never learned English, by working with you guys I think my English has grown a little. Anyways, Jon and I met when he was the tour manager for last year’s US tour, right?

Jon Nellen
Yes, truth

So!YoON!
And of course I thought he was some operator and yeah I didn't think you were a musician so he, how did you end up working on the SE SO NEON's tour?

Jon Nellen
So I have a good friend here in New York named Jordan Corso and I think Jordan helped book that tour and I was having dinner with Jordan and he said to me, “hey, there's this very special band I really care about them they're coming for the” I think it was your first us tour right? He said, “would you be open to just going for one week to make sure that everything goes smoothly?” So I said, okay why not? I'll go.

So!YoON!
It's a destiny.

Jon Nellen
Yeah it was, it was, I wasn't sure I was going to do it but he said, you know, I think you'll have fun and I said, why not?

So!YoON!
Yeah it's really smooth but it was really hard right?

Jon Nellen
It was a hard tour. I mean, it was fun but I think the shows were so close together, so we had many, many days and nights of very little sleep. We'd have to finish the show go to the hotel, sleep a couple of hours, wake up, travel, so it was busy. We were all in it together as they say.

So!YoON!
I sent some demos for you do you remember?

Jon Nellen
Yeah of course I remember. I think we were driving from Los Angeles to Oakland or sorry we were driving from Oakland to Los Angeles.

So!YoON!
To Los Angeles, you’re right.

Jon Nellen
You sent me the demo of the song I think that became ‘CANADA’.

So!YoON!
yeah right

Jon Nellen
In the van. So yeah of course.

So!YoON!
I wrote that song when we were in the hotel in Bloomington. And then I sent you the demo, how did you feel about the song?

Jon Nellen
Oh I was excited when I first heard it I thought it was really cool. Yeah it was great. It was a great recording. I was excited and I was happy that you shared it with me.

So!YoON!
Yeah I remember it because at that time, we weren’t so close. But because we got to tour everyday and share hard memories we became close, so I sent you the demo.

Jon Nellen
I think when you're on a tour with somebody, you get to know them a lot faster. You know because we're not getting any sleep and I'm seeing you five in the morning to drive. And so I think one week of being on tour it's like we knew each other for a couple of years

So!YoON!
yeah we just drink before the show

Jon Nellen
Yeah

So!YoON!
The demo was made with a voice memo for a cellphone.

Jon Nellen
Yeah

So!YoON!
Yeah just a guitar and voice recording. So yeah, that was ‘CANADA’. Yeah, I wasn't looking for any kind of, kind of prize. I was just like this is demo, listen to it. And I remember sending it to you and you loved it and tell me about it. Okay you already talked about the moment okay and then from then on, I think it was just like, yeah oh my gosh it's so fast and then you booked some studio in the Toronto and then you invite your band members Joe?

Jon Nellen
Member, one member

So!YoON!
Yeah, well one member yeah okay it's not members.

Jon Nellen
Joe and I, yeah we've been really good friends since we were teenagers and we have a band together and we have a label together. So, yeah when you said, you know, you had shown me the demo and we talked about maybe playing some music together, I called Joe, and we found a place to play and I think we had to go pick up some instruments because I didn't have drums there but we picked up a drum set last minute.

So!YoON!
Yeah it was so fun. I didn't know about the process but oh, I follow you and then you booked some studio, and you lent some instruments, and you invite your member yeah it was so fast and so smooth.

Jon Nellen
Yeah I was surprised too. I guess neither of us really knew what to expect right? Because we hadn't, we hadn't known each other that long we hadn't played music together but yeah it ended up being, for me it felt effortless. Joe and I talked about which studio we should go to, and I think one thing we mentioned was maybe we should just go to a simple studio. Sometimes at a really big studio there's so much gear and there's so many things to plug in so I think we wanted to go somewhere that was simple and I think that allowed all of us to really just have fun and I think, I think I felt, I remember all of us sort of feeling like we had this level of communication that just happened naturally we didn't have to say too much.

So!YoON!
In Korea we don't have that cozy place, cozy studio. So yeah, we always be more fancy? Yeah so that place it made me feel like home. So that's why I felt very good.

Jon Nellen
Yeah me too. I think another thing that I remember too I, I think, I think a big part of collaborating with someone is like trust? or fear? lack of fear? And I think the three of us sort of naturally have a language where, yeah I'm not scared to suggest an idea and you're not scared you know no one's scared so I could say something and you can say, no I think that's bad and it's and we can laugh, you know and I think that's really important when you're making music because if you, if you're scared, if you don't feel comfortable with each other, then it's hard to be cozy.

So!YoON!
Yeah that's why. Because you know I'm not an American, so we just met first yes and sometimes I feel very scared to meet foreigners or to meet some strangers, but you and Joe was very I think you guys were comfortable people.

Jon Nellen
Thank you.

So!YoON!
Yeah so that's why I work with you again and again and again.

Jon Nellen
Thank you. Well, I'm lucky.

So!YoON!
So yeah we made three songs on this album.

Jon Nellen
Yeah

So!YoON!
I feel you are very good person for me. So ‘CANADA’ song was very easy for us, it's just so fun and yeah and then we met again in Brooklyn?

Jon Nellen
Yeah

So!YoON!
for the ‘BAD’ song?

Jon Nellen
For the ‘BAD’ song, so bad

So!YoON!
We worked maybe only two days, right?

Jon Nellen
More, I think we worked three days four days

So!YoON!
four days?

Jon Nellen
Because we did two days in Jake's studio, one day at Nick's studio and then we did one day at Sophie's house.

So!YoON!
Yeah, Sophie’s studio.

Jon Nellen
We just, yeah we just edited at Sophie's studio

So!YoON!
Yeah two days for recording or, arrange something and one day was Nick's touch and vocal recording and then we edited in Sophie’s studio.

Jon Nellen
Well, just the other day I was remembering I think on the second day we recorded how you and me stayed up until the sun came up working on the song

So!YoON!
I think you've given me a lot more scope to work with on this album? Nick and Ludwig and Jake? I think it's all because you've recommended some great musicians

Jon Nellen
My friends

So!YoON!
So do you have anything to say about that?

Jon Nellen
Yeah I'm really grateful that we got to work with them as well you know, when you told me you wanted to come to New York and work on a song, I thought, you know, we should call some musicians. So those were the first people that came to my mind and they're all really special friends to me. I've known Rudwig since I was maybe 19 or 20 years old and I've known, I've known Nick since I was 16 so yeah and, it was really sweet of Jake's portrait to let us use the studio. He's a good friend as well. So yeah, it was really special that they came you know and I think they immediately recognized that the energy was really special. I was talking to Nick the other day and he was like, man I remember having so much fun at that session, yeah and I think the other, the other great thing about that group of people is there's trust you know so no one is stuck in their role. So if Ludwig wants to try the drums and kick me off drums, he could do that. If Nick wants to try drums, if I want to try piano I think we all trust each other.

So!YoON!
Yeah totally and your friends also trust you. Your friends also trust you so yeah that's why it's possible.

Jon Nellen
Oh, thank you.

So!YoON!
How did your friend enjoy my album?

Jon Nellen
10 out of 10.

So!YoON!
Really?

Jon Nellen
Yeah two thumbs up, 10 out of 10 and we all love it here. We've been listening to it since it came out.

So!YoON!
Cool~ I also like ‘OUTRO (to be continued… :)’ too.

Jon Nellen
Yeah me too.

So!YoON!
Yeah it's just a tiny jam but right now ‘OUTRO (to be continued… :)’ is very dramatic and yeah it's like a dream pop.

Jon Nellen
Yeah that one was so fun. I think you had a meeting or you had an appointment and I also had to go see my friend play a show so we were in my house but we only had a couple of hours.

So!YoON!
yeah maybe five hours four hours?

Jon Nellen
Oh yeah four or five hours. That one was also really fun too.

So!YoON!
Yeah our chemistry was yeah it's boom. Yeah we just, we just keep recording

Jon Nellen
Yeah we also made some other recordings of that too.

So!YoON!
I remember your Tabla? really sounds really good.

Jon Nellen
Thanks. You played too. I have a video of you playing Tabla. You sound good on Tabla.

So!YoON!
I have a question, what is the most important thing when you are working on your project or producing for someone.

Jon Nellen
The most important thing, that's a good question. I think the most important thing is making space for allowing the music to happen, you know so if you have a song, or if you have an I, or we have one together I think the most important thing is to allow that to come into existence. You know I think when you're working on music, sometimes you can get it in your own way not you, but a person can get in the way. So, I think the most important thing I, once there's an idea, figuring out how to allow that idea to live and to be what it's meant to be you know

So!YoON!
Totally, I think yeah it's all done. Say hello to your friends Ludwig or Nick, or Jake or Joe yeah

Jon Nellen
Yeah I'm sure they send their hellos and I'll tell them you said hi and I'm excited to keep listening to the album.

So!YoON!
I hope I can listen to your album soon too! Keep working on it man!

Jon Nellen
I'm just trying to keep up.

So!YoON!
Yeah I really like your voice, vocal

Jon Nellen
thank you thank you.

So!YoON!
I hope to see you soon. I hope to see you soon. Yeah in this year maybe.