Everett's music scene has exploded in the last couple of years into a diverse plume of bands and artists. One such band, well, man, is Alex Campion.

Campion, who performs under his surname, is a Londoner who moved to Los Angeles then found his way here to Everett. He's his own band – building loops and sampling himself live on stage to create a lush and often foreboding soundscape. I met up with him at Silver Cup Coffee Cafe in downtown Everett to chat about how this project came to be, his new single, and what the future holds for Campion – both the man and the artist.

“I was trying to work out how to include other people into the lineup of my current project.” Campion said about the origins of the project, which started around Christmas 2014. As we chatted he sipped an oversized cup of English breakfast. A thick copy of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot next to him.

“I was lying in bed [worrying] over this stuff. Suddenly in the recesses of my consciousness a voice piped up and said 'No. Stop. This is ridiculous.'And I immediately had this feeling of – on the spot – I needed to strip everything back because I was playing with backing tracks and it was really unsatisfying.” Campion said. “[I'd] come off stage and I was like, “well this isn't really live.” I was playing guitar over the top of [the backing tracks] and it felt canned. Like canned laughter or something.”

Campion has released a few songs through his SoundCloud, but he's looking to hit the ground running over the next couple of months. Booking a plethora of shows and releasing more music is on his immediate radar, and it starts with his Sets in the West performance Tuesday and his newest single, “The Withering Oak.”

“Without spoiling it for anyone, it's about somebody who is gradually giving way. Their resolve or their solidity is gradually decaying.” Campion said of the song. He likes to keep the meanings of his compositions close to the vest – leaving it up to the listener to give the songs meaning.
The song itself (which Campion produced) is a monster. Tinkling bells give way to giant synth blasts and a bassline that is deep and chewy, with Campion crooning “oh everything is new/everything is you” in the chorus. While there's a lot going on in the song itself, each part breathes and pulses and comes together nicely.

For the mix of “The Withering Oak,” Campion turned to Everett artist Simon Nicol, a.k.a LEAVA, for assistance. “I'm quite a difficult person and I've not worked well with many people in the past.” Campion said. “The difficulties are not necessarily somebody else, but if I got with the wrong person they'd be like 'come on, be more professional.' Simon was the absolute opposite of that, and was patient.”

Patience paid off for both Campion and Nicol, and the two will be working together on Campion's future projects, of which he's dreaming big.

“There's an EP happening. There will probably be a second EP.” Campion said of his future endeavors. “In the next five or six months, there will be a full-length [album] which I'm pretty fiercely proud of. It's all produced by me but Simon and [I] will mix it.”

Campion will be performing at the final Sets in the West show, which is all-ages with a beer garden (and tacos!) with special guests at 7 p.m. Tuesday August 30 at Wetmore Theater Plaza in downtown Everett. While "The Withering Oak" has not been officially released, it was premiered on my radio show, The Stereo Wire, on Friday August 26. Listen to the playback and interview with Campion here.

-Henry J

Photo credit: Madeline Chadwick