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The records have been praised by electronic and indie music blogs all over the world. What separates Seabright from a lot of the other mellow-electronic and chillwave artists out there is his eclectic musical background.
Before Morales ever dabbled in electronic music, he played guitar in a trio in the ’90s called Bubble Jacket. They were an instrumental indie group that had elements of jazz, surf and space-rock. The laid-back tone of the band was very similar to Seabright, only with a bass, guitar and drums.
A lot of laptop artists only use digital software to make music. Morales uses a little bit of everything—software, guitars, analog synthesizers, handheld percussion, samples and of course his pop-centric vocals on top of it all. He captures the dreamy sounds of early California surf music, but remixed through a modern digital lens.
“I’m interested in early technology. I like the early moments for a genre,” Morales says.
Some of Morales favorite music in fact is early surf and rockabilly because he loves the guitar tones and early uses of reverb. He also is a huge fan of early electronic music from the ’60s and ’70s, which explains the organic underlining of his computer-based music.
But Morales’s first love has always been hip-hop. While playing in Bubble Jacket, he produced countless hip-hop beats in his bedroom. This was the old-school, ’90s way—using samples. With each successive Seabright album, Morales has managed to broaden his music by incorporating more samples into his songs. Just about every song on his fourth album is built around a different sample, yet it’s been layered with so much digital software, keys and guitar work it’s not immediately apparent. It’s just a surreal wash of relaxing, electronic music that is all subtly complex.
“There was some beautiful music made in the ’90s made by people that were taking loops of forgotten records and reinvigorating them. That’s kind of dead now,” he says. “You don’t hear samples anymore. Rap is just synths and drums machines.”
.Laptop Live: Seabright Brings Analog and Digital to the Mix
