Erik Carlson hasn’t exactly cut out any easy niche for himself.
Carlson, better known by the moniker DoublePlusGood, functions as a one-man band, playing the kind of electronic pop songs full of clicks and chirps that sound better suited to a city with a skyline than a green town in Oregon.
A native of the San Francisco Bay area, Carlson came to Eugene to study electronic music at the University of Oregon. Although he now lives primarily in Portland, Carlson credits his move to Eugene with increasing his awareness of certain musical truths he has been particularly conscious of in his work as DoublePlusGood.
“Coming here has made me really appreciate the live aspect in music,” Carlson said. “Watching a good performer, watching someone with stage presence who can actually sing.”
Even armed with this knowledge, Carlson had to figure out a way to create a compelling live performance as a one-man act, stressing the difficulties of playing to an unenthusiastic or oblivious crowd without the support of band mates to keep him going.
“I just went on tour and sometimes I would show up to a bar and there would be, like, five people there and maybe only one of them half-knew that there was even going to be a show” Carlson said, adding that while it was hard to build energy all by himself, there were distinct advantages to being the one and only band member. “While technology will falter sometimes it’s not like worrying about if you got in an argument with your drummer whether he’s going to keep playing for you. I don’t have to worry about the members of my band quitting.”
The positive and negative sides of his solitary approach to performance show up in the songwriting process as well, Carlson said, mentioning the absence of a second pair of ears to run new sounds by as both a blessing and a curse.
“You kind of develop a good sensibility about the kind of music you make,” Carlson said. “I know that I have a tendency to lean toward over-the-top and kind of corny at times…I have a good group of friends who’ve known everything I’ve written for the past four years so I’ll bring it to them and I’m like, ‘Is this ridiculous?’”
The most important part, according to Carlson, is that he means everything he writes.
“I guess I’m bouncing it off my experiences and making sure that they’re reflected in the songs,” Carlson said. “It’s a really tricky thing to play with, playing with really up-tempo music, ’cause some people can really relate to it and some people think it’s just a joke. I have to make sure that when I’m writing something that’s up-tempo, or whatever I’m sending out, that it’s genuine.”
And although he does enjoy collaborating with other musicians on some projects, sometimes the advantage lies in the limits, Carlson said.
“Sometimes when you’re just by yourself you’re like, ‘I could make anything!’” Carlson said. “It’s kind of overwhelming. Sometimes working with another person is kind of cool ’cause you’re like, ‘Alright, you only have a guitar, I only have a drum machine and a keyboard, and we have to make this happen.’”
Both sides of Carlson’s musical talent beautifully play out on his full-length “Somehow Everyone I Know is Here,” which includes tracks both with and without accompaniment.
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