Eugene is home to a blossoming house show scene. Local bands and musical groups bring magic and electricity to the stage that the restless college community can’t seem to get enough of. But there’s something to say about the potential and spark of a solo act — a young visionary blazing their own way into the music world, braving the industry on their own terms. These three independent musicians are eager to shine their light on the world while staying true to themselves and their own musical identity.
Taylor Jules – “I have a lot to say.”
UO senior and music major Taylor Jules knew it was meant to be. She knew she was destined for music since she was a child. And with so much training and performing experience this early in her career, it’s clear she’s ready to do it all.
“I don’t think I am one yet, but I like to try to be a jack of all trades,” she said humbly.
Despite Jules’ wide-ranging experimentation and tapping into many styles, she is currently investing her energy into the genre she resonates with the most: indie pop. Much of what she values the most in music, both as a creator and a listener, can be found within this genre, she said. The storytelling, relatability and the deep, personable connection artists can create for their audience are aspects of the genre she tries to replicate in her music.
“It’s such sophisticated and unique musicianship and lyrics and ideas,” Jules said. “I absolutely love where this genre has gone in the last couple of years.”
Jules has a deep-rooted musical background, which was ingrained in her life from a very early age. Growing up in a musical household, her parents would play music for her every day, with one very important rule in the car — never interrupt Steely Dan. She and her family went to countless rock concerts growing up, including her first show, Steve Miller Band, when she was 5 years old. These early influences were essential in prompting her to pursue music for herself. Even as a child, her abilities came naturally, she said.
“This is always something I knew I was wanting to do,” she said. “I had a real passion for it and also an innate talent. When I was in preschool, we were singing a graduation song, and my mom and her friends heard one little voice ringing above the rest. They were laughing, but they were like, ‘That’s kind of good. Whoever that is can kind of sing.’ And it was me.”
Jules takes pride in the serious amount of training and performing experience she’s already gained so early in her career. At 9 or 10 years old, she started at the School of Rock music program with guitar and voice lessons. Through the same program, she scored a placement into the gigging band called the House Band, performing in countless legendary music venues and even at Summerfest in Milwaukee.
“I had this incredible secret little rockstar life from 10 to 15 years old,” she said. She continued in high school with musical theater and attended many popular music camps across the country. She’s also been in traveling bands her whole life and has played hundreds of shows.
Her journey has not been an easy one. When she was 7 years old, she started to experience excruciating pains in her hips and knees. With nothing out of the ordinary appearing on any medical tests, she and her family couldn’t figure out the issue. Eventually, these pains spread throughout her whole body and continued to worsen, leading to more issues including dizziness, nausea, difficulty with motor functions, confusion and fatigue. You name it, she had it, she said. To this day, she still struggles with chronic autoimmune conditions.
“It was a very tough journey for me throughout my entire life, including now, but music has always been there for me,” Jules said. “When I was too sick to get out of bed or in too much pain to function or even move, my voice was the one thing that was not affected. My voice carried me through.”
If there’s one silver lining she’s found from her physical conditions, it’s the effect it’s had on her musical material, she said. She has a lot to say about her life and her newfound perspective on the world around her, she said, and music as an outlet has allowed her to overcome.
“Every time I’ve gotten the opportunity to live the life I want to live and be the musician I want to be, focusing on the things I love, I’m incredibly happy and incredibly healthy feeling,” she said.
Jules is driven by her persistent appetite to learn more and keep growing as an artist in any way she can. She is bound by nothing in the pursuit of her dreams.
“For me, the sky is the absolute limit,” she said. “I have massive dreams and ambitions in the music industry. With my health and everything that I’ve been through and all the experience I’ve had thus far, I am so sure that this is what I’m meant to do, and I’m determined to do whatever I can to make it happen. Knock on wood! I truly believe that good things will be happening for me.”
Her latest track, “19,” is out now on all streaming platforms, and an alternate acoustic version of the track will be released this month. Visit iamtaylorjules.com for more.
Connor North – “Music is awesome!”
UO sophomore and accounting major Connor North is a musical asset. Outside of songwriting, he’s well versed in nearly all aspects of audio engineering and produces his own music. While he’s still in the process of finding his true sound, he’s a student of the art and is hopeful to expand his skills in all facets of the music industry.
North started making music five years ago, while he was in high school. He began taking it seriously after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, eventually meeting Gabriel Owsley, an audio engineer in Portland who taught him how to record. Making music also became much more important to him after his dad passed away in 2020.
“Looking at the time, it was like an emotional escape or just a way to funnel my emotion,” he said. “Music was a really great outlet for me, but now it’s become so much more than that. It’s a lot more of just me and my personality. Now I’m just making music depending on how I feel.”
North’s primary style is hard to define. When he first started making music, his rap style consisted of an aggressive, growly sound with a grunge tone. He said this niche subgenre is still fun to make, but he felt like it didn’t reflect who he really was.
“I’m not a super intimidating person, or like super scary, at least I like to think so,” he said about his early hardcore style. “I think I was trying to chase a style that I thought was cool, but it wasn’t really my own. Now I’ve defined what I think is more my style.”
Recently, North’s been moving into a different direction, digging into a slower, more melodic singing approach. His sound has morphed into a combination of low, grungy rap with a higher singing autotune style, which feels more authentic to who he is, he said. While making his own material, he also does freelance work helping other artists in the Eugene area — producing, recording, mixing and mastering their music.
“I’m not super afraid to put myself out there,” he said. “Just being like, ‘Hey, I think what you’re working on is cool. I think we should work together.’”
No matter where he ends up in his career, North wants his work to center around music, but his dream is to make music for TV shows and film, helping to write them as well.
“I want to have movies and shows be made around songs,” he said. “My dream would be to make a movie and go on tour to do screenings of the movie, and then as the songs come on, I can come out and perform them live.”
After interning this past summer at Surfing Giant Studios, an animation studio in Los Angeles, he was exposed to this new angle of bridging music production and film, something he had never even considered, he said. Once North saw all the opportunities out there for music making in the film and TV industry, that became his greatest goal. But no matter what he ends up doing, whether it’s soundtracking, writing, engineering, management or even accounting, North wants his work to revolve around music, he said.
“I want to put on a bunch of different hats and try as much stuff as I can because I know that’s what I want to do in the future,” he said. “I want to meet as many people and musicians as I can and try to do for other people what I would’ve wanted to be done for me.”
North plans to release a new track every month until the release of an upcoming EP. His latest single, “SCARLET,” is out everywhere now. Be sure to check out his Instagram for the latest updates and announcements.
Artificial Realities – “I’m an analog person in a digital world.”
Matthew Duncan is determined. This is a man who will work nonstop for six hours in the studio without even realizing it. He will even change a song’s key four or more times to find the right version. His devotion to his craft is stronger than ever, and he’s willing to put all of his energy into creating a true piece of art.
Duncan, a UO junior and music major who goes by the stage name Artificial Realities, began playing guitar and writing songs in early high school. While he didn’t feel very outspoken at the time, especially about anything personal, he felt that writing music was the best way to open up and express how he was feeling, he said.
“For a lot of people, as soon as they start playing guitar, it’s usually like a year or two before they start writing music,” Duncan said. “But for me it was like instant. As soon as I started learning chords, I was trying to write stuff.”
He’s currently putting his energy into the creation of his self-titled debut album under the Artificial Realities moniker, which will blend psychedelic rock with hints of grunge as well as other rock and alternative styles. The project is intended to be a concept album, he said, meaning all the songs will base around a central narrative and theme. The story of the album will begin with someone taking a psychedelic drug and will end with them reaching ego death, becoming a part of the universe and everything within it. As the album progresses, the music and lyrical themes will follow the journey of the character as they reach different phases of the trip. The message of the project ultimately comes back to the meaning of his name, also being the album title.
“It’s the idea that each person has their own reality in their own head,” he said. “Like their own conceived notion of reality, even though nobody has an objective experience. Like we’re all just trying to guess. And it’s cool because each song will channel a different perspective.”
In terms of his recording process, Duncan has been experimenting with older recording techniques to create a different feel. He records live instrumentation, including drums and guitar, onto cassette tapes and intentionally turns up the volume in order to create distortion and more interesting timbres.
“I’m just interested in the idea of cassettes and vintage ways of consuming music,” he said. “I got it as a means to be able to record music because I think that would be a cool thing to experiment with because I feel like that could set me apart from different artists — not a lot of people are focused on the old technology. Everyone’s so focused on the new.”
The album making process has not come without its challenges, Duncan said, especially as a full-time college student. Balancing schoolwork, a social life and working on music has been a struggle for him as he’s gone deeper in the creative process. It’s taken a toll on his mental health.
“It’s like a fighting of my priorities,” he said. “Certain weekends I’ll stay in to work on music rather than go out, and I’ll kind of feel bad for it, but I also feel bad when I’m not working on the album. I just want something that I can release and look back on and be happy. I’ve put in all the effort possible.”
Beyond college, he hopes to get an apprenticeship to further develop his skills, but the ultimate goal is to have a solo career where he can make a steady living, he said. But for now, his top priority is to put together the best work he can for the album, which he can use as a portfolio piece to show his skills in production, songwriting and mixing.
“I’m trying to write a lot of broad stuff that people can relate to, but also flavor it in my own way. Like my take on my own artificial reality.”
His debut album is expected to be released later this summer or by fall at the latest. The lead single, “Oblivion,” will be released towards the end of spring term.
They come from different backgrounds with different influences and stories to tell. But one thing threads them all together like nothing else: their sheer hunger to achieve their dreams and their true passion for music. For all of them, now is only the beginning.
