Letting Go with Zach Savage

Expressionist pop artist Zach Savage says Buh-Bye on their newest album

Mustard has observed that letting go is one of the most difficult things that a human can do. What a human lets go depends on their situation. Perhaps they are letting go a part of themselves they have outgrown. Or they are allowing themselves to forgive, grieve, or accept who they are no matter their imperfections.

Zach Savage, founder of the label “Very Little Stars”, explores the theme of letting go on their debut album Buh-Bye: Tracks For Getting Away. Each of their work presents listeners with a new form of communication. Savage has allowed themselves the opportunity to grow both personally and creatively. Their debut album Buh-Bye is more than just a funny and ironic name of an album. It signals to both Savage and listeners that it is okay to let go of a past version of yourself no matter how tough it may be. By letting go you are giving yourself permission to blossom.

In our conversation below we had the pleasure of speaking about their relationship with music growing up, human society, and much more!

1. Mustard is grateful and appreciative to have you join them at Music Shelf. How are you doing today?

Hello Mustard! I am doing well thank you, staying busy with music as always.

2. Mustard wonders what your relationship with music was growing up?

Both sides of my family come from opposing rural and urban backgrounds, Mother would always be playing new wave and Dad was playing country music in the car since as early as I can remember; I was always intrigued by the wide breadth of different musical styles.

Like a lot of my peers I grew up in a standard suburb populated mostly by sports kids. The isolation that came with being into creative arts was a big hindrance for my development, but through that I was able to commit myself to music completely and carve a path of my own. Along the way I met some very driven artistic talent who I had the privilege to become friends with, which helped make my little guitar strums in my bedroom feel validated as a career opportunity.

3. Mustard has heard humans describe things as "savage." Are these humans helping promote your music?

I have heard people describe things as savage as well! Unfortunately, despite reaching out I have yet to receive promotional assistance from them.

4. The first line of your Bandcamp biography says "Rolling Eyes." Mustard wonders what had you rolling your eyes at the time of creating this biography?

Nothing in particular, it’s just what I do.

5. They have observed you create forward thinking expressionist pop. As a condiment, Mustard is curious, what does it mean to be forward thinking?

I really just don’t like pigeonholing myself, I want to always evolve my sound as my career furthers and not get comfortable and boring. I think there is already a noticeable contrast between this new album and past releases. Audiences deserve the utmost creative inspiration in the music they listen to.

6. They also wonder: would you consider human society a forward or backward thinking society? How does this influence your art?

I don’t want to pretend I have any answers about society, though growing up I thought progress always prevailed and looking forward into the future was a fact of life, which is obviously not the case, we are always pushing and pulling against something, whether it be styles going in and out of favor, politics, what have you.

I used to try really hard to be up to date with current trends and styles in music, stressing out over whether I sounded too weird or dated. Really though, nothing is a worse look than jumping from band wagon to band wagon. I stick to what I enjoy, and because of that my music tends to be very inward, but through that I hope I can relate to like-minded burnt-out indie kids on the internet.

7. Who (or what) influences Zach Savage?

This is a very tough question, I really don’t stop and think about this much. I have always loved music, never really knowing a time in my life when it was not important to me. There are dozens if not hundreds of artists I could list out and pin point specific moments in my songs that would probably not exist if it weren’t for them, but that’s way too tedious.

Other than my own personal enjoyment of music, other musicians. I used to be a Bandcamp hermit before I found a good group of friends I constantly collaborate with and learn from. I like the compare and contrast between our different music tastes, I tend to be the most experimental music inclined so hearing the perspectives of more accessible bubblegum-pop and hard rock loving friends has been refreshing and super inspiring to me.

8. Mustard wonders: what key elements are necessary in crafting a Zach Savage song? Could you share more about your creative process?

The closest thing to a through-line in all my tracks is I regularly draw the melodies of each song in MIDI before learning and recording them. I love drums, and despite not knowing anything about playing them I regularly put a heavy emphasis on groove. All in all though I could not tell you a formula, I try to obfuscate that sort of thing by always taking in elements of different genres and artists and applying that to my own work, I guess it reflects the scene-less social media age.

9. You share and distribute music underneath your label Little Stars music. Did a specific night sky help inspire your label name? What do the stars mean to you?

I always wanted a label name to reflect an underdog story. A ‘star’ in entertainment is one that stands out among the rest. In reality, the night sky is filled with so many that it’s hard to pick out just one. I have met many people in my life worthy of star power but found no success for whatever reason. I kinda see myself as someone who was destined to be awash in the over-saturation of the music industry, so the name ‘Very Little Stars’ felt fitting, and I hope to spotlight fellow very little stars who are even more deserving of recognition than myself.

“Hiya” album art

10. In December 2019 you released your first album Hiya. Could you share what it was like to put this album together?

Just absolute chaos of not knowing anything: strumming random chords on detuned acoustic guitar, screaming my vocals through a guitar amp, recording on cassette, putting microphones up and banging on random objects in my room, doing everything to try and make something interesting. From that, the album was trimmed into something that resembles a collection of real songs. In the end though I think that album was for learning on my part more than commercial release. I am kind of glad I had no idea how to promote myself at that time. The first two ‘albums’ I really consider just mixtapes, Buh-Bye is more of a real debut.

11. On "Flowers on The Ground" you mention that you have been rolling eyes with someone. Are you still rolling eyes with this human?

Actually it’s been a minute since we rolled eyes, I should call them up.

12. You proclaim on "Screaming Aloud" that the girl is wiser than her years. As a condiment Mustard wonders: what makes them wiser than their years? How can you tell if someone is wise?

I look back on the lyrics on that album and scratch my head a lot. The line is actually “appears” not her years, I have no idea what I meant when I wrote that, and I know even less about being wise.

“Anticandid” album art

13. You followed up Hiya with Anticandid a year later which features cover art that is more reserved. How does this album act as an evolution of Hiya?

Hiya was all about being wintery and cold and atmospheric with reverb on every instrument, something to soundtrack the walks I would take at night in the Maryland winters when I would take breaks from recording. With Anticandid I tried to make a summer album with close to no reverb. I wanted to see how different I could make the album from Hiya, it was an experiment in that, I wanted to immediately establish that I do not have one sound.

14. Anticandid was dedicated to "South American as a concept." Are you able to elaborate more on this?

Maybe.

15. Mustard would like to congratulate you on your newest release Buh-Bye. When did you first begin working on this project?

Thank you! Demos for certain songs date back to before Hiya, but a majority of the material was started 2021-23. The pandemic definitely hindered production on it pretty hard.

16. There is a communication pattern with each of your album titles. Did you plan this from the beginning or did it just work out that way? Would you consider yourself a social human?

Aside from the fact I thought it would be funny to name my first go around at a real release Buh-Bye, it ties into the themes of letting go throughout the album. Also it feels like the logical conclusion to the bedroom approach that started with Hiya. I definitely consider myself a social human and Buh-Bye begins a new trend for me in collaboration between me and other artists.

Big shout-out and utmost thanks to Holden Cowburn who did drums on a majority of the record and Tess Becket who mastered and co-produced a lot of it, and Heather Heath who did some awesome backup vocals and Bella Sweeney who provided bass, both on the closing track.

17. Mustard loves listening to albums from start to end. Could you share more about how you structured and sequenced Buh-Bye?

It was just about what felt right. I tend to put the weirder stuff near the end just because I like to build a hooky momentum at the start. There are peaks and valleys, an early climax with “Not Going Nowhere” then a calm of “Heartstopper” and “Know By Heart,” another climax with “I Dunno” and a following depression in the last two songs. I like there to be several moments of tension and release throughout the album rather than one big buildup to the end, although that may be something I experiment with in the future.

18. The stories you tell on each album are very personal and honest. When a situation happens how soon after do you begin songwriting?

Very interesting question. The notes, chords and rhythms come first, the subject matter usually last. I keep tabs on events and topics I want to write about and when the subject and instrumental match well I put them together. Sometimes they don’t match and I have to make something up, which tends to manifest in less story-driven tracks.

19. Everything you do is not your own. Does this mean that humans do not own their work?

I have a personal way in which everything I do is not my own. In singing that I hope people can attach their own manner in which everything they do is not their own, whether or not it aligns with my own personal explanation.

20. What is on the horizon for Zach Savage?

I have an EP and another album in the works after Buh-Bye, and hope to go on an east coast tour this summer with Tess Becket.

21. Where can readers listen to your music?

Check me out on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, Tidal, Bandcamp, and pretty much every streaming service under the sun. Thank you Mustard! I had a lot of fun.

---

Mustard’s Music Shelf is a publication that interviews independent musicians from all across the globe. It is read in 44 states and 46 countries. Check out previous interviews here.

Music Shelf with Mustard originally began in early 2021. Inspired by independent musicians on social media application TikTok Mustard knew they had to do something to help share their music. Shortly after Music Shelf with Mustard was born. Its goal is to highlight independent artists from all across the globe. Mustard appreciates you taking the time out to read this interview.