In this interview spotight, we chat with Midwestern Accent about influences, the newest project and more.

Full Q&A along with links and streams can be found below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I’m originally from St. Louis, but I’ve lived in Nashville for about 2 years. I’ve made music for this project in a couple different styles, but one label that probably covers all of it would be “indie pop”. I’ve done one EP of synth pop, one EP of a beachy rock type sound, and then some other standalone songs in between those styles. But ya I would say “indie pop” covers all of it. I also try to get some interesting sounds or textures in most of the songs to give them a more recognizable Midwestern Accent sound.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?

I started messing around with guitar in middle school, then joined a band in high school and have always been in at least one band ever since. I just really enjoy playing music, especially songwriting and making arrangements for songs. Even if I wasn’t posting songs for anyone to hear or playing live, I’d still be playing instruments and writing songs just for myself.

How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?

This latest song “Bull” is kind of a combination of sounds I’ve used before – it’s got fingerpicked guitar, synths, pitched down vocals. It has also has slide guitar during the chorus, which I’ve been trying to find a way to incorporate into a song for a while. I’ve been trying to get together songs with a consistent sound for an upcoming longer release, and this song came out of that. Even though my songs are kind of all over the place, I like for songs that are on the same release to be similar in style. I’m planning for “Bull” and the previous song I put out, “moss”, to be on the same EP or LP sometime down the line.

Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?

With the amount of music these days and at the rate that it comes out, it can be pretty hard for musicians to get their stuff noticed or heard. I think that even goes for a lot of major artists, not just indie musicians. I’m guilty of it myself, but I think we tend to see a new song or album from an artist we’re interested in, stream it for a few minutes, then forget it and move on to the next thing. With so much music it’s harder to make that lasting impression on people.

At the same time, if it wasn’t so easy to record and release music, me and many others wouldn’t be able to share our songs with the world. So there are good and bad things about it. Personally, I’m way better off making music with all this technology, because otherwise people may not be hearing my songs at all, at least recordings of them.

Where can we follow you online and hear more music?

I’m on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Typically I put full releases on Bandcamp and standalone songs on Soundcloud, so there are some tracks on both of those pages that you can’t find on the other… I’m not sure if that’s really the best way to do it. I don’t have Midwestern Accent social media, but my personal Instagram is @puddingbarn and I’ll definitely post there anytime I release music.

If you’re interested in my other bands at all, check out And the Boys and Eureka, MO. Eureka has an EP out and And the Boys will be releasing some singles soon.

Anything else before we sign off?

Thanks so much to Middle Tennessee Music for the interview and thanks to anyone who checks out the music! Let’s all go have a great 2017 y’all.