Electro dream-pop artist Glassio has just released his new energetic and radiating dance single and video for “Magazines.” Conceived after going through a tumultuous time and suffering a great loss, the anthem was created as an outlet for Glassio to express his emotions in a positive light while sending out a message of self-love to his listeners. 

The artist, who is best known for his experimental fusion of genres across the board, also enlisted Dave Rublin of American Authors to collaborate on the track which adds to the song’s unique layers. Glassio confides: “I made this song to help me get up and out of bed through a rough patch in the Summer of 2020. 6 months later, I went through a very unexpected life change. I lost my father to COVID. The song and the full album were both halfway finished when he passed. My dad loved how it sounded and beckoned me to finish it -along with the rest of the songs on the album- in the last few weeks of his life.” He goes on to add: “A few months later, I brought it to my friend Dave Rublin of American Authors and we both just began dancing to it when I played him the version I had made. We decided to finish it together. Working on finishing the song brought me a lot of much needed serotonin and adrenaline through that initial period of grief. I’ll always remember this song for helping me through that.” Shimmering, hopeful and dance-floor ready, PopWrapped caught up with Glassio to talk about his new single and video and the experiences that helped shape his vibrant record.

How’d you come up with the name Glassio? Is there any particular meaning behind it?

Back when Glassio started in late 2015, the project was a duo. My partner and I were desperately trying to find a name to replace ‘astronaughty’ as our debut single had just come out and had showed up on another artist’s Spotify profile with that same name. So, we camped out at mine for the night, thinking up ideas. At some point I remember just saying the word ‘Glassio’ and both of us being into it. I was picturing a Casio keyboard made from glass – thinking that would be a cool on-stage instrument someday. I think the music has evolved to sound like the name quite well, unintentionally. I’m inspired by applying glassy/glossy synths to the production and I think that’s a common denominator throughout all my releases, regardless of where I’ve gone with the music genre-wise. 

Tell me a little about your new single “Magazines.” What was the song-writing/creative process like?

Summer of 2020, I was working on a sequencer pattern on my ARP 2600 synthesizer for a cover of Freddie Mercury’s “Living On My Own” I was producing for an online session. I had this melody in my head one morning immediately after waking up that felt very natural/ established. I heard it as a country song in my head and thought it would be interesting to realize it on the ARP with this acid-house-inspired synth line. I was spending most of the summer basically only listening to Phuture/DJ Pierre and Glen Campbell, for some reason. I even put together a playlist of the two artists as a joke. So, I think that subconsciously influenced me to go ahead and try and mesh together a country melody with an acid-house backbeat – it gave me that credence. It wasn’t a conscious intention until after I had finished my demo of the song. I then bought it to my good friend Dave Rublin of American Authors who finished up the track with me. 

“Magazines” is about maintaining a healthy self-image and not comparing yourself to images of perfection. As an artist, what are your best practices for maintaining a positive self-image? 

I’m honestly still terrible at maintaining a positive self-image to be fully transparent. It’s still, and I think always will be, a work in progress for me. In private, I’m very self-deprecating and anxious. I try to break through those feelings by producing something that I’m proud of, whether it be a music video or a song. I think I’ve used my musical output as a medicine for those feelings, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s almost like the thought “want to feel good about yourself? Then go make a record” has become an intrusive solution to these feelings. It’s something I’m curious to unlearn in the coming months as I finish up my album. 

The song feels very upbeat and inspiring. How do you hope it will influence or impact your listeners?

I hope that this song does to my listeners what it did for me while working on it. I hope it brightens someone’s day, brings them joy, and makes them feel like a kid again. I wanted to apply a childlike wonder to the song. At the time of finishing it up, I truly needed that serotonin rush. I didn’t want to make something overtly depressing – especially since the lyrics in this one are pretty sad. I hope the song makes someone go out and buy a trampoline for their yard or adopt 4 golden retrievers and go running into the sunset together. Those are the images that I would play in my head while working on it. 

How did working with Dave Rublin of American Authors help shape the song?

Dave has become a good friend of mine over the past two years. He has a very unique brand of exuberance that he applies to his music that I thought would be perfect for the track. We both looked through some of the lyrics and worked on them together. I knew I needed someone to push me the extra mile in finishing the song. I brought it to him, and it was about 75-80% the way there, but needed that final kick. At the time, I was going through an intense loss in my life and needed the help of a friend and musician I respected to get me to that finish line. I didn’t want to make music alone at that time. I wanted to share that experience. We ended up recording completely new vocals, a few different synth lines, and exaggerated the character of the track – from developing harmonies to overdubbing both of us enacting a farmer trying to put out a fire on their farm at the end of the song. 

How do you think or would you say “Magazines” is different from the music you’ve released in the past? 

I think it’s a little bolder and hits a little harder. It isn’t subtle or shy. The song knows it’s place very well. A lot of the songs from this new body of work fall into that category. My first album was very atmospheric, and now this one feels very earthy. I want people to feel the motion of driving along a desert road with this new music, and to feel the ground below them moving past them swiftly. 

Lyrically and artistically, who or what are you most inspired by, and how do those influences filter through into the music you make? 

Aside from being hugely influenced by dance music and different eras of dance music, particularly early House, Italo, and Balearic beat, I’m endlessly diving back into artists like The Magnetic Fields, Paul McCartney – mostly his solo career – a lot of shoegaze bands, Laurie Anderson, and the two David Byrne/Brian Eno albums – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Everything that Happens Will Happen today. Lately, I’ve been incredibly inspired by The Roches’ ‘Hammond Song’ and John Grant’s Queen of Denmark album. I just think the song-writing on those two records is beautifully twisted, quirky and yet poignant. Sonically, Christine and the Queens has been a big inspiration for many years. Joe Goddard’s production has always inspired a lot of my bass sounds and then I often love to channel a Trevor Horn-style production when I’m working on something very layered and epic. Holly Johnson, of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, has a stage presence and voice that I’m deeply inspired by. Lyrically, nothing beats a Lou Reed or Paul Simon record for me. 

Finally, what’s next for you? I know you have an album on the way – will you be touring in the near future as well?

Aside from the release of this new record in 2022, I’m planning a west coast tour and my first Euro tour for next Spring/Summer – all depending on where things stand with COVID in the New Year. It’ll be my first time touring as Glassio in both regions so it’s a very exciting prospect for me. 

Check out the video for “Magazines” below and for more information on Glassio, give his page a like on Facebook or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.