From a carefree weekend project to producing his fourth album, Poolside is reinventing his persona and sound.

DJ Jeffrey Paradise set out for his band Poolside to create the perfect beats for a heated summer day. His group followed the flow of daytime disco, and his style landed perfectly at this year’s Lollapalooza festival. Though with the approaching release of his new album, “Blame It All on Love”, the artist’s image is up for interpretation. 

The album to come on Oct. 20 is Paradise’s purest form as an artist. He abandoned the conforming standards as a DJ and leaned on his passion of creating lyrical and expressive music. 

“I’m just going to make music that comes from me. So it felt like high school when I had never really written any songs,” said Paradise. “It was kind of back to my parent’s house and my bedroom.”

Ignoring those patterns he fell into while creating previous albums like “Low Season”, “Heat” and “Pacific Standard Time” was the start of rebuilding his artistry. The production process became too technical for Paradise and he no longer wanted to maintain the sound he began with in 2011. 

“I don’t think it’s ever been too redundant, but I just really wanted to approach this album and have no rules. I’m not going to think about a genre or sound or an instrument,” said Paradise.

Poolside has remixed multiple artists including Billy Idol, Jack Johnson & Milky Chance and Rhye. Photo by Varun Khushalani.

Pushing away what he knows and venturing into a new side of music is how the producer began his journey of being Poolside. Turning to daytime disco came from Paradise rejecting the rise of dubstep. The music seemed out of place when played in relaxed settings, so he created what felt missing for daytime parties. 

Being out of touch with what was trending played in his favor as Poolside has performed globally on stages like Coachella, Outside Lands, and most recently Vaivén which was the biggest show the band has played. 

Attending Vaivén in Mexico City gave the band an “otherworldly” experience with their audience and helped them draw inspiration from diverse artists. Poolside has remixed music from Brazilian artist Cassiano and Portuguese artist Evinha which has influenced him with Brazilian jazz. 

The notes of new inspiration can be found in their upcoming album, following the bittersweet feelings of nostalgia and the nuance of relationships. 

Jeffrey Paradise created the 7 piece band “Poolside” starting out as a producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Photo by Varun Khushalani.

“The album is about where you have love, you fall in love and you do something for love. Whatever it is, you set out on this quest to do something for love,” said Paradise. “A lot of life is kind of Shakespearan in that way.”

A preview to the new version of Poolside is their single “Float Away” featuring Vansire. The collaboration was an unusual start for Paradise, but it has become one of his favorite tracks on the album.

Although the vocals were nothing like Paradise has written before, the unique spin Vansire added to the song has created its own energy on the album. 

Tune in mid October to experience the newest version of Poolside and everything the band has to offer.

Photo Coverage of Lollapalooza Festival by Varun Khushalani.

Header by Julia Hester