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E rnest Greene is doing Horatio Alger
proud. A classic rags-to-riches tale for
the 21st-century electronica set, the
Atlanta/Athens native has, in a stagger
ingly brief window of time, gone from creating
music on his laptop in his parents' spare room
to signing a deal with the king of all indie
labels, Sub Pop, and playing to fans all over
the world. His oddly fractured beats, overex
posed melodies and humid, syrupy production
spill out of every semi-danceable, commer
cially viable track, and with his major label
dehut, Within and Without, set for release later
this year, he has virtually become the face of
the still-young chillwave movement. Making
a long-awaited return to the Classic City for
AthFest 2011, Greene is arguably the biggest
act on the docket this year, or at least the
most "of the moment"—but in speaking with
him, you'd never know it.
A notoriously reluctant performer at the
onset of his meteoric rise, Greene begins by
reflecting on his days in Athens and what was,
at the time, only his second show ever. "I love
the city," he says in the relaxed, friendly tone
of a Southeastern festival hippie. "I had no
idea what I was doing at that point. Initially,
I was worried about just getting up in front
of people because I'm a pretty shy person. I
wasn't really excited about that. The music
wasn't recorded with performance in mind. I
wasn't sure how I was gonna pull it off. It's
really taken this long to figure it out. The first
show I did at the 40 Watt was me by myself,
which is not very entertaining for an audience
with kinda slower tempo stuff. But since then
I've had a couple of different bands, and it's
definitely more fun for me and, I hope, for the
audience. It's more of a rock-band feel and a
reinterpretation of some of the songs on the
record."
With regard to making the leap to a profes-
slbnal studio, Tjreene expressed a similarly
guarded concern at the outset, only \o have
all his fears allayed. "It's been really great" he
explains. "I was a little nervous about it, both
working in a proper studio—having my music
mixed and mastered was really scary—and
working with a label as great as Sub Pop. I've
always been very hands-on with everything
involved with Washed Out, so I was scared
that they might do some crazy promos that I
wasn't happy with or something like that. It's
been a huge learning experience, but they've
kinda been holding my hand through the
entire process, and they've been great."
When asked about the mini-controversy
that erupted over the cover art ftmthe new
record, Greene chalks it up to yet another
learning experience. "I knew for this record,
both sonically and with the visuals, it was
gonna move away from some of the things I've
done in the past. If you've seen any of the
covers from the older material, it's all faded,
35 mm, for lack of a better word, 'washed out'
colors—so I knew I wanted something kind of
drastically different from that. The stark white
was what first grabbed me from the image and
then, to me, it kinda brought this intimate
quality that I was trying to represent with
the record. When we debuted the first song
and the artwork, people thought it was meant
to be provocative and sensual and, honestly,
that didn't even cross my mind. It was a little
disappointing because I think that sort of
interpretation undercuts what I was trying to
communicate with the image. But I still really
like it."
Regardless of his early hiccups, Greene's
Washed Out project is clearly hitting its
stride, and his story stands as an inspiration
to all those who have walked away from the
University of Georgia with a degree only to
stay close by and follow their bliss. Joined by
rising Athenian stars Reptar and FLT RSK (see
Calendar Pick on p.22), AthFest's Saturday
night at the 40 Watt will be one to remember,
and no matter how long it takes Greene to
come back for round three, it's comforting to
know he's out there—as an ambassador both
for chillwave and for all the brilliant young
musicians still working their asses off in the
Classic City.
David Fitzgerald
—
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