Cas Cleo
Photo credit: Ali Miller
Nashville-based artist Cas Cleo has released her debut EP entitled twenty-four.
Produced by Tone Def, the indie-pop project includes the previous singles “Old Days” (co-written with singer/songwriter Dylan Rockoff) and “Long Sleeves”.
twenty-four explores deep and important topics such as family, relationships, self-doubt and death. Cas Cleo delivered a very personal first project highlighting her great ability for songwriting and storytelling.
twenty-four is now available :)
Photo credit: Ali Miller
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
Hey! My name’s Cas Cleo and I am an indie-pop artist from Nashville, TN. I moved to Nashville 5 years ago to pursue songwriting/ being an artist in college. I grew up in rural Virginia and started songwriting when I was about 8. I would take pieces of songs I liked, rearrange them to fit together into one song, and then add my own lyrics. This is something I have always wanted to do, I just didn’t know how until I moved here.
You're getting ready to release your debut EP twenty-four - how's it like to release your first EP ever?
It’s exciting! It feels like a long time coming even though some of the songs on it are newer. I was releasing Indie-Folk singles throughout 2018 and 2019, and although they’re good and of course I am proud of them, I felt like this EP had been building up in me for awhile, over the course that I was releasing those singles.
When did you start working on this project? What made you want to release an EP?
I started working on the project as a whole in April 2020, finding a producer, picking out the songs, and finishing up some songs I knew I wanted for the project. Beginning of August 2020 I spent 5 days recording the EP and within 2 weeks the finished EP was back to me and ready to go.
I’ve always wanted to release a cohesive project. Like I said I felt like it was sort of building up inside me for awhile, I just hadn’t written all the songs that I subconsciously knew needed to be on the EP. Releasing a first EP or first project you have so much to pick from, I had 24 years of my writing to pick from really. But of course I wanted an expression of what I was feeling in the moment. I wasn’t going to choose a song I wrote from 2016 to be on the EP just because it’s a good song if I didn’t feel it anymore. The oldest song on the EP ended up being from 2018 and the newest from 2020, but I still have the same strength of emotions for the song written in 2018 as I did when I wrote it.
Could you describe the songwriting/production process for this project? Who helped you create it?
I do all of my songwriting at night, typically at night everything is quieter, and also I am more emotional. Since it’s right before bed I can allow myself to feel all my feelings and not worry about having to go somewhere and carry them with me. I think that a lot of people are more creative at night. I wrote 3 of the songs alone and I wrote ‘Old Days’ with Dylan Rockoff. I usually don’t cowrite and never actually thought I would record a song that I co-wrote, but I found that it fit in with the feel of the EP.
As far as production, I looked for producers for a few months before I found Tone Def. I can not imagine where I would be or what my songs would sound like if we didn’t work together. We met in person for the first time and recorded at Farmland Studios in August. I’m not the most outgoing person but he was SO easy to get along with. A few weeks before I had sent him some reference songs and he knew exactly what I wanted. I remember sitting there, having an idea and then before I would say it he would already have it in the song. For the full 5 days we recorded I remember thinking “I swear this dude can read my mind”.
Working in the studio was a really fun and creative process. When we would get the structure for the production of a song finished our favorite term to use would be “ok that's cool but let’s fuck it up” and he would say “yeah I’ll fuck it up a little bit”. Which essentially meant “let’s make it weirder”. In one of the songs there’s actually audio of me flipping the pages of a book I was reading throughout the entire song. It was weird stuff like that that made it fun.
What different topics are you talking about on this EP?
The songs are about family, relationships, self-doubt, and even death. I had some reservations about making an EP with such intense topics. I kept thinking, “Am I allowed to record a song that is this sad?” which translated to “Am I allowed to be this honest and in depth with my feelings?”. I finally came to the conclusion, of course I am, I wasn’t going to release something that I didn’t feel as much.
What was the hardest part about making this EP?
The hardest part was probably getting over my self-doubt about my own music and wondering if I was making the right choices. It’s crazy what your mind can do to tell you what you create isn’t good enough. But that was pretty quickly silenced once I actually got into the studio.
What do you like the most about this project?
That’s a hard one. I’m honestly very proud of it and I usually don’t say that about anything I do. I like how honest I was finally able to be with no reservations, as opposed to my past Indie-Folk singles, where I could have been more honest in them. Not to say that they weren’t, but I did hold back a lot.
What made you want to name your EP twenty-four?
I thought about a lot of names for the EP. It wasn’t until I actually finished writing and recording my second EP (oops that was kinda a secret) that I came up with the name twenty-four. I feel like everything I wrote about on twenty-four was what I had gone through over the past year or what I had been reflecting on over the past year, at my age of 24. Conversely, when I wrote for my second EP, most of the topics that I ended up writing about were written in the perspective of looking into the future.
What is your goal for this EP?
The goal for this EP was to just have it as my debut as an artist. I’ve finally discovered my sound and vibe and I hope people love it as much as I do.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
If I could change one thing, it would be the social media aspect of being an artist. It’s sort of a double edged sword. It can help or hurt you so much as an artist. I’ve connected with so many songwriters and people that like my music through social media. I don’t need to go into it really, because everyone gets it. But on one hand social media is this amazing tool to share your music and life with everyone, on the other hand if you don’t use it correctly, you feel like you’re falling behind, or if you post the wrong thing it can be career ending.
Why do you make music? What keeps you going?
I make music because I have to. Songwriting is such a personal thing for me I’m not sure where I would be in my head if I didn’t have a way to let it out. Whenever I write I’m always working through something in my head. That’s why I don’t cowrite a lot, because I really need space to think. I’ve tried journaling but it’s just not the same. When you put it to music somehow it becomes an expression of everything you are, at least for me.
How would you describe the music scene in Nashville?
I love it here. Moving here 5 years ago I remember wondering for a year that maybe people were being fake nice. But most people are just genuinely kind here. I think being around creatives 24/7 has helped me grow as an artist and become better at songwriting. It’s sort of like If you were thrown into a foreign country with a language you weren’t fluent in, eventually you’re gonna learn the language fluently just from being around it.
What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?
The biggest personal lesson I’ve learned over the course of this year was to give myself a chance. So many times I had just told myself that whatever I was doing wasn’t good enough so I shouldn’t try. I didn’t fear rejection and it wasn't even in a way where I pitied myself, it was just in a matter a fact, I genuinely believed what I was doing wasn’t as good as other people sort of way. Once I started asking for things I want and sending my music to people I wanted to work with, I realized at least 95% of the time I was not being rejected. Which was somehow a shocking realization.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
I think being understanding of peoples opposing opinions would make the world a better place. At least in America over the past year there has been so much hatred towards one another, solely based on assumptions of what another person must be like if they stand for or believe in a certain thing that does not match someones own beliefs. It seems like people have become less likely to ask about someones beliefs and the why, and instead just write them off as a bad person.
What message do you want to deliver to the world?
Going back to the biggest life lesson I’ve learned recently, I would say give yourself a try. I used to miss so many opportunities just because I didn’t believe in myself. Most people probably won’t reject you.
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