During his full-time school and work schedule, an all too familiar feeling overtook Joe Williams.
“I got disenchanted at certain points of college,” Williams said. While a student at the University of Cincinnati’s graphic design program, his thoughts kept straying to nonacademic pursuits.
“I haven’t put the effort into education in design as I have in music. I’m not putting a priority on school right now because I simply don’t have the time.”
However his lack of attention to his studies resulted in “Smoke” by White Williams, William’s pop-dance music moniker. Williams will perform tonight in Kerckhoff Grand Salon.
The funky and synth heavy record, which boasts comparisons from Beck to Bowie, is both a departure and natural progression from the self-described blend of hardcore music, noise, aggression, and sass the Cleveland native performed when he began playing in bands at 14.
Recorded over the span of two years in New York, Cincinnati and San Francisco, the album ““ which Williams describes as pop, but mainly “music that’s produced in a bedroom” is a testament to the 24-year-old’s strong and focused musical convictions.
“Music is something that I can ground myself in,” said Williams. “I don’t know if it means that I have passion for music, but I can be distracted in the most important events and conversations. For me, that’s novel.”
Though all aspects of the album’s 11 tracks were created by Williams himself, the White Williams moniker mirrors the musician’s goal as a solo performer.
“I wanted to pick a name that sounded between a band and a solo performer,” Williams explained. “I try to make the music in a way that authorship is obscured and you can’t tell if one or many people work on the song. I wanted something fabricated.”
When Williams was invited to open last year for an already sold-out Girl Talk (mash-up artist Gregg Gillis) and Dan Deacon tour, he had only four weeks to do just that ““ turn his solo music into a band.
“It was trying going from my bedroom ““ a solitary situation ““ to being cracked open to 1,000 people,” Williams said.
“It was a giant sold-out tour and we’re just infants at being performers.”
While both Girl Talk and Dan Deacon are known for their unhinged performances, in which the line between the audience and the performer is blurred by sweat, William’s time on tour helped him learn how to utilize a full band to make a tighter performance.
“As long as I have a record of it, the way the band interprets the music is up to them,” Williams said.
“It makes for a more charismatic relationship to the audience for the other people to play the music the way they want to play it.”
Williams’ performing style is appealingly sharp, with colorful 1980s prints usually complemented with retro sunglasses. While Williams does not want his image to overshadow his music, he is aware of the inherent marketability of having a signature look.
“You can look at a Toby Keith record and you’re not going to find him wearing a Dior suit. He’s going to wear a cowboy hat. There’s definitely an identity in branding,” said Williams.
“That can be a good way to go, but I just dress how I dress. It’s not meant to complement how people interpret the music. I’m not Beyonce; I’m not doing a commercial. There’s artists that want to be talked about in that way and there’s definitely a media that will support that, or create the image out of you. That’s not a goal for us. I really hope that the sounds speak for themselves.”
In addition to the music, much has been made about the album cover art for “Smoke.” The cover features a double image of transsexual model Sophia Lamar smoking out of a leopard-print hookah as multi-colored tears ““ created from Elmer’s glue and colored markers ““ seemingly trickle down her face.
“This girl from Cincinnati was crying in front of everyone at a party and then she started smoking weed while she was bawling,” Williams said.
“We thought it was so strange and weird and took it as a catalyst and started associating things with it. It became something different than what we intended. They were sharing the smoke.”
Like an artist with a fully stocked painting studio, Williams finds new ways to use his tools ““ in this case, malleable instruments ““ to express his own need for creation.
“Some of the choices I make when I’m working on music have more in mind with someone with an art education than a songwriter,” Williams said.
“I don’t know music theory. Instruments are building blocks (with which) you can change, manipulate and contextualize. It’s the process of making something.”