Past NYU: Del Water Hole on exploring inventive vulnerability

Tisch alum Samuel Holden Jaffe dreamt of acting on nationwide excursions since he was 14. Now performing as Del Water Hole, Jaffe headlines exhibits across the nation and performs alongside artists like lady in purple, Arlo Parks and Clairo.

Throughout his time at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Jaffe studied sound manufacturing and music, and performed within the first iteration of Del Water Hole with Maggie Rogers and two different college students. After the band cut up, Jaffe launched into a solo profession beneath the identical identify and started taking part in exhibits in New York in 2012.

In an interview with WSN, Jaffe talked about how he bought inquisitive about music, his experiences collaborating with artists and the inspiration behind the songs he creates.

This interview has been edited for size and readability.

WSN: How did your time at NYU assist form your music?

Jaffe: After I got here to NYU, it was the primary time I actually met different musicians. My fantasy had all the time been to be in a band, to collaborate on a very elementary stage. I liked the concept of inventive partnership. The concept of being in dialog with folks creatively like that’s actually inspiring to me.

Jaffe started recording music through the finish of his highschool years. He bought inspiration to create his personal stage identify from artists like The Tallest Man on Earth, St. Vincent and Bon Iver. Being in a band, Jaffe mentioned, allowed him to discover the belief concerned in inventive collaborations.

WSN: What expertise did you achieve throughout your expertise within the band and the way did this translate into your solo profession? 

Jaffe: I discovered a crew of individuals and determined that that was Del Water Hole, and had them taking part in my songs and serving to me flesh issues out. That continued in varied iterations all through faculty. I performed lots of exhibits, and what I realized is that with inventive partnerships — like another relationship — the highs might be actually excessive and delightful and singular and fruitful, and the lows might be extremely onerous. They’ll trigger interpersonal issues; they are often creatively irritating. We symbolize ourselves via our artwork — it’s our window to the world. So trusting another person in creating a chunk is an immense quantity of belief. I believe it’s very uncommon that two creators discover a fruitful relationship with one another. Collaboration, when it really works, is probably the most stunning factor. It’s a tall order to search out your mirror creatively, and it doesn’t all the time work. I believe studying to let go of {that a} bit has been useful for me and studying to belief that it’s okay to only need to do issues my approach.

The Del Water Hole band cut up through the finish of Jaffe’s time in school, however he pursued it as a solo mission after graduating from NYU. In 2013, Jaffe launched his first EP, “Del Water Hole EP.” Eight years later, he joined the file label Mother + Pop Music, the place he launched his newest two albums: a 2021 self-titled LP and 2023’s “I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left But.” The hits “Ode to a Dialog Caught in Your Throat” and “Excessive Tops” have collectively garnered over 100 million streams on Spotify.

WSN: What conjures up you to jot down about previous conversations in your music? 

Jaffe: I grew up actually shy. I grew up in a quiet family the place nobody actually communicated. It took me a number of years into maturity to learn to be open and talk in a approach that was actually an sincere reflection of who I used to be. Individuals say phrases solid spells, proper? It’s like we kind of communicate our actuality into existence. The final couple of years, I’ve spent lots of time touring; I’ve spent lots of time in flux. When dwelling turns into a bit intangible, folks turn into your property. It’s been an actual course of for me to learn to talk. I’m a malleable individual. I’m delicate — lots of artists are. I’ve all the time been very porous. In making an attempt to make sense of lots of my life, I’ve extra questions than solutions. However the means of getting to speak about issues and collaborate in a platonic capability, in a romantic capability and in an existential capability has created the fact that I dwell in.

In 2022, Jaffe carried out on the Governors Ball Music Pageant, the place Yves Saint Laurent despatched him a floral quick swimsuit to put on. He mentioned the efficiency made him perceive the significance of trend in dwell efficiency, and that visible artwork, like trend and movie, has turn into an essential a part of his inventive course of as a musician. Jaffe is presently on tour celebrating the discharge of his sophomore album, which options Arlo Parks as a co-writer and Clairo on clarinet. 

WSN: How did your early profession taking part in exhibits round New York affect your evolution as an artist?

Jaffe: It’s all the things. I’m smiling simply because I owe a lot to New York Metropolis. I had by no means actually performed dwell, and I got here to New York and began taking part in a present, like, each week. I simply performed in each small venue in New York, like Arlene’s Grocery, Rockwood Music Corridor, Pianos. So many which can be gone now, like Sullivan Corridor. I moved to New York and I purchased a leather-based jacket and an electrical guitar. That was my first try. After which I found singer-songwriter music and began taking part in that folkier music. The via line was all the time the writing. After I got here to New York, it was kind of the tail finish of that New York Metropolis indie-rock golden age. Within the final couple of years, I’ve simply loosened the grip just a little bit, and I’ve mentioned I’m simply going to make the music that I need to hearken to. I’m going to make the music that I need to see on the earth.

Contact Eliana Brown at [email protected].