Tech is the foundation for Seattle-based Beat Connection’s burgeoning electropop empire — and we’re not just talking about the synthesizers that fuel the band’s upbeat, head-nodding sound. Band co-founder and producer Reed Juenger started out composing beats in GarageBand during his college days in the late ’00s, and it was online response to their first EP, 2010’s Surf Noir, that snared the group their first record deal.
Still, Juenger, who’ll thump the Frequency with vocalist Tom Eddy, drummer Jarred Katz and bassist Mark Hunter on Dec. 4, approaches technology the same way he does music composition — thoughtfully and with caution. It took the band nearly two years to sift, polish and winnow the 11 tracks that make up their latest release, Product 3.
“We want the art to speak for itself, not just run through a constant cycle of trying to get people’s attention,” says Juenger, calling from the road a few days after the sold-out San Francisco launch of the band’s current tour. That said, Beat Connection is acutely aware of the social-media-driven environment in which they’re working. The title of the band’s latest release is no accident, while songs like “Ad Space” and “Reality TV,” neither of which are actually about mass media, reflect that awareness.
"A lot of our songs are fresh and shiny on the outside,” says Juenger. “On closer listening, there’s a remorse or guilt that cuts through that pop sugar.”
True that: Several of the songs on Product 3 touch on the possibility of second-chance relationships, while others front the irony therein. A throbbing tune about the spark of a nightclub connection is titled “Illusion.” It’s a contemporary echo to one of Beat Connection’s earliest singles, “Silver Screen,” the song that first brought Eddy’s vocals into the fold.
Juenger and his bandmates, a self-described group of “music nerds,” have also paid careful attention to the history and trajectory of modern electronic pop. Juenger’s especially drawn to artists like Britain’s Jai Paul, the electro-soul beatmaster with a confounding and unorthodox approach.
“It’s starting to move away from EDM and back to a pop thing,” says Juneger. “It’s not as much about ‘here’s the biggest kickdrum and the shiniest synthesizer.’ Hopefully, we’re in the right place at the right time to take advantage of that.”