Toronto artists , producers , and engineers all living in one house , with L . A . -based artists coming through for sessions . It was an environment of ‘ round-the-clock music-making and bonding .
“ Without that experience , I would not have made this album ,” Junia-T says about Studio Monk .
“ The first song for this album that was made was ‘ Know Better .’ I was the house engineer at this experience and I was literally just recording people and I didn ’ t really let people know that I produced or did anything else . I was just trying to be out there and be helpful to people . But a lot of them finished at like two-in-the-morning , and I ’ m a night owl and work until like 7 a . m . So , there ’ d be many mornings where they ’ d wake up to me still being up working on some shit , or passed out to the sound of whatever I ’ d made the night before . So , that was one of those moments where I was passed out to whatever I had made the night before and I woke up to them writing ‘ Know Better .’ So , I recorded it over a morning coffee ,” he recalls with a laugh .
Being in that creative environment changed Junia-T ’ s entire mindset and made Studio Monk
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See the behind-the-scenes documentary , Studio Monk – The Making Of , directed by Ashlee Hutchinson , now available on YouTube
possible . “ I wasn ’ t limited to just making a rap beat . I feel like up until that point , that was the lens I was always looking through when I was producing . But when I made it to L . A ., I got to just make whatever made sense and felt right . I ’ d never lived in that space before ,” he explains . “ After coming back from L . A . and that studio space and how it worked , I realized that was an integral part of what allowed me to be that creative .”
Back in Toronto , he was offered an album deal by his longtime friend and mentor Dave Guenette , a co-founder of Toronto-based record label and artist services company Pirates Blend ( A Tribe Called Red , Saul Williams , Zaki Ibrahim ). In that deal , Junia-T stipulated that he needed an artist-centric studio space so that he could work like he did in L . A .
That ’ s how Junia-T ended up at Toronto ’ s Soleil Sound ( formerly The Hive ), a multi-studio music production and post facility known for providing a collaborative , ultra-creative environment . “ I didn ’ t fully understand the history until I ended up in the room I ended up in , because I was in [ studio founder and CEO Oliver Johnson ’ s ] room . I ’ m friends with people like Jelleestone and Ivana Santilli and I had them come check me and they were like , ‘ Yo , I recorded my old stuff in here !’”
“ You need the right people . That ’ s so important , and you know them when you meet them and see how passionate they are ,” Johnson tells Canadian Musician about the creative environment . “ Junia is certainly one of them . He loves his music and is about using his music to bring people together . He has such a passion for music and is just an awesome dude .”
So , back in Toronto and working out of Soleil Sound with a new creative approach , Junia-T went about recording a staggering amount of music . “ What I stumbled on was a way to make full songs in a session . I went from sessions where ’ d I ’ d have a bunch of beats and maybe a bunch of ideas , to where every session , I ’ d leave with two to four songs ! So , from when I first signed a deal and ended up at The Hive to when the album was done , that is what happened . I haven ’ t made beats since . If I show up at the studio with an artist , we ’ re leaving with a song , guaranteed ,” he asserts . And with that approach , over two years ’ worth of sessions , he ended up with more than 200 songs that got whittled down to the 13 on Studio Monk .
“ One thing I am keen on is not wasting the first take and noticing when somebody is ready . That ’ s been part of my process ever since . So , when you think of 200 songs , it ’ s not hard to get to 200 when you ’ re banging out three songs a session over two years , you know what I mean ?” he adds matter-of-factly , as if 200 songs in two years isn ’ t insanely prolific .
While this is Junia-T ’ s album and he is the creative force driving all elements of it , Studio Monk is a wholly collaborative project . It showcases a small army of artistic contributors , including more than a dozen featured vocalists . And surprising for a guy who was known primarily as a rapper before this album , Junia-T ’ s own voice only appears twice – once when he raps on “ Complicated ,” and then when he sings the first verse of “ WYAT ?” That restraint displays a remarkable lack of ego .
“ He just creates space for you to be yourself and bring your authentic self to the session , so everything was just so easy ,” Toronto singer Faiza , who appears on both “ Make It ” and “ Puzzles ,” commented to ET Canada after Studio Monk was shortlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize .
“ The one purposeful thing I do for that sake is I don ’ t make it a rush to get to making the music ,” Junia-T reveals . “ So , when I do book sessions to work with people , I encourage them to understand we ’ re booking a big chunk of time so that we ’ re not rushed to create . Then , what comes from that after spending the first bit of time just hanging out and being humans , when we go to make music , we ’ re not trying to impress each other or we ’ re not trying to defend our ability to be great creatives . We ’ re just two human beings having fun being creative . Once you get to that space , it happens so much faster because no one is thinking . But it takes time to get there .”
Listen to our full conversation with Junia-T on the Nov . 18 , 2020 episode of the Canadian Musician Podcast , featuring more anecdotes about the Studio Monk sessions , plus more on his friendships and creative partnerships with Jessie Reyez , Dave Guenette and Pirates Blend , and Beatchild .
And outside of “ Sad Face Emojis ,” which features his longtime friend Jessie Reyez ( with whom Junia-T also tours as her DJ ), none of the other tracks on the album feature artists you would currently call “ stars ”; instead , it ’ s a talented and eclectic ensemble of artists close to Junia-T , like River Tiber , Sean Leon , STORRY , and more .
“ Another ingredient in what made this album what it is , is that every beat was made from scratch in the moment ,” he says . “ That ’ s why that grounding moment is so important for me as the person touching the buttons , so then I can feel what the room is like after we ’ ve been talking for an hour about whatever . Then , when I am touching the keys and stuff , I am doing something that is going to drive the creativity in the room for that moment . It ’ s not ‘ we need an album track ’ or ‘ we need a single ’; that shit didn ’ t matter . It ’ s just about what feels right , right now .”
For Junia-T , it was important that that organic element be maintained in all parts of the project . It ’ s why he got his old friend Beatchild to mix Studio Monk . “ His taste for analog and that ‘ 70s feel is innate to his music , so I wouldn ’ t have to explain too much . I wanted that feel to be uniform across the whole Studio Monk experience , from the visual aesthetics to the audio . He was the only fit that really worked ,” Junia-T says . “ Even during the process of mixing , he was always willing to go the extra mile to get the sound the way we wanted it . So , we bought fresh tape and then we ran it through tape machines and ran it through all this outboard gear , new gear got bought and we ran it through new shit , and it was just a really organically-grown experience .”
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Musician .
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