There is no straight path for having a successful career within the music industry. The road is long, full of potholes and other deterrents — all while constantly shifting, precipitous drops surround you.
No one knows this better than Jared Bartman, whose journey to creating his latest project, Slow Down Ego took two long, challenge filled years. He worked multiple jobs to pursue his passion, doing everything he could to ensure the album reached completion. It was these trials and tribulations that helped shape the album, allowing Bartman to find new life within his art.
This album was a step in a new direction for Bartman, moving away from his independent path to working with a team and creating a full album from start to finish. He has been making music for years, putting together DIY albums throughout high school and college, even doing some touring. He had success, but decided he wanted to try his hand at creating a full album, doing the mixing, writing and even making the instrumentals.
Bartman met Mike Noyce while they were both living in Peoria, Illinois. After staying in touch for about a year, the two began to work together. They had a natural connection, their rapport building into a working friendship. Bartman also brought Liam O’Brien into the mix, completing the circle of collaborators for Slow Down Ego, besides Bartman’s wife and children.
“Moon Ruin’s music is a weird melding of live instrumentation and electronic beats, ambient washy vocals colliding with synthy indie-pop,” Bartman said.
The music has a genre of its own, beautiful and striking in its minimalism and dedication to finding the perfect balance between vocal strength and the beat. His wife lends her voice to the project, riding the beat very well, slipping into the gaps perfectly to connect to the listener.
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The beats and instrumentals are all homemade with the main idea behind it. The music can allow you to slip away for a little while, step through a door and feel the world melt away.
“To try and create live instruments that sounded electronic and vice versa. It works well, drawing a listener into a different world filled with mystery and intrigue,” Bartman said.
As spring finally seems to have sprung, it is time to go outside and venture once more around this beautiful city. If you’re looking to have a good time and celebrate the fact that it is no longer freezing outside (for now), head to North Street Cabaret this Sunday, April 15, to see Bartman and Moon Ruin live in action. The doors open up at 7 p.m., tickets are $7 and is open to all ages.
Whether you are a casual music fan, or just are looking to have a good time listening to music that resonates, this is the group to check it out.
