Los Angeles-based producer and songwriter Jim-E Stack is no stranger to collaboration. His second solo LP,, released at the end of 2020, featured a running list of Stack’s regulars—Charli XCX, Bon Iver, and Empress Of, among them. Indeed, since the 2014 release of his first LP,, Stack has made a name for himself as a zelig-like musical virtuoso, racking up credits on tracks as diverse as Haim’s electro-folksy “Want You Back” and Diplo’s downtempo R&B groove “New Shapes,” featuring Octavian.
STACK: That part of it is nice, but I honestly don’t know if it’s liberating because it puts more pressure on me. Whereas, when I’m working on someone else’s stuff and there are decisions to be made in the production and writing of which I’m unsure, I can always defer to the person whose song it is to make that decision, and I don’t have to make a big call. That’s why my album ended up being pretty short and sweet and to the point, because each song is entirely up to me.
HILL: Totally. That’s probably the gift of collaboration, right? Is that you’re ideally either learning something or utilizing someone’s skills who does some things so much better than you do. Neither of us are musicians or a good player, so to work with someone who genuinely is, brings it to another level.