The collaboration between Matt Bauer’s Memory Spells project and Jordan Whitlock exists somewhere between dream pop, chamber folk and cinematic memory.
Interview by Glitch & Gold
Some collaborations sound carefully constructed. Others feel like they appeared quietly out of nowhere, already carrying their own atmosphere before anyone could fully explain them.
This Is What It Feels Like exists somewhere between dream pop, chamber folk and cinematic memory. Written remotely between Los Angeles and San Diego, the album feels suspended between distance and intimacy, filled with oceanic space, blurred nostalgia and moments that seem to drift in and out of focus like fragments from half-remembered films.
Rather than forcing connection, Memory Spells and Jordan Whitlock allowed it to emerge naturally through instinct, patience and emotional trust. What began as the exchange of demos slowly evolved into something much deeper: two artists building a shared emotional language across silence, distance and sound.
In conversation with Glitch & Gold, Matt Bauer ( Memory Spells ) and Jordan Whitlock reflect on vulnerability, cinematic storytelling, subconscious songwriting and the strange beauty of creating together before fully knowing each other.
01 Thin Places
This Is What It Feels Like feels suspended between distance and intimacy, almost like two people trying to reach each other through fog, memory and sound. Before the album became what it is now, what first made you realize there was a real emotional connection inside this collaboration beyond simply exchanging music files?
“I think it was from the first song we wrote. I was holding on to a piece of music that I’d written that I really loved, and kept trying to write lyrics for it, but was never happy with it. When I shared it with Jordan and we talked a little bit about what it could be about, she came back with the perfect lyrics and melody along with a full vocal arrangement in less than a day. I think we just got each other really quickly and kept writing from there.” - Matt
“Yeah, honestly the first day we met I could tell we were on the same wavelength in terms of just personality even.” - Jordan
02 Writing In Separate Rooms
One of the most fascinating things about this record is that you created so much of it before really knowing each other in person. Did working remotely allow a different kind of honesty or emotional openness to emerge that may not have happened otherwise?
“I think we both feel most comfortable recording and writing in our own spaces and taking our time, and it’s maybe easier to be vulnerable and try things out and make false starts on your own and then share it with the other person when you’re ready.” - Matt
03 Oceans Between The Songs
There’s so much space inside these songs. The production never rushes, the vocals almost drift through the arrangements like weather moving across water. How conscious were you of silence and restraint while building the emotional atmosphere of the album?
“Wow, that was so poetic, I love that. I like to play with dynamics a lot when I’m singing - having a bigger moment in the song and then immediately drawing back into something quiet and intimate. I feel like it helps draw out emotion, but I’m also often doing it pretty subconsciously.” - Jordan
“Maybe some of it isn’t really conscious, it’s just our sensibilities. But I do like leaving space in an arrangement or a mix to really hear the detail in a vocal or a guitar tone or whatever it might be. And a lot of the songs are sort of introspective or inward and lend themselves to pauses and empty spaces.” - Matt
04 Building A Cinematic World
The record feels deeply cinematic, but never in an overly dramatic way. It feels more like fragments from imagined films, late-night drives, coastlines and half-remembered conversations. What draws both of you toward creating worlds around the music rather than simply writing songs?
“For me, I think really visually when I’m writing lyrics and often have to find the emotion or story through a place or lighting or a time of day. And we both really love film composers, so probably some of that comes through when we write.” - Matt
“Well, from the first song we wrote together, we had this picture or scene in mind of an 80s prom moment on the dancefloor or something like that, so I think that set the precedent in a way of being creative with the story telling and being fine with just describing moments and feelings rather than a whole story.” - Jordan
05 The Voice In The Fog
Jordan’s voice often feels less like a performance and more like a presence floating inside the songs. There’s a kind of emotional restraint to the vocals that makes the vulnerable moments hit even harder. How did you approach that balance between fragility and control throughout the record?
“Whenever I write a new song to an instrumental, I make sure I’m in the studio the first time I hear it so I can immediately record and capture whatever feelings or words come out based on the first listen. I’m basically responding to the emotional landscape of the instrumental and letting the subconscious take over and sing whatever fits the feeling of the music. From there, I can fine tune and hone in on what I really want to say and bring in a little more of the control, but I think there’s a lot of beauty in a first take that can’t always be replicated.” - Jordan
06 Songs Written Like Memories
Many of these songs feel almost diaristic, but blurred at the edges like memories you can’t fully hold onto anymore. Was nostalgia something that naturally appeared while writing together, or did the album slowly become more reflective as it evolved?
“I think we both had certain little flashes of moments or memories we’d end up basing a whole song off of, without going into excruciating detail, focussing more on creating vignettes and trying to describe how that day or moment felt.” - Jordan
“Maybe some of the feeling you’re getting of blurred memories or nostalgia could be that we were often writing about the same feeling, but writing separately about each of our own experiences, and not really talking about the specifics we might be referencing.” - Matt
07 Distance As A Creative Language
Most artists talk about distance as an obstacle, but on this record it almost feels like distance became part of the emotional architecture itself. Looking back now, do you think the album could even exist in the same way if you had created it together in the same room from the beginning?
“I think it would be a totally different collection of songs. I hope we get to do that in the future, and we’ve joked about how now if we spent a week in Matt’s studio we’d probably leave with a whole album ready to go. But something about having the time and space to individually write what felt good to us at our own leisure probably shaped the music in a way we didn’t even really realize.” - Jordan
08 The Weight Of Atmosphere
There’s a beautiful tension throughout the album between organic intimacy and widescreen atmosphere, between folk songwriting and something much more spectral and cinematic. How did you know when a song needed to stay minimal and when it needed to fully bloom emotionally?
“Most of it just feels instinctual, trying to just listen to what the other person shared and find what the song needs or where it wants to go. Also, there can be a lot of trial and error. I often kind of overload an arrangement trying a lot of things before paring it back to what really needs to be there.” - Matt
“Some songs started on the acoustic guitar, and those would often stay more in a folk world, while other songs started with violin or a drone so we gave ourselves the room to play around more and make things more cinematic. Like Matt said, I think a lot of it is following instincts and listening to a song over and over, trying new things until it feels right.” - Jordan
09 Human Connection In A Digital Age
At its core, this album feels like a record about connection, longing and trying to hold onto something real in an increasingly distant world. Do you think making this album changed the way you personally think about human connection and vulnerability?
“I think it did. There’s something so vulnerable about putting yourself out there sending someone a first draft of something or even a voice note or demo of a melody with no actual words so you’re just singing in tongues, I guess. And when you can get to a place where you're comfortable sharing with someone like that, I think you can find something really rare and special in the writing.” - Matt
10 After The Silence
Now that This Is What It Feels Like is finally out in the world, what do you feel this collaboration revealed to both of you creatively and personally that maybe you didn’t fully understand when the project first began?
“I think it made me open up a little bit creatively and have fun making music that was solely for the purpose of making music and enjoying the process. It was fun to be playful with the vocals and step away from some boxes I had maybe put myself in.” - Jordan
“I feel the same. We really encouraged each other to try new things and just follow our instincts. We both make music for our day jobs, and like Jordan was saying, I think we encouraged each other to save this project as a place to just do whatever we wanted for ourselves and be free of any restraints we might have in our other work.” - Matt
“I also realized that it's much better working on a project with someone else (and someone you enjoy haha)” - Jordan
“100%” - Matt
Some albums ask for your attention immediately. This Is What It Feels Like takes its time instead. The songs move slowly, like conversations that drift deeper long after midnight, where silence matters just as much as whatever gets said out loud.
What Matt Bauer and Jordan Whitlock built together never feels forced or overly calculated. You can hear the trust growing inside the music itself, two people following instinct, sending unfinished ideas back and forth, allowing the songs to breathe until they became something neither of them could have made alone.
And maybe that’s why the record stays with you. Not because it tries to overwhelm you, but because it understands something quieter about connection, memory and the strange comfort of being understood by someone at exactly the right moment.
See more from the interview on Instagram.