Making Music During Quarantine

And how to turn creativity into connection

By Carter Starkey

One of the best things about any community I've ever been a part of is the music. Music has the power to bring together groups of people in ways nothing else can. Any good musician will tell you that the power in that relationship comes from the people involved. We gather, we create, and we listen. In a year when gathering wasn't really possible, how did we create and engage with the music that we love?

To answer that question, I talked with one of my favorite sources of that connection I've so dearly missed: Deano Erickson, who performs under the name Internet Dating. In his new album, "Incomplete Control," he's able to bring back the feeling of the close-knit, acoustic sets that once had the patrons of small bars and clubs around the Twin Cities swaying in their seats. He writes songs about the little moments and big feelings in life through his storytelling and lively guitar playing. We talked about what the pandemic meant for artists like him.

"I started writing Incomplete Control the day after the release of my last EP, Stall," said Erickson. "I was all set to release it last year before covid hit, but I just decided it wasn't the right time. Then, in January, Brace Cove [Records] hit me up and said, 'Hey man, are you still sitting on that album?' and we decided to put it out."

The timeline of this project is long, and it reflects a lot of what is true for any musician right now: adaptability is key. As venues closed their doors, lots of artists across the world were forced to find new ways of making ends meet last year, and many were left with more time than they'd had before. Deano, ever the optimist, felt like this was a unique opportunity. He said he used Covid as a time to perfect the album. He was able to work on remastering many of the recordings he had going into the pandemic and make the album sound the way it does now: intimate, soft, and heartfelt. What's more is that this time allowed for a new connection to the songwriting process.

"I basically took a year off of playing in front of people; I'm just playing for myself right now. It's like, who knows what the rest of the world is going to think about it? It's for me at this point. I'm almost like 'I don't care if anyone else will hear it.'" 

One of my favorite parts of this album is the art direction. For that, Deano turned to another local artist named Walter Smits. Together, they filmed two music videos, and Walter was responsible for the album cover and the accompanying photo zine. It adds the perfect dimension of color and personality to an already vibrant project. I asked Deano what it was like working with Smits, and specifically about the video for 'Meddle in the Middle.'

"What surprised me the most was Walt's ability to put things together… We hit up friends to dance in the video, and one of the dancers, Celeste, helped put together a wardrobe and everything. We filmed the video almost entirely in one shot." He went on to explain how the two artists pushed each other. The piece that became the album cover was one of the largest that Smits had done to date, while making the music videos forced Deano to accompany his music with images that he may not have otherwise concocted. By the end, all the parties involved had something to be proud of.

Every musician has had different experiences with Covid. What is undeniable is that it's changed not only how we consume music (I haven't seen live music in over a year) but also how it's being made. For many musicians, sources of inspiration and income vanished entirely. What Incomplete Control is able to do so well is connect the audience to the world around us, or remind us of a world without a virus looming over our heads, and for that I am thankful. You can find Internet Dating’s Incomplete Control on Apple Music, Spotify, or Bandcamp.