Telos Is Zedd’s Musical Playground

Multiple Grammy award-winning Zedd sits on a plush cream armchair when he answers the Zoom call. A dozen other journalists from several media outlets (including those buzzing in our hive with us) stuffed across tiny square windows for the press conference. He has a yellow shirt and matching hat, a scruffy beard etched across his jawline. Because the chair looks a little futuristic, much like everything else he does, his motion camera webcam follows every minuscule movement he makes. It’s as if he’s contacting us from the USS Enterprise rather than the Hollywood Hills. And the Star Trek reference somehow worms itself in. It makes sense, considering he urges a space movie when asked what sort of movie or television show he’d prefer his cinematically acclaimed album Telos to be in.

‘1685’

Notably, ‘1685.’ The last track on the album is split into two parts. It starts with this tuning of a nineties-sixties radio. In context with what he’s said, we’re assuming it has been picked up by an astronaut long after Earth has crapped itself. It then unfurls into this lullaby, ticking timebomb, him believing that it’d be best used during “something grand and spacey.” He’s correct, by the way! It might yet be overlaid into a sci-fi flick. But at some point, the techno-flickering collaboration with Muse just dies out. Then, it beats back to life like a hidden track. He credits this to the albums he loved back in the day.

We pay thanks to his dreams of being an audio engineer for a long-form game, even if it was a seven-year undertaking. The entire track seems like an elevator pitch as it accurately engages with his belief that sound can guide one’s emotions during a game. Or, in this case, it can make us believe we’re in a space movie. Er, game—it can be many things!

The Making Of Telos

‘1685’ isn’t the first time he’s acquainted himself with Muse. It’s more learning the lyrics ‘Plug in Baby’ than shaking the hand of lead vocalist Matt Bellamy. Zedd’s band, Dioramic, made that song the first they ever played live. And even he believes he’s grown immensely since then! Maybe there’s some Russian dialect still wavering in his accent, but if that wasn’t made clear, he lets us know that he once had some insecurity around singing because English wasn’t his first language. Then you’re thinking of Zedd singing? What an odd match, primarily when he’s known for syncing up his EDM brilliance with other artists’ vocal abilities. There’s Maren Morris for ‘The Middle,’ which has made Spotify’s Billions Club, and then Alessia Cara’s ‘Stay.’ 

Telos isn’t like that! He esteems it to be a giant playground, usually having sat on the swings with Lady Gaga, writing ten songs for her. Then, he decides to jump off to go make his own: Clarity. This time, he was the first to head up to the slides. He built off the childhood play area into a concept album. He states that subconsciously, it followed the same pattern (something which he realizes while on the call) yet required a lot out of him, gelling computerized sounds with those of contemporary jazz. Unlike albums that feel like playlists, clicking on the elusive green heart until it’s sent like a repetitive package that you’re going to unwrap again and again to your favorite section, he brought out maps and wanted to curate energy structures. “Playlists can’t intelligently morph into songs,” he notes.

Emotional Weight

As he and we said, it was a massive undertaking, and burnout quickly became a topic on the call! “Call a sickie,” many would proclaim, and it took some time for Zedd to agree. His idea of one is looking at houses, fangirling over architecture, his mansion having appeared in Architectural Digest six years ago—skittle machine intact. But it’s more strenuous than that. He recalls his lost weight and endless sleepless nights when ideas about Telos appeared like counting sheep. 

He also starts on a new topic with an “I don’t like collaborating.” Understanding the irony, he enlargens the statement further by saying that it’s more about people’s expectations, that while there are two people involved, there’s still the same number of chords, verses, and such. One’s imagination is often more calculative of the mindblowing emoji than the result itself. But he does love it when it’s done right! One of those examples is his reimagination of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Dream Brother,’ which you can tell by his adoring facial expressions mean a lot to him. He had sent the track to Zane Lowe before the album release as he had interviewed him back in the day. Both he and his wife approved of the track. 

TELOS TOUR

That only really leaves the TELOS TOUR. His motion camera kicks in again upon describing a particularly loved part of the show. He’s tiptoeing the lines of not wanting to spoil us but also unable to give his own five-star review. “If you can hear it, I want you to see it,” he states, illustrating that it’s better described as being at the theater than a concert. 

There are still a bunch of dates for the tour, wrapping up at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre on October 15! If you haven’t already, swipe a ticket and let us know our social media, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, which show you’re going to (or have already been to). What are you most looking forward to hearing? 

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