Since their formation in 2013, SALES has charmed and delighted their listeners with beautiful, whimsical music, a humble and relatable presence as a band, and a down-to-earth vibe that translates into all of their music. I had the joy of getting to chat with them briefly after their performance at Neumos on November 30th, and then in a longer phone interview with the duo a month later.
SALES is comprised of two members, Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih, who work together to create an array of original and ear friendly tunes. In person, they were just as adorable and wonderful as their music might lead you to believe.
Photo courtesy: Malcom Martin
One of the last things that SALES did over the course of our forty-five minute interview was send me on a wild goose chase for a secret song through the deep web.
It was a sunny December day, and I was lying on the floor of my bedroom back in Oregon and on the other end of the phone line was Florida-based indie pop duo SALES. What we were doing was by all definitions an interview, but it didn’t feel like that—more than anything, it felt like a friendly phone call, like buddies catching up. The interview started with me reading off a rigid set of questions, but ended with the three of us cracking jokes and giggling, and them learning as much about my life as I did about theirs.
“So how long have you guys been a band for?” I asked, the smile still audible in my voice. We had been joking around with each other for the past twenty minutes.
“We’ve been working together on music since high school, which is maybe 2007? Or 2006?” said Lauren, “But we’ve been working together as SALES, even unofficially as SALES, since 2012 or 2013. Like, I know we wrote “Be My Baby” around 2012, but I think we officially came together in 2013.”
“Yeah, there was a lot of working together. The first song we put out wasn’t the first song we worked on,” chimed in Jordan, “I mean think about a lot of the artists who, you know, have careers. There was like, I dunno, a good ten years since they actually broke through that like you don’t really know about. But yeah, we’ve been working together since probably ‘07 or ‘08, about ten years now.”
Lauren, who had been quiet on the other line, exploded at this realization. “Dude, WOAAAAAH!!!” The enthusiasm in her voice was well-deserved, and for the millionth time that conversation, I felt a massive smile spread across my face. The world was beginning to recognize the insane talent of this mostly indie duo, and after a decade of work and fine-tuning and growing together as a band, they were finally starting to get the worldwide recognition—with a fanbase spread across a multitude of countries—they deserved.
“But you, know, we’re still pretty young as a band,” continued Lauren, “I mean, “Renee” was the first song we put out there, but not the first song we worked on. It was the first song that like… we felt ready to share. But I mean, you search the internet for JSHIH (Jordan’s electronica pseudonym, which he worked under before SALES) and Lauren Morgan, you never know what you’ll come up with!”
Once again, the three of us laughed. “You know, there’s actually a secret SALES song,” Jordan said, an edge of humor and mystery to his voice.
I leaned in closer to my phone, intrigued. A secret SALES song? I had already worked my way through their current released discography, so the idea of a new track to listen to on repeat made my heart sing.
“I’ve been waiting for people to find it,” he continued, “but nobody’s discovered it yet. It’s probably what I would count as the first SALES song, even before “Renee”. We put it out there even before we knew SALES was going to be a band. I’m surprised nobody’s tracked it down yet.”
I snickered into the phone. “Jordan, you sound like a very old, very mysterious pirate… ah, yes there is a secret treasure trove of songs, but nobody has sleuthed it out yet!” The three of us cracked up. “Dig it up, Amelia!” giggled Lauren, “It’s back from the electronic music heyday.”
And now, after being personally anointed this wild-fox-chase of a song search, I find myself years back in Jordan’s early Soundcloud. His music is solely electronic – a wildly different sound from the ethereal indie pop that we’re so used to hearing from him now. His talent is evident and even in his earliest music, you can tell it comes naturally to him.
I’m enjoying his music, but not finding what I was looking for. So I decided to go to the vault that holds all of our collective early memories: YouTube. After digging for a good 40 minutes, I found something: an early JSHIH music video, produced by a friend. I squinted at my computer screen. Another dead end to my scavenger hunt? But then, around nine seconds in, a familiar name popped up on the screen: Lauren Morgan. A huge smile spread across my face. I had found it! The first SALES song, the secret SALES song!
Or so I thought.
After checking in with Lauren and Jordan, I discovered that the track I had initially discovered was an independent collaboration between the two and not the first SALES song. As Lauren put it, it was “a discovery within itself,” but not the first technical song between the two. I was slightly disappointed by my deep-web diving skills (let it be known that they’re not as good as my light coding/hacker phase in middle school led me to believe), but excited, once again, by the prospect of the first ever SALES song, a legit production of the band.
With trepidation and eagerness, I clicked the link Lauren sent me and was immediately blown away by the content in my headphones. While “Back of My Head” sounds like some sort of garage-band duo between two friends, you can hear the stylistic elements that make SALES’ trademark sound starting to coalesce in “Welcome Home,” the first ever SALES song. The track, which was produced by a friend in 2011, two years before their first record, was released only two years after their first collaboration, but the difference between the songs is wild.
Listening to the song, you can really hear how much the band has grown in terms of musical development. The light guitar riffs that we’re so accustomed to hearing in SALES’ music was absent, replaced by heavy synth and drums, and Lauren’s voice, with its unique, recognizable tenor, was heavily edited over. But it is still them – you can hear it, feel it. Looking at the original Bandcamp page, I wondered if any of the listens on that original track had any feel that SALES would blow up to the magnitude they have. Their most popular songs have tens of millions of listens on many different music streaming sites and stand as anthems for everyone from the alternative community to the indie-pop communities.
It’s easy to see why SALES is so universally adored—not only do they produce some seriously great tracks, but the energy of the band is incredible too. Lauren and Jordan are funny, quirky, down-to-earth, and clever. Their music reflects that, and so did the rest of their interview. When I asked them about their favorite moments from tour, one of the most resounding answers I got was about their experience with Vancouver, Canada’s poke. “Vancouver was ON their poke game,” Lauren told me enthusiastically, reminiscing about a particularly delectable poke bowl the two enjoyed. Although they detailed the poke bowl as a particular highlight from their trip, they also talked about some of their favorite stops and memories from the past tour. Although they loved Seattle, both of their favorite places were California beach towns—Lauren’s was Santa Cruz, and Jordan’s was Santa Barbara.
Photo courtesy of @wearenotsales on Instagram
When I asked the duo about their visit to Seattle (their November stop at Nuemos was the third time they’ve performed in Seattle), they reflected positively on their experience—at least this time around. “Seattle is pretty low-key, you know,” quipped Lauren, pondering their three visits to the Emerald City. “People don’t really do anything too crazy at Seattle shows—but the energy was really nice. Less judgy than last time.” When I asked about their past Seattle experience, a sold-out 2016 show at the Crocodile, Lauren reflected that “she couldn’t tell if the crowd liked it or not” (which seems impossible to believe- SALES’ stage energy was so endearing and wonderful that it was hard not to walk away from that show totally in love with the duo. Current editor and former music reporter Emma reported on SALES’ previous show here if you want to check out an audience perspective!) Still, they had their doubts about their past Seattle show, even if it was just how SALES’ energy matched up with the crowd. “It was pretty grungy,” remarked Jordan about the energy, “The Crocodile has that really grungy, hipster vibe…” As he discussed his thoughts on the crowd, Lauren chimed in, the high timbre of her voice complimenting Jordan’s low, gravelly speech perfectly. “I mean, it was recently remodeled… so it didn’t feel like the mother of grunge or anything.” We all laughed. It was pretty goofy to imagine SALES, with their charming indie-pop aesthetic and sweet music, performing to a sold-out show on one of their earliest shows in the heart of the Mother of Grunge. Maybe that’s why they fit in so well at Nuemos in November, with neon lights striking the back of their heads and the guitars in their hands, shining brightly onto an audience that was much less grungy and much more in love with everything the band stood for.
Although the band has no concrete plans to tour at the moment, they plan on having a new LP pressed and released by the fall, as well as another national tour. When I inquired about the content of the new album, Lauren responded with “who knows what we’ll write? We don’t f**king know.” They definitely plan on stopping by Seattle, so whatever wonderful music they decide to grace us with, we’ll get a live taste of it.
When I asked about the early formation of the band, right before the duo sent me on a (mostly) ineffective deep web scour for their first ever song, I was shocked to hear about how much doubt they had about whether or not the band was going to be successful. “I thought we were gonna be done after our first tour,” said Jordan, “We had no idea if our record was gonna sell—our first record was just two songs.” Thankfully for the duo, “Renee”, one of the songs on the 2013 record, was the song that more or less put SALES on the map. Fans fell in love with the repetitive guitar riffs, sweet lyrics and vocal patterns, and light electronic influences. It’s beautiful to listen to, thinking about how far they had already come—and how much further they were going to go. SALES is very much an up-and-coming band, even now, and it’s thrilling to think about how much potential the band has. When discussing it with Lauren, she summed up all the permeations the band has gone through with one word: Kazien. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means “change for better,” and it beautifully reflects on all the growth Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih have already had to date with the promise of much more to come.
Stay tuned with the duo on their website, or on their Twitter or Instagram (@wearenotsales.)
AMELIA ZEVE | boppin’ to my new favorite SALES song | KXSU Arts Reporter