Jacob Collier Looks Back at His India Tour and Ahead to ‘Djesse Vol. 4’

If you’re in a Jacob Collier audience – like the thousands who were present at his sold-out solo piano shows in India this past week – then, in his eyes, you’re a musician. “I think that everybody in the world is a musician, really. As long as they have ears and they’re open, everyone knows and understands the language of music,” the Grammy-winning British artist says over an audio call.

He’s still in Bengaluru, where he closed off his three-city run of shows as part of his India tour put together by ticketing platform Skillbox. The night prior, Collier created an audience choir – a staple at his solo sets so far – amidst rain and over 2,000 people were indulging him. “It’s been a really fun week,” Collier says about his return to India, where he first performed two sold-out shows at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai in 2019.

There are two more shows in Asia this week in Shanghai and Jakarta and then, Collier will likely appear on touring circuits only in April 2024, after the release of his fifth album Djesse Vol. 4 on February 29th. The album – which has so far seen singles like “Never Gonna Be Alone,” “Wellll,” “Little Blue” and most recently, “Wherever I Go” – was finished just a few days ago in Mumbai. “It’s the album I’m most proud of ever having made,” Collier says in his warm voice.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Collier talks about coming back to India, incorporating audience choirs from around the world into Djesse Vol. 4 and more. Excerpts:

One of the first things I wanted to ask about was the Bengaluru show, because it was open-air but there was also a bit of rain. How was the atmosphere at the concert?

Jacob Collier: It was electric, it was amazing. I don’t think we knew quite what to expect. Because yeah, there was a big storm in the afternoon and we weren’t sure whether the show was gonna go ahead. But I’m very glad that we did push through. It was a very, very special group of people. I’ve never been to Bangalore before. So it’s my first time and, and the first time we perform in a place is always a very unforgettable, memorable time. The audience they sang so beautifully, and they brought so much energy and so much color, and I’m very, very grateful to be here and to have had a chance to perform.

What was it like coming back to India, but bringing a different kind of show with the solo piano setup?

It’s been really amazing. The first time I came to India was back in 2019. I did a few shows in Mumbai with my band and they were some of the craziest shows the whole year, it really felt so spectacular. So I’ve been really excited to come back.

This time, I came back by myself. Just me and a piano and a guitar and my harmonizer. It was a really quite a spontaneity-led show, in a sense. It was quite a lot of improvisation, lots of audience participation, and singing a whole bunch of different songs – some old songs, some new songs, some songs by other musicians that I really love and respect and it was really a joy to get to find all these new colors and new songs and new approaches to the songs here in India. I think there is something about performing to an Indian crowd that is unlike any other crowd in the world. I’ve played in so many different parts of the world, but there’s a very particular gratitude I feel and an energy that’s in these crowds that I will really never forget.

These solo piano shows are supposed to feel intimate, right? But then you have so many people singing along with you and it sounds like a stadium full of people. How do you strike a balance between the different scales of your shows?

I think for me, I always think of gigs as the most vulnerable I can be with an audience. I’m not hiding behind any anything. There’s no production or anything. I think I always like to do this show with audiences that I trust, and I really trust Indian audiences to follow along, to hear what I’m singing and playing. I really feel these people have been very open in this part of the world. And for me, it’s really one of my most favorite things to do. I perform in many different outfits, and have done over the last few years. I love them all for different reasons – there’s performing with an orchestra, and there’s performing with my incredible band. But I think for me, sometimes performing solo on the piano is really the thing that most nourishes my soul. I think people here have really welcomed me in that format and I’m really grateful for that.

One of the revelations for me from your 2019 Mumbai shows was how demanding you were of your audience, but not in the way that you would feel disappointed if no one sang along. Do you consider yourself a demanding performer?

It’s a good question. I feel like my job is to give the audience permission to be whoever they want to be. If they want to sing, fantastic; if they want to dance, fantastic; if they want to just sit and listen, fantastic! I always try to be as inviting as possible for the audience to join in.

If the audience doesn’t want to sing every single bit, then that’s okay with me, but I find the audiences really enthusiastic. I think that people often come to shows and they expect to be very, very passive there – to just sit and listen, and that’s their job. But I really think that the idea that there’s one performer on stage who is very separate from the audience – is not necessarily very helpful for the audience, nor for the performer. So I like to blur the line between who the performer is and who the audience is. It’s all just about having fun. It’s a really amazing joy to come so far from home to this part of the world and just to kind of see what happens when I make music here, and I find the audiences to be really enthusiastic and open.

What has your experience been like trying to break the ice with audiences? Have there been times when the crowd hasn’t perhaps warmed up to you like you’d expect?

There are many different ways to move an audience. I think one of the things I’ve learned is that sometimes the way that I think an audience is moved is different from the way that they are actually moved. Sometimes an audience is more moved if they are quieter, for example, than if they are screaming. It just depends on the way in which audiences listen.

I’ve done a lot of learning of how audiences feel. I really enjoy the challenge of pushing myself to shape shift into things that will move them and will help them come out of themselves. I also have a bunch of techniques, just ways for the audience to maybe take themselves a bit less seriously if they need to and  making an audience laugh and even making myself laugh. Those things can really help.

Sometimes if things go wrong in shows or something doesn’t go to plan, that can be just what you need for an audience to relax. I always like to leave as much room as possible in the show for different kinds of things to take me by surprise and things to change direction, especially when so much of the shows are improvised. My main job is just to be as open as I can to all the all the different ways in which a show can go and to meet the audience in a place where both of us feel like we’re learning and growing and enjoying ourselves.

At least in India, a lot of people who show up to your concerts have been musicians themselves. What do you think about that?

It’s really a treat to make music for and with anybody, and one of the joys of the last few years, has been seeing my audience grow into so many people who aren’t… they wouldn’t call themselves musicians. But I kind of think that everybody in the world is a musician, really, as long as they have ears, and they’re open, everyone knows and understands the language of music, whether they’re a listener, whether they’re a participator. The line between participator and listener is actually very, very thin.

I think it’s been really a learning curve for me and an exciting privilege over the last couple of years to really start getting into these audience choirs –  these different kind of polyphonic audience singalong sections, and to have even non-musicians singing along, and knowing what to do. I think there is something inherent in every person that knows what music is, and knows how music fits together and how it works. I think my job really is to provide an experience for me, and also for every audience member, whether they are one of the world’s greatest musicians or a three-year-old child or somebody who has never heard or played music in their whole life… my hope is that there’s something for all those people to find themselves in the show in some way.

What is it like containing so much of your creative energies on stage? What are you usually thinking as you’re improvising in the moment?

When I’m on stage, I don’t think too much. I’m not thinking, for example, ‘Oh, I should play a D major chord now, or I hope I remember this lyric.’ I’m trying to stay as open as possible.

There are many different kinds of cylinders, through which things are flowing – there’s the notes, there’s the instrument, there’s my voice, and there’s the audience. I think there’s also many different parts of a show that aren’t musical, that maybe I think more about now than I think about the musical parts. So when I’m on stage, I mostly just think about, where my energy is, and how best I can use my energy to reach the people.

I also read the audience’s energy quite carefully. I make sure that if people are wanting to sing and dance louder, then I make sure I can scale the show to do that. If people want to be more quiet, and listen, I can change my techniques to do that too. I like improvising in that way. I suppose it’s like I’m gardening a little bit… maybe that’s how it feels. It’s like, I’m on stage, and I’m not planting trees, and I’m not planting bushes, but I’m gardening things that are already happening.

There are moments on stage where I’m more calm than I am in any other time in my life, because I’m focusing all my energy into one process that feels like it’s involving all the different parts of the ways in which I can be alive, you know? I really love the challenge of moving my attention around at such speed in ways that provide people with hopefully a meaningful and moving experience.

Sounds like it’s very therapeutic for you.

It does feel like that, yeah.

Djesse Vol. 4 has been announced to release in February. What can you tell me about it and what stage is it at right now?

So I actually finished it in Mumbai. About four days ago, I mixed the album – the final mixes of the album I did were on the plane trip from Los Angeles, it was a 24-hour trip and I was very, very tired when I landed, probably the most tired I’ve ever been in my life. But it’s now finished and I’m really excited for you to hear and for the world to hear it. It’s the album I’m most proud of ever having made.

I’m not going to spoil too many of the surprises – I won’t tell you all the crazy musicians who are on it just yet. But one thing I will say is that I spent last year recording all the audience choirs from all over the world. I did about 100 shows last year and I recorded all the audiences and I compiled them together to make a 100,000 voices choir and that choir is all over the album. Different songs have different audience choirs singing them. The feeling of building an album out of the voices of the world is a very, very exciting feeling for me, and it’s something I’ve been hoping to do for many years. But it’s only right now that I’ve found a way for that to feel organic. It’s not just made for people, it’s actually made of people. I can’t wait for February 29th, the day it releases.

That date means you can only celebrate its anniversary once every four years.

I know! One of the reasons I decided to release it on that day is because it’s the fourth album of a four-album series. So it feels prudent to release it on a day that comes every four years.