Jay Legaspi

Fresh out the studio and off the set of his first music video, New York born but New Jersey raised, singer-songwriter Jay Legaspi had a goal for his new album Picture Perfect: to showcase what he could do and to give a variety of genres within 13 tracks.  Legaspi’s goal as a singer is to find a voice, one that is without-a-doubt his. He does not mind that he might never get American Idol recognition, “as long as people can hear the emotions…”

On The Musician:

The Filipino-American has been playing guitar seriously for about eight years along with writing songs. Aside from guitar, Legaspi has learned how to play piano and drums. He has also taught himself how to program beats and electronic music on programs like Reason and Ableton. His favorite moment while performing is when he surprises the audience by either improvising a line or performing one of his beatbox/looper covers. “I like throwing curveballs at the listener.”

The artist explained how he had always sung when he was younger, but usually under his breath or to girls he liked over the phone. “Boys II Men songs over the phone equals true romance,” he joked. Legaspi started performing when he was in college where he joined The Chordials, an acappella group. “It was there I learned to love singing to an audience of more than 2.” As a part of the group, he won a few awards. (Viewable here.)

With Chad Hugo of The Neptunes listed as one of his biggest idols, his vision as a musician is “someone who’s quiet on the outside, but explosive in terms of talent and expression.” Legaspi takes pride in the fact that Hugo is also Filipino-American, making him feel hopeful in the music scene, “even if the scene didn’t really see a lot Filipino-American/Asian-Americans making waves.”

His family is supportive of his singing career, his father had taught him his first chords and songs. A classically trained guitarist, Legaspi’s father had such a wide array of music ranging from Beatles to Bach. His family has been very encouraging with his decision to become a singer. Along with being at his shows and promoting his music, Legaspi can depend on them to tell him how it really is. “They…don’t sugar-coat anything—if they know it’s going to help me grow, they have no problems giving me criticism.”

With dream collaborations, the songwriter aspires to work with Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and Bruno Mars. “I’d be so happy if I could write hooks like his.”

On Picture Perfect

1. Honest; 2.  Diverse; 3. Lyrical; 4. Curveball; 5.  My Baby. These were the five words the musician chose when asked to describe his album, . He was quick to reply that the album was a collaborative effort and explained how the CD will sound different to usual listeners because it was a full band project. “I really wanted to bring something new to the table by making an album that was diverse in sound but was held together by my lyrical style.” Seeing as it has been a few years since Legaspi’s last project, the CD was also a way for fans to get to know the musician again.

For the song creation process, Legaspi took a “best foot forward” approach. For his previous album, The.Tale.And, he chose songs that spoke the “loudest to me both musically and emotionally.” Songs that mirrored the life cycle of relationship. For Picture Perfect. he sticks with his lyrical style even if the songs’ genre vary throughout the album. At the center of a majority of his songwriting was Legaspi’s life experiences. “…All my songs do find their beginning in an emotion or event I’ve experienced.”

Created on a “wave of pure inspiration” in 3 hours, the album’s song “3 in 1” was the singer’s favorite song to write. He also listed “Dummy” as his favorite to record. “The upbeat tempo really made it fun!” On the other hand, Legaspi also had “Maggie” as the hardest to write. A song about forgiveness, “Maggie” was emotionally difficulty to put on paper for him. “Soldier On” won hardest to record along with hardest to perform. While the bass and drums were done in one or two takes, Legaspi’s guitar part took longer. “It felt like my ears were telling my fingers that the guitar I was using for the song was not the right one, and I just kept messing up take after take.” After having gone through three guitars, the band found the right one and got the song done in two or three takes. To the musician, the perfect song should grab your attention from the first line and should make you want to listen to it a thousand times over.

Many of his friends and family worked along side him for “Picture Perfect.” “I’m lucky to have been able to work with some of the most talented people in NJ and NYC,” he stated. Two members of his band, Matt Pana and John Violago, have played with Legaspi for a number of years. With Pana on drums and Violago on bass, According to Legaspi, they were “the core of the project” and are heard throughout nearly the whole album. Other musicians on the album include talented horn players Jared Covington and Christine Lee on the tracks “T-Shirt & Sweats” and “Dummy.” Also in the mix were the Garcia and Lopez families, a string quintet on the track “Jacketlining.” Legaspi stated, “Thanks to them, I was able to bring all these ideas I used to only hear in my imagination to life.”

The long list of people outside of the band who helped with Picture Perfect was endless: John Valencia and Paul Terwedow played co-producer and co-engineer respectively.  Vocals were recorded by Meredith McCandless of Flux Studios, who Legaspi had met through his vocal coach. A friend of Valencia, the Grammy Award winning engineer Matt Shane did the mastering. John Violago’s brother, Michael Lesley Violago took the cover shot. Fellow musician and good friend, Matt Sia handled the album packaging and design with the help of Amanda Yu, Legaspi’ girlfriend, who helped with art direction. He also collaborated with JR Pena, Angelica Bonus, and Justin Mendoza on the music video for “Picture Perfect.”

One thing he learned while making this album was to have an undying faith in the project. “…There are times that it feels like there are endless walls placed in front of you, and the only way to get through them is to have the strength to go in head first and break them down yourself.” Though there were times he had gotten frustrated, Legaspi has always loved music in one way or another – both as a performer and a listener.

Music is everywhere for him. If he’s not performing in 5 years, he hopes to be seen producing and co-writing. If he’s not singing, he is usually found playing guitar or thinking of new songs to play. A word of advice from Legaspi to any aspiring musician: “It sounds cliché, but if you love music and the craft, never give up. Also, don’t strive to be your heroes, strive to stand alongside them.”

Pick up Picture Perfect on or Amazon.

If you want to stay up to date with what’s going on, definitely check out http://www.jaylegaspi.com, his Facebook group and fan page, and sign up for the Google Group mailing list! Also, if you’re interested in having him (and the band!) play for your event, please email jaylegaspi.book@gmail.com