Jackson Free Press

As objects, clouds and crayons aren't exactly an obvious combination—a few miles do separate the two, after all. For Jackson music duo Clouds & Crayons, on the other hand, collaborating just made sense.

Over the past year, Clouds & Crayons has worked to blend singer and lyricist Astin Sullivan's soulful vocals and spoken-word poetry with guitarist, keyboardist and producer Tre Pepper's smooth mix of electronic and physical instrumentation. The result is a three-pronged project that has the pair performing live for audiences, recording a seven-song album and shooting a tie-in film.

Sullivan, who performs under the pseudonym Astin Rocks, first approached Pepper, who performs under the pseudonym Loki Antiphony, last year after completing her short film, "Letters from a Transient," which was a series of four spoken-word poems set to music and visuals. She had already planned a follow-up project titled "Love Soliloquy," which would present a few of her poems and songs on the theme of the relationship with oneself and how that translates into relationships with others.

"I basically came to Tre, or Loki, looking for a producer because he had the sound I was looking for," she says. "I wanted something that was funky, I wanted something that was hip-hop, and I wanted something that was space age. I just wanted something cool."

After the pair began developing the recorded-music aspect of "Love Soliloquy" in January 2016, they quickly realized how well they worked together. Two months later, Sullivan asked if Pepper would consider joining her and making Clouds & Crayons a live act. "It was kind of this awkward proposal where all that was missing was getting on one knee," she says. "I was like, 'Do you want to kind of be a band?' And his answer was perfect. He said, 'Only if we have weekly, consistent, rigorous practice.'"

After deciding to officially join, Pepper, who has played in several local bands over the years, began the process of readying the material for live performances and determining what they could pull off with just two people. "Given that we use a lot of electronic and computer-based elements, that was a bit of a challenge and something to take into consideration while we were working on the record," he says, "but so far, we haven't had an issue of pulling off the quality of what's on the record in a live performance."

Clouds & Crayons is now in the final stages of rolling out its album on Friday, Sept. 16, but the duo's work on "Love Soliloquy" is far from over. The two musicians recently began shooting the accompanying film for the project. They anticipate that the film, which will pair the album tracks with dream-like, avant-garde visuals, will be ready to screen for audiences in late January 2017. At the same time, Sullivan and Pepper plan to continue performing live in the midst of shooting and editing, with the goal of heading out on tour by next fall.

"It's a lot to manage when you don't have a whole team of people, you know?" Pepper says. "You're writing treatments and coming up with budgets and finding actors and actresses—a film production. 
 "Then, on top of that, we still have deadlines to meet for the record, and we have to book shows, which means we have to create art for posters and all that stuff. It's a little hectic, but it's really rewarding when it all comes to fruition."

Clouds & Crayons' album release celebration is at 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16, at Offbeat (151 Wesley Ave.). Physics for Poets also performs. Admission is $5. "Love Soliloquy" will be available for purchase at Offbeat and on most digital retailers. For more information, find the band on Facebook.