The solo project of Universe 25 channels decades of underground experience into a cutting-edge fusion of post-punk, industrial, and dark electronics—with sharp political commentary at its core. The debut self-titled album is out on the 1st of October – we spoke Jamie Godman, the driving force behind Universe 25 about the project and his personal journey, and how modern technology and techniques have helped him to achieve his vision.
“After being in the bands Door Marked Summer and later Nine 9, I stepped away from music around 2000. There were a number of reasons for that, including health issues, frustration with the realities of being in bands, and having reached the point twice where opportunities were being limited not by the music itself but by the practical difficulties of working with others and navigating the industry (The Gate Keepers).
For more than twenty years, I did very little musically. I had effectively accepted that chapter of my life was over.
The reason I returned was not to start a new project. It was simply to archive and release the old Door Marked Summer and Nine 9 material. I wanted to finally put the music out into the world, draw a line under it, and give it a proper send-off.
In the process of doing that, I discovered how much music production had changed. I began learning about modern DAWs, stem separation, remastering, online distribution, playlist pitching, digital artwork, and many of the new tools available to independent artists.
At first, I spent a significant amount of money trying to outsource parts of the process. I used Fiverr for artwork and video production, spent money on promotion, and experimented with different services. Some of that worked, some of it didn’t, and some of it was money effectively wasted. In total, I spent hundreds of pounds before I had even begun creating new music.
While remastering the old recordings, I started experimenting with recording new material. One song became another, and eventually that led to Echo Chambers and the beginning of Universe 25.
The important thing is that Universe 25 only exists because I was able to learn and use these modern tools myself. As a solo artist with ongoing health and mobility issues, the ability to work from home, record when I am able, learn new skills, and create without depending on multiple other people has been invaluable.
Everything I release is written, arranged, performed, recorded, edited, mixed, and assembled by me. The technology has enabled me to do that independently and at a cost that is realistic for someone in my situation.
If I had been required to hire musicians, vocalists, artists, studios, engineers, and designers for every step of the process, Universe 25 would almost certainly not exist in its current form. At best, releases would have been far less frequent. At worst, the project would never have happened at all.
For me, these tools are not a replacement for creativity. They are what made it possible for me to return to being creative after more than twenty years away from music.
Universe 25 takes the famous mouse experiment as an analogy for the post-war West, and the sense that we may have been living through an experiment of our own. The songs look at how our environment shapes the way we think, behave and relate to one another. They explore things like online tribalism, parasocial relationships, surveillance, free speech, identity, consumerism, AI and declining birth rates, and what those changes reveal about human psychology.”
Universe 25 is out now!
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