Electric Sunset is the new solo project for Nicolaas Zwart, formerly of Pacific Northwest K records band Desolation Wilderness. DW specialized in dreamy, reverbed guitar pop, not unlike a younger sibling to Deerhunter.

While that band has now split up, Zwart has taken his songwriting and compositional skills solo and the results are quite stunning, while maintaining a bit of distance from DW’s guitar-based approach. Guitars are definitely still in the picture, as Zwart composed all of these songs with the instrument as his primary tool, but sweeping synths, drum machines, and Zwart’s voice have all taken a greater role in Electric Sunset’s sonic palette.

We talked about his background at Evergreen State College, what it’s like to work with Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic, and managed to avoid a debate of who has better pizza (Brooklyn vs. San Francisco), as Nic currently spends his free time making pies. Check out the interview below!

BBK: Nicolas, hello! How is the day going so far?

Nicolaas: Good! Just woke up actually, so I’m at the very beginning.

BBK: So I think most people are going to know you primarily from Desolation Wilderness, so why don’t we start with that. Are you trying to make a conscious break from DW? How did that band end? Has the Electric Sunset material been stewing for a long time?

Nicolaas: It was a conscious break, yeah. I really loved DW but I was moving away from the Northwest and wanted to do something different musically. DW actually used to be a solo project years ago, before it was a band, and it was much more electronic, kind of ambient electronic music I guess. So I wanted to bring some of that back while at the same time using some of the forward pop song stuff that I had been learning with DW. The band ended when I moved down here pretty much, it was really amicable.

BBK: You are now in San Francisco, right? How long have you lived there?

Nicolaas: I’ve been here since March. I was born here and grew up nearby, but left for school and stuff.

BBK: Cool. How do you like San Francisco? Do you think it has had much of an effect on your musical output?

Nicolaas: I love it here so much. San Francisco is definitely one of my favorite places ever, still, and the Bay Area in general I really love too. I don’t think it has much of an effect on my music though, generally. I just sort of make music wherever I’m living without letting it influence me too much I think.

BBK: So, the Electric Sunset record. Is this your first full, truly solo record? Did anyone else play on it?

Nicolaas: No, because the really early DW stuff was solo, but I only really gave it to friends, but it’s my first stuff alone in a while. And no one else played on it.

BBK: What was the compositional process like? I’m always curious about home recording projects since I do a lot of it myself. What sort of software do you use on your laptop?

Nicolaas: For the album, which is going to come out, I actually wrote all the songs on guitar, and then just produced them in layers until I got the end result. On my computer I use mostly these two programs, Max/MSP and Digital Performer. I also use this weird software called Bidule, which is really cool.

BBK: What does Bidule do?

Nicolaas: The best way I can describe it is this kind of ‘guitar pedal’ environment. You just have all these boxes on the screen that do various things, and you can patch them into each other any way you want. Except they do zonked out digital effects rather than guitar pedal type stuff.

BBK: Interesting. I know you’ve done a bit of work with Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic. How did you get involved with that and did it inform the direction ES took?

Nicolaas: Yeah! Well I interned at Dub Narcotic in early 2007 through school, and then in the middle of that year they hired me as an assistant engineer. It was a really incredible experience learning that studio and being able to use it. I think it informed ES mostly through showing me how to record myself and how to get confident in the studio. There are a lot of really great reverbs and tape effects there so that was sweet too.

BBK: What were you studying in school?

Nicolaas: I was mostly studying electronic music, like computer music and synthesizers and composition, and a bit of recording studio stuff. Also, I got full credit one quarter for going on a US tour. So guess I basically studied what I do in this band.

BBK: Wow. That sounds pretty great. Where was this?

Nicolaas: At the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Sort of an ‘alternative’ school.

BBK: Ah, yes. I’ve heard great things.

BBK: Gotcha. So you mentioned that for this album you started with guitars. Have you been working on new stuff where you are taking a different approach?

Nicolaas: Definitely, I’ve been just kind of creating little phrases and then building off of those. Not looping exactly but stringing together lots of different small musical ideas into songs. Just kind of messing around really, but I’ve been getting some cool songs going.

BBK: Cool. And you did all the drum programming on this album, right? Is it all electronic drums or were some acoustic drums involved?

Nicolaas: There were some acoustic drum samples but it was all sequenced and messed with. I really like electronic drums these days for some reason.

BBK: Have you given any thought to how you want to present this material live since you played it all yourself?

Nicolaas: Oh yeah, I spent a long time getting it ready for a live set, and then I actually just started playing shows about a month ago. I was surprised about how well it worked with just me.

BBK: Are the songs pretty different in the live set?

Nicolaas: Not too different actually, I stripped down some of the extra stuff and changed some of the sounds to make them nicer coming out of a PA, but all the structures are the same for the most part.

BBK: What sort of touring do you have planned? Do you ever plan to expand the band to include more people?

Nicolaas: I’m going to do a West Coast tour. I wanted to do a US tour but the Bay Area is way more expensive than Olympia and I need to save some dough. Hopefully I’ll make it out to the East Coast early next year though. I would like to include more people at some point, but it’s really easy playing solo, and drama-free.

BBK: Yeah, there’s definitely less drama when it’s solo. What are you keeping busy with when not working on music stuff?

Nicolaas: I hang out with my friends, and I have a crappy job making pizza full time. But it’s not so bad. I have fun here; it’s a great place.

BBK: Yeah. How much time have you spent in New York, and specifically Brooklyn? Do you see yourself staying on the West Coast?

Nicolaas: I’ve spent a lot of time in NYC/Brooklyn. I was just there a couple months ago actually staying with a really good old friend of mine who lives on Bedford above Vinnie’s. That place rules. I really love New York in general but I would say I’m definitely a West Coast type of person, if there is that type. I’ve thought about moving over there but I’d have to have a really good reason.

BBK: Ah, Vinnie’s is great. I’ve gotten into several Vinnie’s vs. Anna Maria‘s arguments.

Nicolaas: Yeah I’m definitely a Vinnie’s convert. I think they inspired me to new heights with their insane pies.

BBK: Did that inspire your current pizza job?

Nicolaas: Haha, not the acquisition of it but when I get a chance I like to make a pizza with cool stuff on it.

BBK: Well next time you are in Brooklyn, come out to Bushwick as well. We’ll do a pizza taste-testing competition! Thanks for your time, Nicolaas.