Everything came from an “unconscious place,” says Jason Gould of writing his upcoming EP Sacred Days, out March 22, along with his hyper-dance lead single “Laws of Desire.” Co-produced by Gemini, Sebastien Izambard, and Alex Poeppel and mixed by Jochem van der Saag, “Laws of Desire” pulsates around the toil and release of love through its seductively lined lyrics: Two souls forged in the fire / There can be no way to break us now / Lost in your scent I was wasted / So close to the touch I can taste it.
Directed by Antony Beilinsohn, the AI-slanted video for “Laws of Desire” highlights the storyline with a vivid, futuristic depiction of the kinetic connection between two beings. “When we were creating the video I was inspired by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge,” Gould said of the video in a statement, “and threw in a dystopian artificial intelligence vision of the future for good measure.”
Throughout Sacred Days, Gould flexes his falsetto around the more dance-driven songs, from the title track, “Run,” “World Gone Crazy,” and “Come Over,” the remaining four tracks on the EP.
“A lot of these songs have a spiritual, dystopian theme,” says Gould. “It’s not intended, just a reflection of the world that we’re all living in. I’m well aware of the amount of pain and suffering in the world. We all have our traumas in life. I’m somebody who’s trying to heal my own and the only way to do that is by really being who you are and expressing your truth.”
Sacred Days also finds Gould coming full circle, reuniting with songwriter Liz Vidal, who co-wrote “Morning Prayer/Groove” from his 2012 self-titled debut. Vidal was someone who helped guide Gould’s songwriting early on. When he first began writing, Gould admits that he was insecure and held onto lines of unfinished melodies and didn’t know where to begin to finish a song.”
“When I first started to write music, I was somebody who always came up with part of the song,” he says. “I would sit at the keyboard and come up with an A and B section, but not have necessarily a chorus, and I never would have a lyric. So I had these pieces of songs, and I never really understood how to flesh out a full song.”
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After connecting with Vidal through longtime collaborators Allan Rich and Marsha Malamet, Gould says he came up with the melody for “Morning Prayer/Groove,” and Vidal helped “channel” the lyrics. “I had no idea what the words were for that song, and she channeled it,” says Gould. “It was like magic. I don’t know how that works for her.”
Since that experience, Gould says he learned to trust his process of writing. “When I show up to write a song, I don’t know if anything’s going to come out of me,” he says. “I don’t show up with ideas. I don’t show up with preconceptions. I don’t show up with an underpinning of a chord progression. I like to show up as an empty vessel. I find that the most pleasurable way to create.”
Along with “Laws of Desire,” on Sacred Days, Vidal also co-wrote Gould’s forthcoming single “World Gone Crazy,” which he describes as “a powerful political statement about what’s going on in the world.” More than a decade after writing “Morning Prayer,” the two reconnected because they share a special connection, says Gould.
“We both kind of approach writing from that same place of like,” he says. “You don’t know where it comes from. Call it God. Call it source. Call it unconscious—I don’t know. For me, I show up in the most humble way, not knowing if anything’s gonna come through, and so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised when these melodies and some of these words come through.”
Gould continues, “It’s almost like trying to carve a statue [out of] a piece of stone. You’re honoring that song that wants to be born through you. I’m just the carver.”
Part of Gould’s songwriting journey throughout the past decade has helped him reach a space where he trusts his intuition while collaborating. “You have to have courage, because you may look like a fool in front of another person,” says Gould. “But I think it requires that. It’s like showing up naked on a date. When you’re writing songs with somebody, you have to be willing to look foolish. You have to be vulnerable enough to throw out ideas that may be terrible.”
Within that space is how the songs on Sacred Days developed, without any preconceptions or formulated ideas. Along with collaborators Sébastien Izambard of Il Divo, and Dorian Cheah, Gould says it was Rich—who has written for Rod Stewart and co-wrote Natalie Cole’s 1987 hit “I Live for Your Love” and Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” from 1992—who first suggested making a dance album. Rich had previously worked with Gould, co-writing several tracks on this 2017 release Dangerous Man. After connecting with producer Gemini in Los Angeles, Gould ran with the idea of writing a dance album with Rich.
“I had never done dance music, even though I loved it,” says Gould. “I worked with Allan and I thought, ‘Well, why not? Let’s try to write.’” Along with Rich, Gould wrote his first song for the EP, “Run,” at Gemini’s studio. Gould continued working with Gemini through different melodies, one of which ultimately became “Laws of Desire.”
“It wasn’t a song I thought was a dance song when I wrote it,” shares Gould of the single. “I didn’t expect it to be able to handle that much rhythm.”
For Gould, who has also acted in film and on stage and starred in the movies Say Anything, Listen to Me, The Big Picture, The Prince of Tides, and more throughout his career, music has always remained a deeper passion. It led him to the release of his eponymous debut, followed by Dangerous Man, and Dark Grey Skies in 2021. In 2013, Gould also duetted with his mother Barbra Streisand on the early 1930s Irving Berlin song “How Deep Is The Ocean.” The song appeared on Streisand’s 34th album Partners, which went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
“Creativity for me, it’s just something I have to do,” says Gould. “Music is just one of the ways it comes out of me. I love to create. I need to create. I love to collaborate, and I consider these songs collaborations, of a sweet and spiritual nature.”
He adds, “Some people will respond to it [‘Sacred Days’], and it’s okay if others don’t. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day. It was the creative process that matters.”
Photo: Cover of ‘Sacred Days’ EP
