The majority of Northwestern junior Ken Ross’ recently released album, “Zzzz,” was made in just two months. Listeners have described his music as variety of genres, from neo-soul to R&B to jazz. His album was organized so that listeners would move through it as if in a sleep cycle starting from falling asleep to waking up by an alarm.
“It was interesting because a lot of music was made in two months pretty much, but some of it spanned years […] and so it wasn’t very cohesive at the time,” says Ross, who describes his music as alternative. “I figured by splitting up the album with this idea of having someone fall asleep or move through the different sequences when you fall asleep, it would help give it some structure and it seemed pretty effective.”
Ross, a double major in Jazz Studies on guitar and political science who grew up in a musically-inclined family, transferred to Northwestern during his sophomore year and has since taken advantage of what the school has to offer, using many of the music school’s instruments and collaborating with two Northwestern artists — Jordan Looney and Annie Rago — and Northwestern alumna Alexia Blakley on his album.
“This campus is pretty incredible,” Ross says. “Everyone here is really good at something. And so I just sought out the people that I felt would complement my music, whether on this campus or outside.”
This album is not Ross’ first step onto Northwestern’s music scene. Last year he performed at Dillo Day with The Rainmakers and he has played at FMO events. He regularly performs around town in coffee shops and clubs and is currently working to line up more performances in Evanston with The Rainmakers in the near future.
While Ross’ first EP has received positive reviews from those who influenced him musically when he was younger, creating the album was not without its difficulties for the musician, who had to record himself playing the “mostly self-taught” instruments separately and then fuse all the sounds together.
“Recording drums separately and mixing the drums and bass, the guitar, keys, all the synths and then the vocals… that was actually probably the most difficult, the fact that I was doing it all on my own,” Ross says. “It takes so long […] mixing and mastering, but it’s more rewarding too at the end.”
He added, “This is something I’m going to be doing whether people like it or not at the end of the day just because I don’t know what else I’d do with myself, so when people actually like it, it’s a great bonus.”
While making music in addition to school work takes up a significant portion of Ross’ time, he makes sure to give back to the community as the jazz studies representative of the philanthropic Music Student Advisory Board, which Ross described as “ASG but for the music school.” Last year, the Music SAB raised around $16,000 in a 26-hour music concert for the People’s Music School of Chicago, a school that offers free or stipend lessons to inner city Chicago students.
Ross already has plans for his next album, which he hopes will be released in the fall. His inspiration for this EP is Chicago.
“There’s not that prominent or mainstream of an R&B or soul scene in Chicago, and in that sense, I figured it was something that I could tap into and I’m all about concept albums because they really help you,” Ross says. “They kind of box you in but that kind of box-in also allows you to be very creative and find things you wouldn’t normally.”
In addition to the Windy City, Ross draws inspiration from his peers in the music school.
“It’s a really great community to be around every day,” Ross says. “I’m sure all the kids in the music school are just as committed as I am to whatever they want to do. I don’t think I’d be able to just leave music behind, and I know a lot of kids wouldn’t be able to, even though we’re at Northwestern, it becomes a part of you after awhile.”