Senior music major John Morgan has been creating music at Trinity University since his sophomore year. When he lived in Thomas, Morgan created his first EP, “Quiet Hours,” in 2016. He used his friend’s equipment and some of KRTU’s equipment to create the album while the quiet hours kept him holed up in his dorm.
“I was just stuck in my dorm, passing the time, and I had been listening to Alex G, a friend of mine. He had created some bedroom music, basically where he just made music in his room and that music just really vibed with me,” Morgan said. “His music inspired me to just think, ‘if he can do it so can I,’ so I made ‘Quiet Hours.’ ”
His first album also had other inspirational roots.
“A lot of the album was me just experimenting with some ideas and concepts that I had,” Morgan said. “Using all the equipment I had, I was able to really just create stuff that had always been in my mind. I was able to make some bedroom music that reflected my experiences at Trinity.”
This first EP that Morgan made wasn’t created with a genre in mind, so he continued to create music that he liked and hoped would make others feel the same way.
“I made ‘Quiet Hours’ without a real genre in mind. For me, I just wanted to make music. I put the label of indie on it but that was for the people with stricter views of music,” Morgan said. “For me, music is up to the listener and I don’t want to tell them what genre it is. I just want them to enjoy what they are listening to.”
“Quiet Hours” isn’t Morgan’s only musical project. In 2017, during his junior year spent living in McLean, he made another album called “McLean.”
“My next project was much more polished. This was due to not only me being more experienced with the equipment but also just having more experience as a musician. The more music I made the better it became,” Morgan said. “The EP was more of a progression of myself as a musician and it was just an example of me learning through experience.”
During Morgan’s junior year he switched his major from geology to music. The switch gave Morgan more opportunities to learn about music, which then influenced the kind of music he created.
“Trinity has been a great resource for me to learn more about music. It has also given me the equipment to create the music I want,” Morgan said.
After his two solo albums, Morgan’s latest project is the band he created, Quiet Hours. This new band’s name and sound is based off of his first EP, and he hopes to create a portfolio of work that he can be proud of.
“My first EP was like a rough draft, something that had a lot of great ideas behind it but one that can be improved on. The new project is for me to amp up what I made in Thomas, and to create a good example of what was an important time in my life,” Morgan said.
This goal is undoubtedly achieved in his latest single, “Planets.” This is the band’s first release and the first part of their EP, which Morgan hopes to be done with by early this summer.
“‘Planets’ is really a collaborative effort. It was a culmination of lots of my friends, they helped mix it, master it and it just has this great community aspect to it,” Morgan said. “The inspirations behind ‘Planets’ were my time as a geology major, just an appreciation for the planets, and also some of the newer jazz that I’ve been introduced to with my time at KRTU.”
“Planets” is meant to make the listener feel comfortable. It is defined by a constant, warm strum of guitar and soothing lyrics that could serve as a soundtrack to any teenage hangout.
“If the song can make someone feel good, or make them feel comfortable, that’s really all I need. I just want people to feel space in an intimate way and if it does that, then I’m happy,” Morgan said.
Find “Planets” online at quiethourstx.bandcamp.com.
