Pynchon-l Digest, Vol 95, Issue 8

[Charles Albert]

Was anyone else aware of this?


https://youtu.be/GGgZ5aimDbM?si=sOTGHtIZ0WbJ90xF


love,

cfa

On Wed, Dec 10, 2025, 7:00 AM <pynchon-l-request at waste.org> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Dijon & GR (Erik T. Burns)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2025 22:33:58 +0000
> From: "Erik T. Burns" <eburns at gmail.com>
> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Dijon & GR
> Message-ID:
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> CAD4fSMi5-+FS1fOHPoaWHa9+7asu9VvERp5_5M71PRC-7-4Zbg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
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>
> https://www.vice.com/en/article/dijon-reveals-the-beloved-novel-that-caused-him-to-fall-into-a-psychosis/
>
> Dijon Reveals the Beloved Novel That Caused Him to Fall Into a ?Psychosis?
>
> Dijon, who recently performed on ?SNL?, says that a friend had to urge him
> to stop reading Thomas Pynchon?s novel ?Gravity?s Rainbow?.
>
> While making his new album, Baby, singer/producer Dijon found inspiration
> in Thomas Pynchon?s beloved postmodern novel Gravity?s Rainbow. However, he
> had friends begging him to stop because it was causing him to spiral into
> ?psychosis.?
>
> ?I was having a really hard time with the record,? Dijon recently told
> Pitchfork. ?Like, psychosis-level s***.? One of his friends has to step in
> and urge him to put the book down. At least for a while. ?You shouldn?t do
> that, it?s so paranoid,? Dijon remembered the friend telling him. ?And he
> wasn?t wrong.?
>
> The singer went on to describe experiences driving home from studio
> sessions, crying. He recalled listening to Anita Baker?s ?Caught Up in the
> Rapture? and feeling sadness over the thought that he couldn?t achieve that
> level of art. ?Music is so f***ed,? he contemplated, ?and my music is so
> bad.?
>
> Elsewhere in the interview, Dijon opened up a bit about his production
> process. ?I love first-take s***,? he confessed. ?You take all these
> sources and try one pass of just muting s***, and then it?s like: ?That
> sounds good.? Then we don?t touch it anymore. Once there was some sort of
> inspired thesis behind what was happening, and I knew it didn?t sound like
> much else, it was really more about completing the arc.?
>
> Bon Iver?s Justin Vernon believed there was no way Dijon would ?fail?
> Pitchfork also spoke with Justin Vernon, founder of indie-rock band Bon
> Iver. Vernon and Dijon are close friends. Dijon was struggling with his art
> during the making of Baby, but his friend was very confident in him.
> ?There?s no way this guy?s going to fail,? Vernon recalled thinking to
> himself. ?He cares too much, and it has too much swagger.?
>
> ?What he?s doing is truly trying to reorganize the world in his vision,?
> Vernon went on to say. ?You could tell that he was struggling with trying
> to find what it was, and it?s serious. When you?re working your whole life
> on something, it gets pretty scary. Also, it?s like, he?s got the kid on
> the way, he?s got this pressure. But it was never pressure to succeed. It
> was pressure to make something good.?
>
>
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> End of Pynchon-l Digest, Vol 95, Issue 8
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