Knox Natural stands in front of a sunny mountain area in Seaver College. He holds up a heart made out of pine tree to represent how he is being vulnerable toward listeners with this album. Photo courtesy of Knox Natural
Senior musician Marcus Reaves, or “Knox Natural,” is more in tune with himself after creating his debut album “Child of the Sun,” released Dec. 31.
Natural began making music as a first-year at Pepperdine. He said he wanted to learn how to play the guitar because he knew he could make interesting sounds with it.
Natural made the theme of “Child of the Sun” to recognize and allow the natural processes in the revolving world to push oneself forward. He relates the desire to create something new each day to the constant movement of the sun.
“In order for me to create the album, I had to move very intentionally every day, almost like the sun does,” Natural said.
It took two months during fall 2021 for Natural to finalize this project. Graduating soon, he said this album allowed him to realize how much growth he has been putting into himself the past few years creating music and constructing his own unique sound.
“A lot of the process was just trying to get it out, because I know I have it in me, and integrating smaller bits of knowledge that I learned early in the process with a more complete understanding of music that I have now,” Natural said.
“Child of the Sun” begins with the instrumental track “Eternity, Wasting From My Intro.” He started the album with this track to introduce listeners to a different universe while making it this spacey, acoustic and earthy feel.
“I love instrumentals because there is no language, so there’s almost nothing to misinterpret and everything to interpret,” Natural said. “When you listen to [instrumentals], you reflect yourself more onto it than if there were words telling you how to reflect yourself.”
Natural showcases his rapping ability in “iM HEARiNG VOiCES AGAiN” while still including his soulful singing voice. He said he wanted to do everything, as opposed to sticking with one genre when it comes to music.
“The rap is kind of in your face, aggressive, explicit,” Natural said. “I really like to introduce you to that, and then take you into a world that’s more passionate and tender.”
Natural said he tried to make his vocals on the project feel more real rather than regular studio-recorded songs.
“I wanted [the album] to have personable texture and I wanted that to sound very different than a studio recording,” Natural said. “I wanted it to stand against the expectations of what we usually listen to and be different.”
Natural’s goal was to construct the album in an order that grabs listeners’ attention with higher-energy songs, and then transitions into the slower tracks to mellow them out.
The sixth track, “Heart-Tied Stone,” which is also an instrumental track, helped Natural envision the concept for the rest of the album.
“‘Heart-Tied Stone’ is really the beginning, so I wanted that to be in the center, kind of reflected by the tracks before and after it,” Natural said. “That phrase kind of gives a lot of imagery without having any lyrics, so it definitely provides the lens to listen to the instrumental through.”
Natural’s intention behind making “Sweet Someone (Linger Longer)” was to give a message of sincerity. He said he removed the tempo in the last half so that listeners can be present in their own thoughts.
“[‘Sweet Someone’] is definitely something to get you involved but then sort of let you just float away and let your mind wander toward the end, and let you just come to your own conclusions about some of the things you’re thinking about,” Natural said.
“Doyouliveforthis?” was a song that Natural said he remade several times before deciding on the original recording he did.
“I think settling on the simplest freestyle version of the song was really impactful for me because the others seemed like they were trying too hard to be simple,” Natural said.
The ending product for “doyouliveforthis?” is one track for guitar, one for vocals and another for the orchestra part. He said the song is different from his usual work because of its simplicity in stylistics.
The album ends with the last two instrumental songs “WANDERLUV” and “!DON’T WAIT!” The tracks were originally one longer song, but Natural said he made them separate because of how much they contrasted sonically.
“They’re very different, one is upbeat acoustic and the other is like in-your-face rock, but they both have transcendental outros,” Natural said. “The message of the last one, ‘!DON’T WAIT!’ was like, if you see something out there, you cannot wait to go after it or else it just will not transpire for you.”
Natural said he hopes to perform as much as possible all over L.A. and make connections with others about his music in 2022.
“After I made this album, I realized that I’ve been moving like a musician for a really long time now, and I just haven’t been seeking out opportunities because of it,” Natural said. “I’m just now getting to the point where I realize that this is a platform that I can stand on and grow from.”
“Child of the Sun” is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
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