Big Wild’s younger self takes control on new album

There’s a wild child in all of us. Jackson Stell’s version just so happened to write an album.

Stell released the third full-length from his Big Wild project — appropriately titled Wild Child — last month and joined me shortly after to explain that when he’s creating, he always accesses a playful state, one that speaks to his inner child. The album pays homage to that inner child, with imagery of Stell as a superhero who seeks to protect curiosity, wonder and creativity.

When Stell explained this, everything clicked. Listening to Wild Child is an earnest experience. It’s beautiful. It’s imaginative. It pushes me to seek out the joy my inner child strives for.

In the single we’ve been spinning on 88Nine, “Too Loud,” there’s an element of fantasy married with the childlike lack of inhibition. Yet the lyrics go back to innocent comforts being infringed on: “The music’s too loud” … “I’m a deer in the headlights, all alone. Lost in my head endlessly.” It communicates a discomfort that’s rooted in our most simple instincts.

Stell says the track is the apex of his live shows, reserving it for a very particular moment that calls for an uptick in energy (something he’ll employ when Big Wild plays The Sylvee in Madison on Sept. 20). Listen to our full conversation to hear about Stell’s personal superheroes, the different destinations of the Big Wild portal and the music that inspires his inner child.

Big Wild interview highlights

The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

On the inner child in Wild Child:

It’s funny … the concept that I have now and that I’m gonna tell you about really came after the fact, after I made all the songs. It wasn’t like I started this album with this intention; it was just like, “Okay, I’m gonna write the music, make the songs, and then see, then start to make sense of it after the fact.”

The whole album is about embracing your inner child. And Wild Child is like my inner-child superhero. So the visuals are all supposed to be very playful and colorful … things that really get your imagination firing.

It largely came about from something I’ve noticed in myself and I noticed in a lot of other people: As we get older, I think there’s a pressure to almost repress our inner child and our curiosity. I wanted to have the superhero who’s basically standing up for your inner child and embracing curiosity, embracing being open to the world and still seeing the color in everything — not being so stuck in our ways and close-minded.

I notice it sometimes in myself … and I realize the only way I’m able to actually make music is when I’m in this kind of playful state. So this album is really just me being in that state of mind, and I was like, “Okay, well let’s just make it about that. Let’s make this project about embracing your inner child.”

On childhood superheroes:

This isn’t necessarily a superhero, but have you ever seen the movie The Mask? Visuals are kind of freaky, but he would put on the mask and would be almost an incredible version of himself. The mask brought out all this, because without it he’s very shy, introverted. When he has the mask, he’s extroverted and very confident and very charming and all this stuff.

I feel like the wild child is kind of like that in the sense that it’s almost this more colorful, imaginative version of myself who I like to almost embrace while I’m actually making the music and where I want the music to come from.

On the Big Wild portal:

To me, it’s very open-ended. It really depends on the project. The portal is like my symbol for going wherever the music takes me, you know?

For this project, I featured it heavily. You’ll see [in] the artwork, I’m painting the portal with the rope on the album cover. The vinyl and the back cover, I’m walking through the portal, and we have this animation where I’m walking through the portal and then as I cross the barrier, I turn into the car — like a cartoon illustrated version.

So that’s me. The portal’s taking me into the inner-child world. But it really depends on the project. It’s just a symbol for wherever the music takes us basically.