Articles and Images by Jacob Rueda
Florida is a far cry from Utah. There's the weather, the landscape, the people. and just about anything else you can think of. However, one day in June 2022, Jean Castro decided to pack up his stuff and leave the sunny beaches of the east for the mountains of the west.
"The more I return there, the more it feels like home," Castro said of Florida in a video chat from his apartment in Salt Lake City. Despite that, enough time has passed that he considers himself a "Utahn" now, as does his band Sunset Station.
Castro, who is of Brazilian descent, has always had a fascination with music. When he was younger, he delighted himself in the music of his parent's native land. Although the music he plays now is different from what he listened to, the music of before still inspires him.
"There are artists who can create a soundscape and some of these Brazilian artists from the seventies, eighties, nineties, they are phenomenal," Castro said, citing singers like Flavio Venturini and Beto Guedes as sources of inspiration. Both Venturini and Guedes' music has a soft and airy feel, particularly their material from the 1980s onward.
"I didn't even know that there's Brazilian music that was doing something like that," Castro said. Sunset Station's music captures some of the essence of that sound.
Before he founded Sunset Station, though, Castro had another band called The Polaroid Notebook that was doing something completely different.
"[It was] emo, it was heavy. It was, you know, just sad and emotional and screaming and that felt great," he said. The Polaroid Notebook eventually broke up, which left Castro with ideas he intended to use but was not able to at the time. After a while, he started Sunset Station, naming it after a Las Vegas hotel and casino.
Castro and his bandmates work primarily at home when it comes to music. Although working in a studio would be ideal, Castro said writing and recording in his bedroom brings out something in the music that working in a studio does not.
"It's like a very raw impersonal sentiment that I like to portray," he said, "I mean, most of my songs are just written here sitting at this desk and I'm just able to, you know, this is the place where I live. It's the place where I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm hopeless. I'm also feeling hopeful for the world. This is where I get to feel all those emotions so to be able to create the music here is pretty authentic."
When it comes to playing live, Sunset Station plays a boisterous set. Their songs are emotive with an ocean-like feel to them. The crowds get into it, even going so far as to dance to some of their songs. Castro said playing live helped the band evolve.
"As you play more shows, and especially in different venues, in different places, you do evolve to become a better performer," he said. Although the band has stayed primarily along the Wasatch Front, playing in venues outside of Utah is something that Castro said would be a possibility, or at least something he would love to see happen.
Sunset Station will be playing on the 17th of this month at the Pearl on Main in Midvale. Tickets are available here or at the door. To listen to more of Sunset Station, their music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Bandcamp.
Watch the full interview with Jean Castro of Sunset Station below: