Music Through the Lens of Building Community
Image by Jacob Laxton
The most beautiful and compelling thing about music is its ability to bring people together. That’s something Jacob Laxton learned his sophomore year of high school.
His friends would rap around the lunch table while he drummed out a beat on the table in front of him. That was the first time he saw with his own eyes how community-focused music is.
“I fell in love with the community side of music,” said Laxton, when discussing his fond memories of his introduction to music production.
This led him to create real beats for artists and eventually led to him becoming a singer. Using just a laptop, piano, and his voice, Laxton began recording his own music. He hasn’t looked back since.
His passion for music has stuck with him. He’s now a junior at Elon University and the president of Limelight Records, Elon’s student-run recording label.
Not only has he built a team focused around shared goals for the label to achieve, but he is continuing to make his own music, as well as collaborating with other Limelight signed artists, including Ashlynn, Thistle Ridge, and Gabe Germain of The Germaniacs.
“ [It] Feels very rewarding to me to see a client really enjoy the art that we’re making together,” said Laxton.
Despite his love for making music with others, he’s trying to pave the way for himself with the album he’ll be releasing soon. It will be 30 minutes long, with 12 to 15 songs spanning the last year and a half of his life.
Themes running through the tracks on this album are finding yourself after getting out of a long relationship and finding yourself again, as well as falling in love with someone new and watching them fall in love with you too.
He relies on storytelling throughout the album. “Sunset New England Eyes,” one track on the album, is about watching someone fall in love with you, whereas “Even The Walls Bleed” is about dealing with a breakup, feeling trapped, and isolated.
Laxton truly strives to do it all. On top of his role as president of the record label and making his music, he will be interning at QuadCity Studios in New York City this upcoming summer. QuadCity is home to artists like Kendrick Lamar, Nick Jonas, Sam Smith, and even Rihanna. In the 90s, rap legends Tupac and Biggie recorded there—Tupac was notoriously shot five times in the studio's elevator.
What matters most about Laxton’s music is the feeling it evokes when you listen to it. He describes the music he likes to make and listen to as “very tactile.” Being able to see all the instruments, and literally feel the music, is what Jacob Laxton strives for.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of music it is as long as the tone of the music is very prevalent,” said Laxton.
The way music makes us feel and the community that can be built around music go hand in hand. There would be no community if music left us with nothing, which is why Laxton wants to feel, almost touch, something when he’s experiencing music.
He channels this energy into his music, which can be streamed on Spotify or Apple Music. He strives to make people feel exactly what he’s feeling when they listen to his music.
There is nothing more beautiful than being seen, and Jacob Laxton's music allows him and us, as listeners, to feel seen.
Have you ever listened to Jacob Laxton? Tag us in your favorite songs @theedgemag!