RaeF gets personal on new album, "Love is Coming"

Obscured by a haze of fog and lasers, pumping out music drenched in myriad looped samples and effects, it can be easy to forget that there’s a person behind RaeF’s music — Joe Seul. The quite literal smoke-in-mirrors nature of his performances has created an oddly depersonalizing effect, and as he prepares for the release this Monday of his seventh album,  “Love is Coming,” Seul reflects on his enigmatic situation.

“For the past few years, my real life has been on display through my music,” he says. “But there’s this weird disconnect that makes it seem really impersonal because of the way I perform and the fact that I’m not usually the one singing my lyrics. In reality, though, it’s all extremely personal, and I don’t think most people realize that.”

Following the release of his ambitious collaborative double album, “Existential Hive Mind Blues” last winter, “Love is Coming” offers a distinct change of pace. It’s easily Seul’s cheeriest work to date, brimming with feel-good summertime vibes and funk influences — he even sings some of the vocal parts for the first time in years. So why the change?

Oddly enough, the same muse that’s inspired the signature brooding, introspective tone of his previous albums prompted the shift in mood.

“I was in a really optimistic mood when I wrote these songs,” he says. “They kind of read like a letter directly to my muse. I don't really like that word but people seem to understand it being described that way. This was my way of welcoming love and moving toward acceptance as opposed to rejection — it didn't really work out, so the gloves are off now. But this is a nice candy coating over the hellish center I'm approaching."

The result is a danceable, summery album with hints of previously unseen bravado masked behind humor in songs like “I’ve Got the Funk,” and his ode to Sarasota by way of “Purple Rain” reference, “Violet Thunder.”

Perhaps the easiest way to sum up the album’s mood is by watching the video that accompanies “I’ve Got The Funk,” which will debut with the album. In it, Seul can be found at a beach dance party, stripping down to a psychedelic green-screened Speedo and thrusting toward the camera.

The video is partly a response to YouTube’s objection to a previous video featuring projection mapped dolls, due to sexual content, but mostly, he wanted to help draw people into the album by presenting himself as the subject of his music for the first time.

Unfortunately, Seul says, the mood that inspired the new album was fleeting, which is demonstrated on the penultimate track, “Dat Fury Doe.” Unfazed, he chalks it up to a continuing source of inspiration and another portion of the story he’s been slowly telling through his music.

“The CD is still in my car, so I don’t hate it,” he says. “But it did make it hard to finish it. After this, I’m going to go back into my cave, work on another album for the fall and get everybody caught up to speed."