IMAGE: G*Force

[HOMEMADE ELECTROPOP] Last May, Jon Ragel was on tour—driving from Spokane, Wash., to Missoula, Mont.—when he had an idea for a song.

“Once something is stuck in my head for more than four days, I just need to get it out,” Ragel says, leaning over the table to share a set of voice demos recorded on his iPhone. “I don’t think it’s very safe to be driving and doing that, but a long trip is the perfect time to capture all these ideas in my head.”

During the three-hour journey, the 36-year-old Ragel—who performs solo under the name Boy Eats Drum Machine—laid down voice tracks for most of the songs that make up his fourth album, Hoop + Wire. He then spent the rest of 2009 fleshing out those ideas in his basement studio, carefully adding flourishes (like the sound of an old cassette deck snapping shut on “Constellation”) to his malleable, catchy electropop tunes.

On Hoop + Wire, Ragel meticulously builds up sounds, layering chunky guitar chords, drum breaks, bass synth, turntable scratches and saxophone blurts over warm, hummable melodies. Despite his collage-like approach, Ragel is actually playing all the instruments, not sampling from other sources. Even his beat selection—from vinyl records instead of a drum machine—is manipulated by Ragel. Once he finds a break record he likes, he drops the needle into one of the grooves, shifts the pitch to match the songs’ tempo, and then edits and chops up the beats on his computer so they syncopate with the other instruments. His live shows are a delicate balancing act with turntables, samplers and televisions surrounding him, his saxophone held in place next to his work station.

Ragel did have some help with Hoop + Wire: On the advice of his mother, a trained singer, Ragel spends most of the album singing in his lower register, which fits the slower and moody vibe of standouts like “Gold in the Hills.” Input from friends and Tender Loving Empire owners Jared and Brianne Mees also came in handy, but Ragel proves here that he works best on his own.

“I can see where there’s some merit in taking two weeks off and renting the cabin, isolating yourself in the woods and getting loaded,” Ragel says. “I’m glad I work alone, but I hope I never get into a ritual.”