“What’s always motivated me to make music is, like, I’ll hear a song that really, really connects with me in some way,” says CHS senior David Jaffe. “It’s just the desire to create that sort of feeling, when you hear a song and you’re like, wow. And you just can’t stop listening to it.” It’s this kind of reverence for music that propels David, who performs under the name Spaces Between Days, to create his own.
He’s performed shows solo, most recently at Fry’s Spring Beach Club, and also at Rapture and Batesville Market with his band Citizen Monkey. This Monday, September 8th, he will also be playing a songwriting showcase with Michael Clem at the Local at 9 pm. Drawing from Americana, country, and indie-rock influences, his music incorporates simple production, with guitar, drums, vocals, and an occasional fiddle. David has released one EP (Wayside, in 2024) and one single (A Reminder, also in 2024) as Spaces Between Days and is currently working on a full-length album.
This past summer, he attended Interlochen Center for the Arts, a music composition camp, where he spent three weeks playing music and honing his songwriting skills. “Forgive me for the things I said when I was empty in the head/I won’t be here when you come and now I’m coming back alone,” he sings in Colorado, a country-tinged song he wrote in a songwriting exercise there. He was instructed to write a story song, one that was not from his own perspective. “It just all came together,” he says of the song. “It’s like this thing of inspiration, and I love it.”
“I’ve grown so much as a songwriter these past few weeks,” he wrote in an Instagram post after returning from Interlochen. His music is all the better for it. KTR spoke with David to gain insight into his musical influences, songwriting process, and future ambitions. The full interview is below!
KTR: What made you first want to start making music?
David Jaffe: Probably when I was, like, really, really young. You know how everybody gets put in piano lessons and stuff like that. I had a really great teacher. And she was just a really important mentor, and so I just kept doing it, and then COVID happened, and I thought I might start picking up other things ‘cause I had nothing else to do. And then I was like, I’m playing all these instruments. I should start writing songs. So I just kept doing it because it was really fun.
So you started with piano, and did you learn other instruments later?
Yeah. Guitar and drums.
What instruments do you play now?
I play guitar, drums, and bass, and I sing and play piano.
Why did you pick Spaces Between Days as your stage name?
I’m interested in making music not because of me, and I think people shouldn’t be listening to music just because like, oh, I want to be listening to David Jaffe. Sort of to take the personal aspects out of it. And really make it be separate things – who I am as a person and who I am as a musician. I also just thought it sounded cool. I feel like the focus of the music shouldn’t be me as the person, because a lot of what I’m writing is not personal anecdotes. Not a lot happening in my life. So I think it’s it’s more useful to have it be a little separate from Dave Jaffe the person.
What do you like about playing music as a solo artist versus being a member of a band?
Well, first, it’s a logistical thing. It’s a lot easier to organize things, and it’s sort of nice to really be able to focus on the sort of music you want to make, and the sort of chances you want to take and what you want to do. So it’s just, really, they’re both very different, and I have a lot of value for both of them. I think it’s fun to be really be like, you’re on the stage by yourself, it’s all you, like, you get like, this one chance to captivate an audience yourself. But I also do love playing music in a band. I just do different things.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
Musicians that really influence me, I would say I love Jason Isbell and James McMurtry. I don’t know if you know the band Dawes, and My Morning Jacket. And then also the War on Drugs.
Who are your favorite musicians? Are these the same as your influences or not?
Usually they’re the same as my influences. There are also a lot of musicians that I love, such as Men I Trust or Danger Mouse, and Michael Kiwanuka, and they don’t necessarily influence my music as much. But I think they’re really cool. And I think it would always be cool to sort of take a couple things from them and see what that takes me.
Why Americana music?
I mean, it’s it’s mainly the type of music I love to listen to. And I also love, like, I don’t know, like this Appalachian Virginian culture, I think it’s really, really neat. And it’s really fun to sort of try and echo that and be a part of that with my music, for sure.
What’s your favorite song that you’ve written?
My favorite song that I’ve written would be a song I just like, wrote a couple weeks back. It’s called Colorado. I’d been in a songwriting camp, and I before I got there, I have to be honest, I did not like the lyrics I was writing. And I was usually pretty vague and and this was a song where they were like, “You have to write a story song, not from your perspective.” And I was like, wow, this is something I’ve never done before, and I’ve never thought I was good at it. And then, I don’t know why, it just all came together. It’s like this thing of inspiration and I love it. I think it’s a really cool story and it’s really fun to play.
What’s your favorite thing about being a musician?
I think it’s just cool to be able to escape. I feel like there’s a lot of things we do in life that’s like, we’re just gonna run it back, do the same thing over and over again. Yeah. And music, for the time you play a song, it’s a little different. Every time you write something, it’s a little different. And I think it’s really cool to be able to sort of step outside of the mundane, like, traps of society. That sounds so corny. Creating art is just like such a…. it’s so weird and bizarre, but it’s so cool when something clicks.
What would you say your songwriting process is like?
Well, it’s it’s been changing a lot. It’s sort of usually it starts with me jamming on an instrument, and I’ll just play for a long, long time until I hear something that’s like, wait, that could be cool. And then lyrically, it’ll often start with a concept. Like, I start most of my songs while I’m falling asleep. I’ll be like, oh, I need to write that down. I grab my notes app. But I’ll be thinking as I fall asleep and try and think of a concept or something and just start. Usually what the song starts with isn’t a huge part of where it ends, but it’s just a good way to get me to start moving stuff. I wouldn’t say I have a concrete process.
What’s it like balancing music and schoolwork?
It can be difficult because when you get in the rhythm of like, right now, I’m trying to work on an album and get that done, which is exciting. But it’s like, this is this project that I really am excited about, and I really need to finish this, but I have to remember that it’s not my career right now. And there’s other things that are important. And there’s got to be time for making music and being creative and making music productively, and also doing schoolwork. So it’s just all another layer. But, I mean, music is fun, so usually it’s okay.
Would you want music to be your career?
I would love it if it was my career.
What is your favorite song ever?
I don’t think I have a favorite song ever, but my favorite song right now would be a Gillian Welch song called I Dream a Highway. It’s 14 minutes long, and it’s like 3 chords. But it’s a story that’s like, it’s a commentary on the music industry, and then on life, and it gets vaguely religious, and it talks about Graham Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It drops so much stuff, and it has to be 14 minutes. It’s such a cool song. And the harmonies are beautiful.
Is there anything else you want to put out there?
Just that y’all should listen. See what you think! Follow the Instagram! (@spacesbetweendays_music)
