Jeff Schroeder

To date, Jeff Schroeder has largely been defined by his work with bands. In the late '90s and early '00s, he played in The Lassie Foundation, a shimmering shoegaze group that was a beloved part of the Los Angeles indie rock landscape. Since 2006, Schroeder's been a member of Smashing Pumpkins, providing electrifying guitar work in the form of jagged metal leads, evocative psychedelic-folk melodies, and atmospheric new wave shading. However, his debut solo single, a fuzzed-out shoegaze-pop gem called "Haenim," offers another side to the meticulous and thoughtful musician, who once juggled his burgeoning band career with doctorate-level courses in comparative literature. A cover of a song written by Shin Joong Hyun, an influential Korean rock 'n' roll guitarist, "Haenim" boasts a guitar solo hewing toward elegiac hard rock, and sculpted sounds full of gently buzzing ambience. The resulting sonic architecture represents Schroeder's long-time sweet spot: wistful and beatific music that's full of longing, but yet sweetly optimistic. "What's influenced me more than anything is an internal spiritual journey," he says. "You realize at a certain point in your life that you have all these experiences within yourself—all these tastes and likes that I have, and things that I enjoy—and then there's part of you that has to translate that and present it to the world."