St Panther on the spirit behind ‘Strange World’: “It needed to exist”

From communication to world events to the music’s emotional pull, St Panther shares how their new genre-blurring EP channels something bigger than themselves.

Stepping into a conversation with St Panther feels a lot like stepping into their new EP, ‘Strange World’—warm, intuitive, and instantly familiar, as if you’ve been invited into a space you didn’t realise you’d been missing. Before the formal questions even begin, our exchange is full of laughter, gratitude, and the kind of mutual recognition that can only occur between two people who truly see each other’s work. It’s from that place of openness that St Panther begins to unravel the spirit behind ‘Strange World’, a project that blurs genre, honours lineage, and channels something bigger than the artist themself. What follows is a conversation about creativity, communication, community, and the quiet power of music that feels destined—music that feels, as they put it, like it “needs to exist right now”.

Richardine: So, I had a chance to listen to your fantastic album.

St Panther: Thank you so much.

Richardine: Oh, my God. Well, EP, but it feels like an album to me.

St Panther: Yeah, it’s the sequence.

Richardine: Exactly, like, it’s… Okay, because you know there’s other music out there, and people don’t quite give me the same feel that you give me. So, I’m just like, yeah, I’m going to ask questions about that feel.

St Panther: Absolutely.

Richardine: Okay, let me just open this up.

St Panther: I’m ready.

Richardine: Okay, cool, cool, cool. Come on, where ya at?

St Panther: I gotta say thank you also, kind of, for all of the support before we even got this rolling. When I was fully back here, balls out independent.

Richardine: (Laughs) Absolutely!

St Panther: And I really, really saw that and appreciated that.

Richardine: Yes, yes, of course.

St Panther: And my immigrant parents, too. They were like, “What, you’re in that little archive?” They were tripping.

Richardine: For real?!

St Panther: They were so happy. Like, they were so proud of that moment, so I had to just thank you. That was really nice.

Richardine: Absolutely! I’m like, “Come on now, we’ll be gone one day, but the people need to see (that we were here—that we lived).

St Panther: Yeah, we’re building it slowing, you know?

Richardine: Absolutely. Oh, my gosh. That warms my heart. Say hello to your parents for me.

St Panther: I will. I’m gonna tell my mom. She’s gonna be so happy.

Richardine: Okay, okay. Well, how would you describe the feelings that come over you when you’re creating music?

St Panther: Oh, my gosh. Just I really get lost in process. So that can mean anything from what I’m feeling that day. I feel like I just get excited to get down and start working. So the music starts happening.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: And that’s the most motivating thing. Like, I just get inspiration off of the music, so I just feel inspired. Really.

Richardine: Okay. And when you’re in that mode, do you think you’re at your best, like, as far as conveying a message to others in those moments?

St Panther: Yeah, I try to show up to the thing clear-minded and, you know, having an intention when I’m sitting down to create something,

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: So that’s kind of the way I try to aim to show up.

Richardine: Okay, cool. And would you say in your daily life, you’re a great communicator?

St Panther: Yes, I think so. I might overcommunicate too, which is kind of a characteristic of my music. I’m kind of starting to notice.

Richardine: (Laughter) Okay, cool. I asked that because I find that some artists, like, they’re better communicators when it’s in song.

St Panther: Yeah.

Richardine: And then, like, when it comes to like personal life, they get kind of like jammed up, or they’re not as confident.

St Panther: I will say yes, you brought up a good point for like the more intimate things that are hard to talk to someone about…

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: I think a lot of musicians go to their songs. And that’s what I do too.

Richardine: Okay.

St Panher: You know?

Richardine: Okay. Okay. How would you say your friends or a spouse would describe your communication style?

St Panther: Oh, my God. Well, right now, I’m spouseless out here, y’all.

Richardine: (Laughter)

St Panther: My friends are my spouses. All 500 of my spouses would say that my communication style is very open.

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: It’s inclusive, allows for a lot of perspectives to live. I’m a Libra, so I’m very diplomatic and the way that I communicate and consider others.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: That’s really the tea.

Richardine: Okay. Okay. Very nice. See, and even the way you answered those questions, I didn’t have to, like, sift, or like, nudge you on.

St Panther: Thank you.

Richardine: And would you say that your communications style has changed because of the apps, or are you more of a person that would like, go out and go link someone? Or do you call them on the phone?

St Panther: I feel like I’m not on, you mean, like, just apps, like, dating apps or, like, social media, period?

Richardine: Well, just like social, like, what, what do you prefer? Like, are you more of the person that will, like, pick up the phone and call…

St Panther: Yeah.

Richardine: Or do you find yourself doing more of like the Instagram, like texting?

St Panther: I think I’m on FaceTime alot more often now. My kind of communication has kind of changed in that sense that you get, you kind of just love to get on a call with someone.

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: Don’t do the texting as often these days.

Richardine: Okay. Very nice. And which group of people would you say you call the most?

St Panther: Oh my God. We have this like group chat in my phone called the “Tranny Mob” and it’s literally like, all my trans friends in like one group chat.

Richardine: (Laughter)

St Panther: And like, we’ll talk very often. Like, we just give each other life updates, dating updates, what’s going on. Well, we work together musically as well.

Richardine: Fire.

St Panther: So, one of the artists is named Wish. And we’re always in communication for their music as well. So, I mean, like, purely that, we’re active.

Richardine: Okay. See, that was definitely one of my questions, too. So I wanted to know, like, how did you meet your band?

St Panther: My band is a new band, so I kind of have known all these guys in a different way, different moments of life. Nico, my current drummer, he is someone that I met back in my hometown. Kind of like in Santa Ana in the DIY Indie scene.

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: And he was part of this, like, really cool Jazz trio, and arguably, not to shade anybody, but at the time, I was thinking, there’s really only going to be a few artists making it out of this, what we have right here.

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: And I heard him playing and was like, he’s definitely going to be one of them. And then soon after, he went on to back up Steve Lacey as a drummer.

Richardine: Wow!

St Panther: He’s amazing. And has just, he’s been out here grinding on the scene as a Jazz musician. So he’s my current drummer. I met him. 2014-ish in passing. We never even really talked but were friends back then.

Richardine: Wow.

St Panther: I kept seeing around the scene recently. So I was like, this is a strange reconnection. So I just kind of hit him up and was like, dude, we should, like, finally get together and jam and it went well.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: And then my current guitarist is an amazing artist that I’ve also known for some years, Jasper Bones is what he goes by. He’s an incredible songwriter, producer, makes his own music, but I’ve always kind of just, we supported each other in the scene the last, I would say, like five plus years of knowing each other’s music.

Richardine: Nice.

St Panther: And he’s really great. And then Chap says another member of my band. He’s a guitar player, bass player. He’s my current bass player, but he is just an incredible artist as well.

Richardine: Nice.

St Panther: He has his own music. He’s from Long Beach. So, I met him kind of as a group of these like R&B cats that are, they play together with like the Free Nationals.

Richardine: Oh!

St Panther: Some of this band is like backing up Cuco.

Richardine: Nice.

St Panther: So these cats all have their own scene, kind of in Long Beach. Like they have this lockout with like the Brain Story guys, like all these different bands are kind of just recording in this place.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: So, I met them. You know, they were fans of my music and tapped in, and we all became really for friends too, because we make the sick stuff.

Richardine: Fantastic, fantastic!

St Panther: Yeah.

Richardine: Yes. Speaking of which, like, if someone is listening to your music and maybe they’re, they’re more so—maybe they’re not music industry people or don’t necessarily know how to, like, I guess, describe it as far as genre goes. Like, how would you describe your music?

St Panther: Oh, my God. I think I’m figuring it out. It’s a genre-expansive kind of because it exists on playlists on the editorial playlist, like borderless, like POLLEN. The projects that we can’t exactly put a genre name on, but I will say it started in an Alternative place. I was like an indie band person, mostly and then kind of moved into soul, R&B, Hip-Hop, that kind of conjumbled into like Electronic and Funk elements and House elements. So I really would say it’s like an Alt R&B mixed with Indie Pop situation, you know?

Richardine: Okay. Okay. I think that’s fair.

St Panther: Yeah.

Richardine: Diving into your new project, there’s this feeling that I get when I listen to your music, especially when playing ‘Strange World’, ‘The Deal’, and ‘Whoever Said Silence is Peace’. Like, I don’t know that I have the words to, like, fully describe it yet, because I’ve been thinking about it and I’m just like, how am I going to tell St Panther, like, what I’m feeling when I’m listening to it, but it feels like…

St Panther: I’m really curious to know. This is an interesting group of songs.

Richardine: Yes, it just it feels like familiar, like home like, but it feels right. It feels like it’s supposed to exist, like, and I was supposed to discover it, and it was supposed to happen when it happened. I don’t know if there is a word specifically that encompasses that, but like it feels familiar. Like, it feels right. There’s nothing wrong about it.

St Panther: Thank you so much.

Richardine: Yeah, the other artist that I would say I kind of have that similar thought or like connection to is like Syd from The Internet. And it’s, I think it’s like big, like a band, like full sounds. It’s just really beautiful. So kudos to you.

St Panther: Thank you so much. It’s funny that you were like that energy because I’ve always felt, since I was little, not sure why I was given this gift. I’m on a journey. A lot of different people are looking into it from the outside. Like, it doesn’t seem like this person wants stardom or to be the biggest person in the room. I have felt similar, and I’m letting that journey lead me through the music, really. So it feels similar that I, with this same group of songs like I’m working on right now, some spirit is living in it that is telling me it needs to exist right now.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: I’m just a vehicle for it.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: And it might be a vehicle for people that look like me. I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to exist as.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: But just like a necessary perspective. So I appreciate that a lot.

Richardine: Absolutely. That is exactly what it feels like. So you nailed that, for sure.

St Panther: Yes.

Richardine: Oh my goodness. When I listened to the EP, I was reminded of Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, and your compositions are incredible. Like, would you say that those artists are artists that you kind of feel like you have a similar spirit to when it comes to music and like creating?

St Panther: Yeah, and I think really the world, like, the way I hear Erykah Badu talking about the world and how she sees things for this current time. I really identify with a lot of the things she says and how she treats music as such a sacred gift. D’Angelo did too.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: I think all of us kind of have that coming thread. I was reading a lot of the Sly Stone biography. When I was making some of this music, and similarly, I think I go to voices like Stevie Wonder, people that really are plugged into a world channel, you know?

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: I think I’m there, too, since I was a little kid.

Richardine: Nice. Jeez. So, wait, so how long have you been making music?

St Panther: I think I wrote my first song. I want to say it was like 2004. My mom told me when I got home from school, it was like, I remember seeing the tsunami that happened in Indonesia on the news.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: And my mom was really feeling it and talking about it with my dad. And I, for some reason, internalised kind of just this really deep feeling of sadness that I’m sure their community was feeling, which is the loss of life and structures and culture, and it was I just immediately wrote a song making like a metaphor for water and how water is life, but also death for these people.

Richardine: Wow.

St Panther: And yeah, that was like the first woman I think I had a moment of, “Oh, that’s what writing music is.”

Richardine: Wow.

St Panther: Yeah. So I was probably like 10, but I started playing instruments at like four.

Richardine: Wow. You are music.

St Panther: I saw my dad play a lot of piano growing up, too. He’s a pianist.

Richardine: Oh, nice. Okay.

St Panther: I just had that at home, yeah.

Richardine: Okay. Maybe, maybe that’s what it is, because, like, that’s what I’m saying. Like, it feels like… I don’t know. Like, it’s supposed to be there. Like, you are it, if that makes any sense.

St Panther: I’ve lived and breathed music since I was little. I mean, my dad did too, and it wasn’t like for a career. He’s a painter, but I’ve just always lived in like the ether of art between my family, you know?

Richardine: Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. And so, how did the title for your last track, ‘Whoever Said Silence is Peace’, come about?

St Panther: That song was originally about a relationship that had just ended. And there was a very deep silence between us that was, I think, impactful for both of us on both sides.

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: And it was interesting. I’ve written a lot of songs that start that way about a particular experience, and then it gains different contexts, and then, you know, we had October 7th happen, and all these different genocides around us are now unfolding. I really reconextualise the song as like, there was this deep silence too in our communities at some point when all of this was unfolding, I think even still now.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: There’s a lot of people still trying to prompt each other to talk about these things. So that, for me, became more of the message of the song than anything. Silence, period.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: It just silence can be so loud.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: You know, so many different situations in life. So I think I’m speaking to—we have a ghosting culture that has just arrived with new technology too. I think the ability to put things down is good. And then, also can sometimes come at a price. So I wanted to shed some light, I think, on silence as a concept, you know?

Richardine: Yeah. Very nice. Very nice. Very nice. Thank you for that full answer.

St Panther: Yes, of course. Of course.

Richardine: I appreciate that. And speaking of what’s going on in the world now, like, how are you feeling about it? like. How is it making you feel, and how do you feel about it?

St Panther: Feel because I’ve always been someone that has been aware of other countries, other cultures. My parents really taught me to be so grateful of where I geographically am at.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: So I do have a pit in my heart. I think I have had a pit in my heart for the last two years, just seeing so much media of so much suffering globally.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: From Sudan to Congo to here, I think there’s just so many places one can tune in.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: And just, you know, feel so much pain, and for me, it really came through seeing what was unfolding in Palestine and having now relationships with people there.

Richardine: Yeah.

St Panther: So I do feel moments of, you know, just existential dread, but then moments like yesterday, where we have a positive outlook for New York. I don’t know if you know what happened in New York.

Richardine: Yes, I voted for him! I’m going to say it.

St Panther: That’s beautiful. See, it’s these small glimpses of the future we’re all hoping for and trying to build. I think it goes beyond politicians. I think it’s really our communities, and it’s serious and small, as if you want to change the world, change yourself and how you show up in the world.

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: So I do feel hopeful. I see a lot of people really stepping up to that, which is there’s going to always be a mix, you know?

Richardine: Yes, yes, yes. It’s heavy stuff. It’s heavy.

St Panther: Yeah.

Richardine: How do you know when a project is completed?

St Panther: I think it has its own legs and its own soul, like it doesn’t need any more of you, you know?

Richardine: Okay.

St Panther: Or any more of anyone. I think it just tells you in that moment when you hear it’s done. You know?

Richardine: Okay. Yeah, you’re different. You are so different. (Laughs)

St Panther: Because I feel like once it becomes everyone else’s. I think that’s the moment, you know?

Richardine: Nice, because some people are like, “Oh, my manager had to tell me to stop.” You’re different. You’re definitely different.

St Panther: Thank you.

Richardine: You are.

St Panther: Music that exists for other people, music like this, it’s theirs from the moment it’s made, but I think too, that’s just the only way to know is when you start playing it for other people’s sure, and then they say, you know, they already have it complete in their mind. They’re like, what else could happen? You know?

Richardine: Yes.

St Panther: Okay.

Richardine: And my last one for you, um, I don’t feel like you’re somebody who would say, um, you know, I want my listeners to take this specific thing from a project that I make, but if there is, yeah, if there is anything that you would like to highlight and you wouldn’t want people to miss, what would that be?

St Panther: That’s a good question. I feel like I wouldn’t want people to miss maybe the feelings it starts stirring in them. Some of the first messages I get when I put a project out is, “It feels familiar. It feels like some feeling that I’ve felt before many years ago”, and I’m like, “I think that feeling is called empathy.” So don’t you worry about making sense of it. I’m glad you’re feeling it, and that is, you know, that’s all I could ask for. So, you know, when you get those feelings, and they arrive, embrace them. That’s all I want to say.

Richardine: Nice. Very nice. Thank you so much.

St Panther: Thank you.

Richardine: Thank you, thank you. Yes, I’m going to write this up, get this together quickly. And congratulations. Yes, congratulations, congratulations, congratulations. You were everything.

St Panther: Congratulations to you, too. Thank you.

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