In their button-down shirts and presumably boxer shorts (Zoom meeting attire), Anthony Petrelli and Keith Wertsching are members of Dallas’ corporate elite, having graduated from reputable colleges and gone on to pursue high-ranking careers in technology. Now as AI specialists, they’ve found their escape in making music — because, knowledgeably, they can.
“Within two weeks of starting quarantine [during the COVID-19 pandemic] and working from home, I purchased everything I needed in order to make music, from the equipment to the software,” says Petrelli, aka Astral Panda, who, being versed in technology, was able to teach himself the software. “I started making beats and then started teaching myself how to make music, learning music theory. I was using an Xbox headset to record the first singles.”
After realizing their shared love for music, the duo upgraded their work microphones and started playing around with vocals.
“I feel like I always was interested in singing,” says Wertsching, aka Medium K. “I feel like any kind of music, it feels different to me, listening versus actually singing. And I just love to sing. It’s the only time I’m ever happy, so I just decided to do it.”
While Medium K pursued music casually in a garage band in high school, Astral Panda was prevented from engaging in musical pursuits by a more traditional family that kept him busy with sports. Now the two play together as separate solo acts.
“I didn’t pick up music until my fifth concussion in football, when I had to quit contact sports,” says Astral Panda. “When I was like 7 years old, my mom would drive me to and from wherever and play Josh Groban, and I’d belt it out. I memorized the Italian parts.
“My sister was learning to play the piano, and when I asked for keyboard lessons my parents said, ‘No, that’s your sister’s thing.’ So when no one was home, I would go to my sister’s keyboard and play melodies I heard by ear.”
Creating actual musical compositions didn’t pick up for Astral Panda until college, where he created music for his fraternity brothers. Years later, after becoming established in their careers in AI and seeking a hobby, music came naturally to both of them. And it proved therapeutic in more ways than either could imagine.
“I put a verse together the night he showed me the beat, and I think it was the first time someone showed me it was okay to be vulnerable in music, and you can make something that’s pretty great and has meaning to it, even if it only means something to you.” – Medium K
tweet this
“Our first songs weren’t as serious,” says Medium K, noting the transition from joking-around tunes to serious music-making. “There was always a humor aspect, a comical aspect of ‘We want to enjoy life beyond.’
“Our song ‘Ghosts’ was the first time I remember we wrote something that was serious. It was one of the first times I felt like you [Astral Panda] opened up emotionally,” he says, speaking directly to his friend. “I put a verse together the night he showed me the beat, and I think it was the first time someone showed me it was okay to be vulnerable in music, and you can make something that’s pretty great and has meaning to it, even if it only means something to you.”
The psychological depth of the duo's music is apparent in the symbolism behind each of their names. Medium K created his name to differentiate from the “Big” or “Lil” many artists choose to add in front of their names; “Medium” characterizes a satirical, depressing, mediocre self-image. Astral Panda, on the other hand, chose “Astral” to depict his views on music as higher than self — out of this world.
“There are a lot of otherworldly aspects to music,” says Astral Panda. “It’s something you can’t explain. There’s more than your senses can understand. That out-of-body experience, like astral projection, a projection of your own self. To me, it feels like you’re outside of yourself.”
And that separation of self they found in writing and creating music provided an escape for both artists from the seriousness of their real-world jobs and lifetimes of artistic repression.
“When I found music, I found serotonin,” Medium K says.
