You’d think that as you got older, the tendency would be to get more serious, rather than less. Keith Milgaten, lead singer of San Diego electro-pop outfit Jamuel Saxon, begs to differ. After an adolescence of making “serious” electronic music, Milgaten realized that he wanted to lighten up and have more fun, and inspired by a discovery of beat-making, auto-tune, and the ‘Intelligent Dance Music’ movement started by The Postal Service, Milgaten founded Jamuel Saxon.

Jamuel Saxon combines itchy beats with seductive R ‘n’ B melodies and warm, dynamic synths, bass and guitars. The complex song structure and dense layers represent Milgaten’s philosophy perfectly—he believes that when making music, it’s important to take it easy, to make it fun, but that fun should never come at the expense of making the best music you can. Milgaten is totally and singularly committed to connecting with people, which is why he expanded Jamuel Saxon from a solo effort to a full-band affair with live guitar, drums, bass and even projections. This was also thanks, in large part, to Jayson Ehm. Ehm was a longtime fan of the band whom Milgaten asked to join in on drums for a one-off gig. The two got along so well together, and Ehm’s skill and vision were so in sync with Milgaten’s, that he made Ehm a permanent fixture as both drummer for Jamuel Saxon and designer of their visual element. “All I’ve ever wanted is to be a good influence on people,” Milgaten says, and by connecting on the dance floor, and by constantly working, with his bandmates, to connect further, he is doing just that.

The Jamuel Saxon story got even crazier when, not long ago, Milgaten survived a drug-induced near death experience along the side of the road between San Diego and Las Vegas. He suffered a panic attack while driving on the highway, and thankfully was able to get off the road and to an urgent care center. The experience not only inspired Milgaten to get clean, but also to work even harder making Jamuel Saxon work. The band is getting set to release their full-length album Pre-Madonna, which they recorded with The Album Leaf’s Jimmy Lavalle in Boulder Creek, California. The songs were written when Milgaten was in the throws of his addiction, using drugs and boozing extremely heavily and generally not taking care of himself, but he doesn’t resist playing them now, saying that his new outlook “makes his connection to those old songs even deeper than before.”

“Planetarium,” the first single off the record is a celestial sway-and-shake anthem about losing yourself in the stars, even if they’re just projected on the planetarium ceiling. It’s based on a real-life story a girl told Milgaten one night, of falling asleep on a school trip to the planetarium and being awoken by the security guard and being told sleeping isn’t allowed in such places. Milgaten takes it even further, imbuing the simple anecdote with a heavenly specialness, like being able to let go into the comfort of the stars can bring a person closer to them in their dreams.

Whether it brings the listener closer to the stars or closer to their partner on the dance floor, Jamuel Saxon is music built on connection, and once the beat gets going and the vocals fly in, we dare you to try and keep yourself from feeling it.