Before attending school at the Berklee College of Music, Hohn had written singer-songwriter guitar songs. Growing up with musical parents, he was never short on inspiration. "I was brought up on a really wide range - oldies, jazz, orchestral, Broadway show tunes. More or less anything but what was popular at the time," said Hohn. His own works don't give into popular trends either, leaning toward a longer form of electronic-based pop ear candy.

At Berklee, Hohn studied Music Synthesis which ultimately gave him the idea to base Voodoo Friends (a name chosen from an ad on a cardboard box in New York City's Garment District) out of his laptop. "My coursework revolved a lot around electronic production - synthesizers, sampling, editing and mix technique," explained Hohn. "The most valuable things I learned were in my composition classes. I got a much stronger grasp of form, structure, pacing - the basic shaping forces of music." Though he refers to his music as "simple songs about simple emotions," Hohn's skill shines through layers of synthesizers, ambient sounds and his own vocals that give the illusion of something much more complicated. What is clear is his perfectionist nature in aiming to achieve just the right sound.

Nothing in Voodoo Friends' songs seems spontaneous or unplanned, it's obvious that the works were made with a lot of care. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I'll start something over or scrap it completely if it feels forced," said Hohn. He's been successful thus far in keeping it natural as his songs flow seamlessly without any hint of pretension or falsity. On "Dying Light," each sound feels as though it's been born from the previous one, while each still manages to catch your ear in a different way.Other tracks "Spinning Out" and "Little Things" do the same, particularly with Hohn's vocals that are processed differently for each song to match the feel.

"I still don't really consider myself a songwriter as much as an arranger," explains Hohn, who doesn't have one standard way of creating music. Sometimes it's one certain sample that begins his process, other times it's the piano or vocals that get him motivated. One thing we can be grateful for is his decision to remain in Buffalo rather than staying in Boston after Berklee or pursuing the musical dream somewhere like New York City. "I feel like the musicians here are really doing their own thing rather than following the same old buzzband trends," said Hohn. "And it's easier to find your way in - the scene is very inviting and accepting."