Pittsburgh electronic pop musician 2020k is back with the single “Interactive,” his first new music in almost a decade.
RJ Kozain, who performs as 2020k, said the song had been years in the making.
“Well, the internet buzzword has shifted to engagement in the last 10 years, but I wrote ‘Interactive’ in the 2010s where the internet was still largely a place meant to interact with others,” he said. “The hook of the song is ‘This is love and it’s interactive,’ which, at the time, was me kicking and screaming as an attempt to save my own doomed relationship at the time: Interact with me, I love you!”
Sonically, the song includes field recordings.
“I had somebody go out to Laramie, Wyoming, to record some sounds in respect to Matthew Shepard. That recording is manipulated and stretched out — you can hear it if you listen,” Kozain said. “I reference him in the song and was originally cleared by his foundation to use a photo of him on the phone as the single cover. This song is, amongst other things, an acknowledgement of the violence queer people have endured, juxtaposed against the feeling of a community that just wants to be supported and loved, and how that friction can manifest inside of a relationship.”
There were plenty of reasons for the 10-year gap since his 2016 album, “Burst Mode.”
“For a while, it felt like anytime I was ready to put out music something went catastrophically wrong. Days before the release of my debut album, I suffered a concussion that took two years to heal from,” he said. “During that time, my entire life imploded. Medical debt piled up, I ended a long-term relationship, and my inner circles didn’t fully understand what was wrong. It was a trying time.
“I built most of my life back by 2020 and was ready to start performing again, but we all know what happened there. ‘Interactive’ was supposed to come out in autumn 2025, but I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo surgery. I’m in remission now and expect to stay there, so I’m running full steam ahead.”
Besides creating music, Kozain works as an educator with Tech25 and a technical coordinator at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
“My philosophy has always been to do anything in Pittsburgh’s audio or music scene to improve, support and give back to it. The electronic pop scene in Pittsburgh is very small, so I like to think of myself as one of the artists bringing awareness to and advocating for these genres to even exist in the first place,” he said. “Outside of 2020k, I wear many hats at Tech25 — a nonprofit with a wonderful mission to provide education and address equity and access gaps in Pittsburgh’s event tech industries. At the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, I assist renters with booking and technical needs. It’s all about giving back. All of it. When I was recovering from my concussion, I lived in Carnegie and would walk to that library every day as a means of exposure therapy.”
Although it had been a while in between releases, Kozain has had his fair share of run-ins with famous musicians.
“Ariana Grande was in the same meeting as me once — that was a pinch-me moment. I’ve crossed paths with Imogen Heap a few times,” he said. “Neither artist would know me if I passed them on the street, but in regard to Imogen, I’ve been in workshops with her and performed on a livestream fundraiser that’s still up on her YouTube channel. I wouldn’t exist as an artist and maybe as a person without Imogen’s music and career.”
Kozain filled in TribLive on what else we should know about 2020k:
Band: 2020k
Band member: RJ Kozain is the sole member of 2020k and plays all instruments, writes and sings all the songs, records, engineers, produces, mixes and masters them.
Founding story: I’d been making music under different names since 2003 and went to school for audio engineering at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in 2008. Finding work in Pittsburgh’s audio industry was tough after the 2008 financial crisis, so I started 2020k as a means to keep my creative and engineering skills sharp, but also as a means of emotional expression.
Origin of band’s name: 20Hz-20kHz is the average human hearing range, 20/20 is perfect vision, and Kozain is my last name. I’ve been asked if 2020k is a reference to the pandemic, but, as much as I love being a button pusher — I am the self-proclaimed Courtney Love of Pittsburgh — I’m righteous, not crude, and I’ve been making music long before that.
For fans of: Massive Attack, Underworld, FKA twigs, Depeche Mode
Influences: I’m very inspired by being an observer — if I’m not on-stage I like to park myself somewhere unassuming and watch what’s going on. I operate between the intersectionality of tech and nature, too. A lot of my lyrics use tech as metaphor, but most of those words come to me on long walks or drives with the windows down.
Releases: “2020k” EP, 2012; “Burst Mode” album, 2016; “Interactive” single, 2026;
Next shows: I toured through New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Canada from 2024-2025. You can find me performing ambient sets at the Pittsburgh International Airport a few times a year. There’s nothing officially on the books for this year except a July 17 show at 222 Ormsby supporting our Lord & Savior Pop Baby.
How to find them: 2020k can be found at their website, Bandcamp, Patreon, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky.
Three other Pittsburgh area bands to check out:Take Me With You; Madame Dolores; Slowdanger
Favorite pizza shop: I’d rather go out for coffee at Needle & Bean in Mt. Lebanon, but I’ll never pass up Mineo’s in Pittsburgh or Parkwood Inn in Greensburg.
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