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Accomplished Alumni: Justin Morris

UNC Asheville Music Technology Alumnus Recognized for one of the “Best Albums of 2023”

By UNC Asheville

September 6^th, 2023

Listen While You Read

Enjoy Sluice's latest album, some of the tracks that inspired it, and a few from other alumni.

UNC Asheville alumnus Justin Morris ‘16 and a couple of friends were cooling off in the clay-colored waters of the Eno River in Durham on a sweltering, mid-summer day, singing along to one of his favorite artists, Bill Callahan.

“I remember drinking at the dam

With the jarheads on the other side

Warm beer and tearing up the cans…”

Then lightning strikes — and inspiration struck.

“There was a lightning strike that dissipated into the bank and everyone swimming got a pretty serious shock,” said Morris.

The moment became part of a song, “Fourth of July,” which is on his latest album, “Radial Gate,” recorded under the artist name Sluice. The song features sustained notes reminiscent of droning bugs on the bank of a river and rolling thunder in the background, driving home the feeling that you are experiencing the memory with him.

His album was featured in Guardian’s list “Best Albums of 2023,” alongside big names like Lana Del Ray, Paramore, and The National.

Morris said he credits his time in UNC Asheville’s music technology program for much of the knowledge and community he’s built as a musician. One of the principal collaborators on the album, Alli Rogers, is also an alumna of the music technology program, and is now a head engineer at Betty’s recording studio near Durham, North Carolina.

“That’s been really fun to get to work with her, somebody from the same program. I think we met when we were 18 when we had come in to audition for the music program,” Morris said.

Wednesday, another band formed by UNC Asheville alumni, had their album “Rat Saw God” featured in Guardian’s list as well. Morris said he remembers performing alongside their lead songwriter and vocalist, Karly Hartzman.

“We all grew up playing music in the same circles. My band in college played maybe the first show that Karly ever played so we've been playing basements together for a long time,” Morris said. “It's a super small world and what a cool time for the little North Carolina scene,” Morris said.”

Photo courtesy of Justin Morris

Technology as the Basis for Artistry

Ample access to studio time and the hands-on nature of learning were major draws to music technology for Morris as a student and are still an important factor of his musical production today.

“The ease of getting in to record music with really nice equipment was really exciting to me. The way that I have written music is thinking about the finished project as opposed to just writing words or chords,” Morris said. “I really like the creativity of the mixing process or putting in little bits of field recording of something interesting or making a chord change feel more dramatic by adding some audio texture. That’s definitely more tech engineer brain than straight songwriting brain.”

Jude Weinberg, lecturer of music technology and electronics and assistant director of music technology, played the integral role of mentor during Morris’s time at UNC Asheville, especially when it came to understanding the equipment.

“Jude was the sort of life of that department — it was small when I was there — and he taught a ton of the classes. I was also placed with him for a work study,” Morris said. “I would help repair audio equipment, all under his direction. I didn't know how to do any of that stuff beforehand, so we spent a ton of time together."

"Jude taught me so much. He gave me so much time to figure out how all those machines work and talk about and be excited about music.”

Tying Music to Memory and Place

The influence of his time in Asheville can be seen in his lyrics. Described by the Guardian’s review as “endearing lyrics – both tentative and beatific; closely detailed and elevated at a bird’s-eye-view,” many of the songs on “Radial Gate” draw upon vignettes of specific places or memories.

“New Leicester,” the last song of his album, pulls from feelings of nostalgia when returning to his college town for a friend's wedding.

“Living in that town and becoming a young adult in that town was really special."

"I definitely have a lot of precious or also sort of haunted memories about that town, it's such a magical kind of freaky place to be,” Morris said. “When I go back I feel like I'm sort of encountering that. Some of that is just a college town in general, but I do think Asheville is a special place.”

Morris currently lives in Durham and draws inspiration from it as well, as shown by “Fourth of July” and “Mill” — both references to natural parks in the area, West Point on the Eno and Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, respectively.

Hiking in these areas you can frequently find evidence of the historic mill towns that were once prominent there, especially remnants of glass bottles from the houses’ communal trash dump.

“They've been trying to clean it up forever. Just constantly there are old glass shards coming up,” Morris said. “A hundred years ago this place was for this purpose and we can keep cleaning it up but there is so much of it below the surface it will just keep bubbling up, which I thought was a cool image.”

Morris said the unearthing of history in nature feels very much akin to drawing up memories and feelings to write music. And deriving meaning from the intersection of man-made technology and nature is the reason he chose the name Sluice, a term which refers to a sliding gate or other device for controlling the flow of water, often used in gold prospecting.

“Trying to harness nature or bushwhacking your way through chaos to make something beautiful is really, really inspiring. I think some of the best things humans can do come from that. But I also think the absolute worst things also come from that, so that is a really interesting image to play with,” Morris said.

“A sluice in particular is a nice image for the way I think about emotions or expression, it being a little pressure valve of things building up really high you can let a little bit off through this channel. That’s kind of how I feel about making music.”

“Trying to harness nature or bushwhacking your way through chaos to make something beautiful is really, really inspiring.

Listen to more music by UNC Asheville Alumni here

© 2026 UNC Asheville

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