Review Fix Exclusive: Jessa Talks ‘Airplane Mode’ And More

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Jessa, who discusses her origin in music, goals and new single, “Airplane Mode.”

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music? 

Jessa: I came up into a musical household with my mother being a professional pianist and musical director and there are mini-cassettes of me singing from back before i could talk! I started my first instrument, violin, at age 3, then piano at 5, koto at 9, trumpet at 12, and finally guitar at 15, which is my primary instrument in my music career.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like? 

Jessa: It’s incredibly organic after all this time writing – I realized that the hardest thing to come up with on cue is inspiration, so whenever i hear something inspiring musically, melodically, lyrically, i capture that in voice memos or in my music book to stock up for later.  When it’s time to write a song, i go back to my dozens upon dozens of voice memos and notes, and see what perks my interest, then I tease out that idea until it becomes a full song.  The teasing out part is kind of like arranging, so i find i can do that part on command and i seem to always have an abundance of ideas, so i feel very lucky for that!

Review Fix: What inspires you? 

Jessa: Musically, i might be inspired by the sounds of the environment around me – a bird song or the sound of rain dripping rhythmically off my eavestrough, or construction in the city.  Lyrically, I can write about anything that i have big feelings about – often that could be love-related, or about loss and learning, or even about an exceptionally delicious piece of fruit!

Review Fix: What does music mean to you?  

Jessa: I’ve been raised up steeped in music, so now, i could never be without and still be happy.  Music compels me – a means for connection, catharsis, a soundtrack for celebration or reflection.  Also the feeling of playing music with others gets me high and is one of the most joyful and meaningful parts of my life.  

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you? 

Jessa: Lots of layers of playful guitars and vocals smashed into an indie-pop package, singing about trying to keep the joy in everyday life while navigating this weird world and all of its curve-balls. 

Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?  

Jessa: Unlike my last project The Jessica Stuart Few, where there was little difference between live and studio (aside from improvisation etc), the JESSA project is really different in the two settings.  The JESSA album (coming Sept 11, 2020!) started with the melodies and main guitar accompaniment of the songs, but then the production was taken from passes of my improvised playing – for instance, i’d do a full pass of rhythmic stuff, then a full pass of soloistic stuff, and producer Robyn Dell’Unto or Devon Henderson would grab a couple bars or phrases from my improvisations and turn that into the fabric of the track to compliment the core song.  When I’m performing live, I usually play as a trio with bass and drums who sing backing vox, and I play electric guitar and often the Japanese 13-stringed koto and sing.  Since the band is always professionals, we mess around musically on stage in fun ways, playing of each other, while still observing the structure of the song itself.  I haven’t yet started the business of running tracks from stage during performances, so the live shows have far fewer layers than the recordings do.  Running tracks to compliment our live playing is something i’m interested in checking out in the future tho.. 

Review Fix: What inspired your latest single? 

Jessa: This single is putting a spotlight on the little things we do to overcome our own foibles – a good example is when people set their clock 5 or 10 minutes late, because they know their tendency is to be a few minutes late, so trick themselves into being on time that way.  So in the case of this song, I couldn’t stop myself from fixating on my phone and hearing back from someone I really wanted to hear from, so my solution was to put the phone on Airplane Mode, so i couldn’t actually hear from anyone at all, and it made it possible to get back to focussing on what i was actually meant to be doing!  Seems silly, but create these little systems for ourselves all the time and I think it’s better to know yourself and think outside the box, do what you need as an individual to have the best existence possible!

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2020? 

Jessa: JESSA album release comes September 11, 2020 so that is very exciting.  There was to be touring, but I’m hesitant to book a tour that could be cancelled, so I’m going to hold out a little longer.  Looking forward to playing music with others soon after many solo months, and for now, just trying to enjoy every day as much as possible while it’s summertime!

Review Fix: What’s next? 

Jessa: I have 30 or so new unreleased songs collected over the past 2 years, with a couple killer recordings from a trip to Australia in December, but once the JESSA album cycle is coming to a close, i’m going to be recording and releasing a bunch of awesome, less in-the-box music as Jessica Stuart.