AN electronic songwriter and producer from Ontario in Canada, Jessy Lanza gained prominence in 2013 with the release of her debut album Pull My Hair Back – earning her widespread critical acclaim and a Polaris Music Prize nomination. Her stock only grew as she took her atmospheric, soulful brand of techno to clubs and festivals around the world – alongside successful collaborations with the likes of Caribou and DJ Spinn.
Glass caught up with Jessy shortly before the release of her third album All The Time to talk lockdown blues, moving cities and finding her voice.
“I’m a natural people watcher. I find that just sitting there, observing someone, is a lot more appealing than talking to them”.
Sometimes it’s the little things that we miss the most. We’ve all have been deprived of social interaction over the last few months, but for Jessy Lanza lockdown meant missing out on her most simple of pleasures – sitting on the New York subway and painting a picture in her head of the person sat opposite.
“That was the inspiration behind Face”, she reveals – a track from her bold and brilliant third record All The Time. “Obviously we can’t see a lot of people in person right now, and when we do its through a computer screen. It’s easier than ever, in a way, but I don’t think it’s the healthiest way to go about your life.”
Jessy Lanza
Speaking from her partner’s apartment in Silicon Valley, she reveals that it was a change of scenery that defined her artistic process when producing the album.
“It’s a growing pains kind of record – most of it was recorded in my apartment in New York. I had recently started a new relationship and completely uprooted my life. I’d always lived in Hamilton (a port city in the south of Canada), and hadn’t imagined how hard it would be to move to a new city. It felt childish and embarrassing, as a woman in my thirties, to feel so homesick”.
“In a lot of ways, it’s a breakup record”, she continues. “I ended a relationship, said goodbye to my friends and family in Canada. My life was a bit of a mess, and I didn’t want other people to have to deal with that. I put all of that, all those feelings, into the album”.
Described by Pitchfork as a record that “sits just on the fringe between club and pop”, All The Time takes all of the pent up frustration and sadness Lanza felt in New York and turns it into intense, potent techno. Seemingly against the odds, and despite undergoing a difficult transition to life in the Big Apple, Jessy Lanza has produced one of the finest electronic albums of the year.
“One of the better things about moving to New York was that I had the opportunity to hang out with producers who I really admire. I think their music influenced me a lot too going into this record – people like DJ Swisha and AceMo. Getting to see their studios and see how they work really changed the way in which I work. At the time I was also listening to the same Alexander O’Neal song everyday – A Broken Heart Can Mend, she chuckles. “For obvious reasons that influenced me a lot.”
Having enjoyed critical success with previous releases, Jessy acknowledges that there is expectation surrounding her new material. Her new album certainly feels more direct in its intentions, whether sexually-charged or wrenched in heartache – a fact she puts down to her own growing confidence as an artist.
She agrees that she’s “so much more confident” on All The Time. “I’ve taken a lot of steps to be clearer and more direct in my lyrics and haven’t tried to camouflage my voice as much as I did on my first album. I also have a much stronger idea of what I’m doing technically, with the production and mixing. I feel more certain of everything I want to do, and I think that comes across”. It certainly does.
by Daniel Jeakins
Jessy Lanza’s third album All The Time is available now via Hyperdub Records