June Jones
June Jones is one of the most exciting artists in Australia today. Releasing her highly anticipated second album, "Leafcutter", on the 19th of February. June sends you on a beautiful, emotional journey, and I cannot recommend this album highly enough. Be sure to try and catch June at one of her up and coming gigs, be quick as they are selling out fast! Hazy Days Music would like to thank June Jones for taking the time out and having a chat.
June, when did you have the idea to start this solo project? What have been some of your favourite highlights so far? You put out a really beautiful film clip for your latest single, "Home", where was this shot, and how was it filming this one?
Before starting June Jones, I was in the band "Two Steps on the Water" that ended about three years ago now. Around the same time, I started writing songs for my first solo debut album "Diana". I put out "Diana" myself in 2019, with my good friend Geoffrey O'Connor working as the producer. I went on tour a lot after that album came out, playing a 12-13 date tour with legends "Seeker Lover Keeper" and supporting "Cate Le Bon" after that. That tour was pretty amazing. I felt like it really influenced me to add in a lot of baritone saxophone on my next record, "Leafcutter", which is coming out on Friday (19/02), my second solo record and first time producing.
“Home” is definitely my most epic idea I have had for a music video. The video was filmed in a really small cinema in Fitzroy, and the only way we could make this happen was by shooting the majority of scenes in front of a green screen. Geoffrey O'Connor was the director, editor and DOP for this film clip, and he made these amazing backdrops that fit in really well with the scenes. You wouldn't know it’s a green screen.
You have just released your second album, "Leafcutter", on Friday the 19th of February. It's incredible! Every song is brilliant. One of my favourite tracks off the album is "Inside" I love how the synth drives the song. What is the story behind writing this song? "Jenny" is a big powerful emotional song and is the perfect way to open the album. Was that always the plan to start "Leafcutter" off with "Jenny"?
“Inside” was an interesting one to make. The main melody centres around triad chords run through an arpeggiator. By changing the time signature and manipulating the settings, it would shift the dynamics of the song. Giving "Inside" more dense and sparse moments. I previously had two very different instrumental iterations of "Inside". Originally it was very strings and organ-based. I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do with the song. I was working with so many different parts I just couldn't get all these elements working together in concept.
“Jenny” was the first song I wrote for this record almost 2 years ago now. I wrote "Jenny" as a demo, and the final album version still sounds pretty similar to how it originally was. I just sat on this one song for like 6 months before I started writing more for "Leafcutter", so I feel like “Jenny” was very much the catalyst for the sound and ideas for the record.
“Jenny” was inspired by my love of science fiction and trying to combine science fiction with elements of electronic music and human emotion. Originally I wanted to make this album with all these big ideas, and the first version of the album was more like that. But when I listened to it, I felt like it was lacking what I’m actually good at, which I think is writing about emotions, emotional experiences and human experiences, rather than abstract concepts. I have felt like “Jenny” has always been a guiding light on how to do that. It made sense to open the record with that.
What role did Covid/lockdown play in developing "Leafcutter"? What happens with your songs that don't end up making the cut for the album? How was it producing for the first time? How important has Geoffrey O'Connor been to you over the years?
"Leafcutter" really did change over lockdown. I ended up doing most of the work on "Leafcutter" over the lockdown period. There were three months where I spent all my time fine-tuning, mixing, and making sure I was happy with everything little detail on the album. So in a way, I don’t think lockdown pushed back the schedule for the album. If anything, it gave me the time and space to really dive into the nitty-gritty of everything. I didn't have the worst time over lockdown. I appreciated the excuses to stay at home and work on music. I'm not too sure what this album would have sounded like without lockdown. But I know I was never going to send off the record if I wasn't fully happy with it.
The songs that end up getting replaced on "Leafcutter" aren't dead. I never regret any of the time I spend on making music, whether the song makes the record or not. I am always learning from every experience writing and working on music, I appreciate the process, and if the song ended up getting scrapped, it will still have taught me something. I can always go back to an idea and cannibalize some of the lyrics or rework the music.
I have worked with Geoffrey O'Connor a lot over the years, the last "Two Steps" record was made with him, and he shot the single “Hold Me”. Even with the new record, I recorded some of the vocals with him for the song “Therapy”.
For the production side, I learned a lot working with Gefforey on "Diana" - Sitting in the studio next to Gefforey, watching him as he assembled part of a song together, fine-tuning the instruments, and learning about automation and changing velocity on midi files. Spending the year watching him do all this stuff to my first record. Partly through osmosis, I felt like I had attained the knowledge of how to produce. And I often commit to projects that I don't necessarily know how to do. I always find myself learning on the job, and I feel like I wouldn't have been able to do “Leafcutter”, if I hadn't spent that time with Geoff making "Diana".
The team you have been building around yourself is really impressive. How important has your team been behind the scenes on "Leafcutter"? Have you missed collaborating with other musicians on this record? How was the experience writing and recording everything by yourself?
I think it’s interesting to see the contrast between both sides making this record. In terms of the songs themselves, it has been my most independent/control freak kind of experience making music. Completely isolating myself as the sole songwriter, engineer, producer, and mixer. Learning to do everything on the job has been a very insular process of making music. At the same time, I have had more of a team than ever around me in terms of making videos, shooting photos, working not only with my own label “Emotion Punk Records” but also working with the distributor team at “Remote Control Records” and with my manager Tom. We had 8 or 9 people in the crew helping shoot the video for "Home", which was a massive team for me.
It was kind of great to have so much control over making the record, but at the same time, it was sort of lonely and looking back on it, I can see moments when I would have really benefited from having another brain in the room and someone to bounce all these ideas off.
I’m just so grateful for everyone that has been a part of making this record happen, and I’m just really excited to collaborate with all these people again in the future. I just wanted to make a note of how grateful I am for the whole team.
Part of me feels like it was great to get that out of my system on "Leafcutter". To know what it's like to be so alone for the whole creative process. It is tempting to go back and do it all again, I know that next time it will be different. I have learned so much along the way. But there is also part of me that really wants to make a record with someone else on board, and I might be making plans to do that at the moment. I do ultimately miss having someone else on board in the writing and producing process. I just have to take a deep breath and relinquish a little bit of control and recognise that that will ultimately be for the greater good.
Do you have any shows coming up? How will you be celebrating the release of "Leafcutter"? Do you have anything planned?
I have a few shows coming up, provided you know if we are not in lockdown in those times, and it is socially responsible. I'm playing two shows at the Brunswick Music Festival, both on the 13th of March. One shows in the afternoon, and the other one is at night for my album launch, but they are both currently sold out.
A few new shows have just been announced, one at the Thornbury Theatre on April 23rd. I'm playing with local artists Elle Shimada and Katie Dey, who are both amazing. Then I’ll be playing a show in Castlemaine, at the Bridge Hotel on a Sunday Arvo (25th of April), and hopefully a month after that I can head up to Sydney and play a show with my friend Marcus Whale. Find all the information here.
Celebrating the release - I have taken the day off work so far, and honestly, other than that, I haven't thought that far ahead. Depending on if we still are in lockdown or not, maybe I’ll treat myself, and Uber Eats a Bloody Mary or something. I will try and see my manager Tom, he has been behind the scenes on all of this. Tom has been with me for the whole time of making “Leafcutter”. We have been working together for about three years now. He has really been championing the record from behind the scenes, and a lot of the opportunities that have come up from this record have come from him. He is as excited as I am for "Leafcutter" to finally see the light of day. If we can't go out somewhere, we will hang out and have a drink in the park.
Stay up to date with June Jones on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.