INTERVIEW: THE JENSEN’S NEW ALBUM CROSSES SCI-FI WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND WE’RE HERE FOR IT
The Jensens have had a pretty turbulent year. After their slots at Pineapple Music Festival and Splendour in the Grass were postponed and their first single of the year was dropped the same day Australia shut down, the band felt pretty down in the dumps. With their brand new album ‘Hammer and Blush’ pushed back a whole year from its original May, 2020 release date too, the year of 2020 has not been kind to the Brisbane five-piece. Despite this, the band have come out the other side in pretty good shape according to the band’s front-man Joe White, as the band gear up to support their most recent single ‘Paper Walls’ on a tour around Queensland.
‘We're pretty much back to normal,’ says Joe. ‘We played a gig last weekend...they were all dancing and having a good time, there was definitely an excitement in the air and everyone felt like this was the start of normality’
For Joe, normality has been the farthest thing from what he has felt throughout the quarantining process of 2020. Finishing and mixing an album left him feeling pretty chuffed however and the 15-track album aims to project these feelings into a three-act LP extravaganza.
‘At the start of the album we're a bit more optimistic, there's a few like call to arms songs,’ explains Joe. ‘And then as we get towards the end of the album it's really just processing the world around us and how relationships have changed due to online communication. We get a little bit sci-fi with it, but it's mainly just commenting on how weird it is to be alive in 2020.’
Joe also explains that this three-part structure reflects three distinct musical styles with the latter third reflecting this theme of living in a digital age.
‘The start is up until River of Gold. There's more 70s influence there. Late-70s Fleetwood Mac-style. And then it gets more abrasive with Paper Walls towards the middle. The last third is more experimental, very experimental. Half of the songs on the end don't have a real drum kit and don't have any guitars,’ says Joe.
Abrasiveness is just what the band were hoping to reflect with their most recent single ‘Paper Walls.' Rough and harsh is intentionally what the single reflects in both sound and lyrical content. According to Joe the song’s lyrics and general theme weren’t even written during the year’s COVID-19 quarantine, but he felt the lyrics coincidentally reflected the harsh truth of isolation.
‘I think that the lyrical themes apply to many situations of taking stock of your life and being like 'well, I don't have to keep doing things I'm doing them, if I'm not happy with that,’’ explains Joe. ‘People could definitely have developed bad habits, or developed just even unconsciously the feeling of hopelessness. One of the things that's really been hard is the inability to plan anything. It definitely fits in with that.’
Reflecting further on what the metaphor behind what exactly a “paper wall” is, Joe suggested a paper wall is an empty promise you make to yourself, a fairly recurring feeling in isolation.
‘A paper wall to me and in the song is sort of like a new year's resolution that you never follow through with, so you've built a wall and you're like 'yeah, this is a sick wall, this is great, I've done what I needed to do,' but there's no stability to that wall and it's going to broken over with the slightest push, says Joe. ‘You're gonna start something, you're gonna change something, but really you haven't put enough thought and effort into it.’
‘Paper Walls’ is one of the first few singles to be released off of the band’s next album Hammer and Blush, which is presented with a confusing and intriguing album cover. Working with artist Uncle Chronic Bone, the band was presented with a numerous array of potential covers but just knew this one was the one. Being an image that seems to morph and change the more you look at it, Joe was adamant to not let too many details slip.
‘I don't want anyone to know what that is, says Joe. ‘I love how it looks like it's in outer space...it was shiney, glossy, confusing, abrasive, it really seemed like it summed up the album for us.’
With laws expected to change from November 1st allowing punters to dance and drink at the same time in Queensland venues, Joe is hoping that the upcoming ‘Paper Walls’ tour will be exhilarating and thrilling. With the new album dropping in May of next year, the Jensens are hoping with crossed fingers for a national tour as well.