Inspired #318 - Jessica Leigh
New Zealand based pop artist Jessica Leigh has just released her new EP ‘summerland’ - which is a tale of a summer romance told through five stunning songs. She took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind the EP and her music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Up first has to be Lorde because her work has always encouraged me to strive for perfection in representing experiences sonically and lyrically - Melodrama remains to be the most cathartic listening experience ever for me - 283627183 listens later.
Discovering Phoebe Bridgers was fairly monumental, because for a long time I kind of cringed away from being ‘a girl with a guitar,’ but I really missed making that type of music. I think when I listened to Phoebe’s music I remembered how powerful that kind of music can be, and now this EP has 2 guitar tracks because of it!
And lastly Jack Antonoff! Because wow! Man out here saving our generation.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
Call Me By Your Name!! I watched it for the first time as I was beginning to conceptualise summerland, and it just totally reinforced all of these themes that come with the finiteness of summer love. I think summerland loosely follows the same narrative as Call Me By Your Name, in the sense of meeting someone at the golden beginning of summer, falling for them in the height of its hazy swelter, and having to say goodbye at its cooling closure.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
I moved to Wellington this year, which is kind of like the New York of New Zealand in the sense that it’s the creativity capital of our little nation. Constantly being around this creative, excited energy is amazing as a songwriter because the city always seems so alive and full of experiences to have and then write about.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
This is such a hard question! I like to think that we are all mosaics of every person we’ve ever met, in that we take little pieces of each other every time we interact. But probably my mum and dad, for being so endlessly selfless and generous and kind.
What were your inspirations when writing your new EP?
This EP is mostly anchored in truth, and based off of my real experience falling in love in the summertime. I remember thinking a lot about what the seasons do to love, and summer just seemed to paint it yellow. I was reading The Great Gatsby at the time, and completely fell in love with Fitzgerald’s heady, intoxicating golden swoon of a summer. This was the main foundation of the EP, as it set me up to see the upcoming summer in this gauzy, magical way. I guess it made me look for the love I eventually found, which then had an EP’s worth of songs written about it.
I was also really inspired by the beauty of summer in New Zealand, spending days bobbing in the sea and scampering barefoot through the lush outdoors. I wanted to represent those feelings of being here as much as possible, so we put samples of birdsong and ocean waves taken from the Abel Tasman National Park in a few of the songs to build up the atmosphere.
How would you like to inspire people?
I would love to encourage people to embrace their creativity, in whatever form it takes, and to use it as much as they can. It really is the most freeing thing as a human being and you learn so much about yourself in the process. Immortalise your memories, loved ones and dreams in art - I promise you’ll never regret it.