We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jess White a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jess, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My third album– the first and only with a record label– started off as kind of being and exploratory project. I was using my laptop and recording in my dorm in college, like I still am, but I had almost zero experience in actually mixing things. Anyways, as I got through the third track of the album, which I am 90% sure is “stay here,” my father passed away. It kind of transformed the entire project for me, and the project became a semi-involuntary expression of the grief I was going through at the time. I was not sure what I was singing back then– I have a tendency to make things up when actually recording– but looking back, there was a lot of something really important in there to me. This weird, almost unintentional expression felt really incomplete to me, so I recorded “Second Guessed.” I don’t know. I have my issues with “the boundary” because it feels very strange, and sparse at times. Maybe a little drony or repetitive. But it is also an accurate reflection of that time in my life, and it sort-of spurred me to make something I thought could be better. Plus, it was in some ways for my father, and it helped me process that period in my thoughts.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been making music since I was in third grade! I am currently living in Portland, attending college, and in my spare time I like to record and produce tracks. I have listened to a god-awful amount of Car Seat Headrest– especially Big Thief and Phoenix– so I hear that a lot in my own music. The vast majority of my time is spent in the studio, since all I have done is record and upload online. All the actual drums are electronic, and I record each instrument individually. I think this has a big role in my constant use of synthesizers.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Waste of money and resources. Usually scams.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I really don’t know. I want to continue making music that I like, and I want to have enough money to survive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://common-occurrence.bandcamp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/common.occurr.ence/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-872814566
• Other: Spotify, and most other streaming services, are also options.

Image Credits

Jess White