If you’ve been paying attention to the world of Aussie music over the last decade, then the chances are good you would have heard of the stunning musician that is Jess Ribeiro.
After first rising to fame with her band The Bone Collectors a few years back, the last couple of years have seen Jess focusing on her solo career, releasing a series of highly-acclaimed solo albums.
LOVE HATE, her most recent album, has seen so much critical praise since its release in April that it was recently named one of the 20 best albums of 2019 (so far) by Double J, with Caz Tran noting that it “feels like a collection of characters and their tales of romantic intrigue told with a cinematic eye.”
With the video for ‘Young Love’ dropping recently, and an Australian tour kicking off this Friday, Jess Ribeiro was kind enough to talk us through the new record, explaining where the inspiration for each of the album’s songs came from, and what they mean to her.
Check out ‘Young Love’ by Jess Ribeiro:
Jess Ribeiro talks us through LOVE HATE
‘Stranger’
‘Stranger’ is about infatuation. Daydreaming about someone but in reality not knowing them. It started as an instrumental song. The lyrics came later.
‘Chair Stare’
‘Chair Stare’ is about desire. I wrote it in Berlin during a writing holiday. I had a great hankering on that trip. I kept assessing and having imaginations about chairs I encountered.
‘Vignette 1 – You Should Be With Me’
The idea for the vignettes was to create three songs all in the same key and tempo with different production and lyrics so they could be remixed all together into one and many songs by anyone who was interested in remixing them.
‘You Should Be With Me’ is a seven-minute recording that was cut down to 26 seconds. You can hear the siren that goes off down at the Port, in Lytellton, in New Zealand where we recorded with producer Ben Edwards.
I wanted to create these little music intervals, like thoughts that you have but never speak out loud. I don’t know if it worked but I gave it a crack.
‘Young Love’
‘Young Love’ is about passion. I got the idea for this song whilst driving past a young couple who were entangled at a tram stop.
I remember how serious life and love was for us as teenagers. Feelings are so deep and intense. Well they were for me. This was an exciting song to create with Jade McInally (Jade Imagine). Also one of the most pleasurable to make.
The freedom of moving away from the guitar was immense, it felt lighter and freer, although we did make some “monster” guitar feedback sounds. I had a feeling we would make it really good if we didn’t do the usual band set up.
I didn’t like playing this song on the guitar. It was too epic. I wanted a break from live drums too. It worked well. I’d like to explore this approach to music making further.
‘Goodbye Heart’
‘Goodbye Heart’ is about death. The end. The song was recorded in Berlin with musician/producer Alexander Hacke from Einstürzende Neubauten. We did it the day after his friend, the musician, Alan Vega died.
Melbourne musicians, Adam Donovan, Ned Collette, Cat Alexandra and a Swedish man named Mads came in to play as they were in Berlin too. We did it in a day. It’s naïve but I don’t mind. Alexander thought it was funny and a bit tongue in cheek, kind of like a poker faced version of an Everly Brothers song.
On the original track you can hear Alexander’s huge gong resonating through the song but the album version does not have it as much due to overdubs and remixing. Miles Brown did some theremin zaps over the top of this song. He is a wonderful artist so I feel grateful to him for zapping over the top of one of my songs.
Also, Benjamin Wayne from My Disco came in when this song was made too. We made a different song together that is not on this record. It’s a cool contemporary raga called ‘Where Are You tonight’.
Check out ‘Stranger’ by Jess Ribeiro:
‘Vignette 2 – Cry Baby’
It’s grief disguised as a melancholy comedy. Another ten-minute jam that was cut down two minutes.
Trying to make light out of something that is really hard to go through.
‘Dylan’
‘Dylan’ is about disorder and limbo. The state of somewhere in-between your old life and the new one.
‘Love Is The Score Of Nothing’
Reflection? Acceptance? Moving forward? Getting back out there? I first performed this song with my friend, musician, Steph Brett in a basketball court for a music event.
We wore matching blue lycra wrestling suits. It was a very fun song to write. We were planning on making a whole album based around sport.
‘Painkiller’
‘Painkiller’ is about enslavement and addiction. Sometimes it’s hard to give up and let go of people who have soothed you for a long time even if they are not good for you.
‘Vignette 3 – Spirit In White’
I wrote this the night Lou Reed died a fair few years ago now. Like angels leading him to heaven. It’s where the original inspiration for the “vignettes” came from. A ’60s vibe, as I like certain genres from that time period.
‘Lay Down With The Earth’
‘Lay Down With The Earth’ is about cycles and reconnecting with nature. We went to dinner at this place in Melbourne called Tamil feast. It’s “a social enterprise for newly settled asylum seekers celebrating food and culture”. That line is from the website.
The Tamil men spoke about their experiences as refugees and one man spoke about the medicine in his country as opposed to here in the west. He spoke about lying down with the Earth in times of sickness to heal. Reconnecting to the Earth as the best cure of illness.
‘Crawling Back To You’
Loyalty, protection over the ones you love, even if you don’t like the people you love all the time.
Check out LOVE HATE by Jess Ribeiro:
Jess Ribeiro’s LOVE HATE Australian Album Tour
Friday, July 12th
(With Pool Shop + Moreton)
Bearded Lady, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets: Bearded Lady
Saturday, July 13th – Sunday, July 14th
Bello Winter Festival, Bellingen, NSW
Tickets: Bello Winter Festival
Thursday, July 18th
(With Leah Senior + Felix Lush)
OAF Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Tickets: Oxford Art Gallery
Friday, July 19th
(With Leah Senior + Tropical Fuck Storm)
Franks Wild Years, Thirroul, NSW
Tickets: Door sales only
Friday, July 26th
(With Leah Senior + Galaxy Hop)
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC
Tickets: Northcote Social Club
Saturday, July 27th
(With Fair Maiden)
Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA
Tickets: Grace Emily
Friday, August 2nd
(With Leah Senior + Bel Air Lip Bombs)
Rye Hotel, Rye, VIC
Tickets: Rye Hotel
Saturday, August 3rd
(With Leah Senior + Galaxy Hop)
Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
Tickets: Bridge Hotel
