Joshua Jensen Taught Me How to Make a Decision
Ultra5280 and Joshua Jensen sat down for a quick chat on Sunday after his set during Weekend Two of ACL
Based in New York, Joshua Jensen made his Texas debut on Sunday during Weekend Two of ACL. We sat down with him after his set to chat his new song and music video for “People were Singing”. Starting with an icebreaker, I asked Joshua a very important question:
Ultra: Are you a shuffle all music kind of guy or do you have playlists?
JJ: I rock the playlists, I rock the album back to front. I remember when Clairo with Charm came out, and I listened to it every day, top to bottom for like, you know, a couple weeks
Ultra: Oh yeah, I have that too. Where I miss out on new music since I am just so fixated on this one album
JJ: But I do love new music too. I’m always trying to find, even if it’s new music that is new to me, but you know, old to the world
Ultra: That’s like the best part about music. It’s never old or new. It’s always new to somebody, whether its like, I don’t know, someone that was really popular in the twenties, or a decade or century ago
JJ: Totally
Ultra: So, speaking about music, I feel like there is truly an art form to your songwriting and your vocals but just as equally as mesmerizing are your visuals. So, funny enough, today is the last day of ACL and because of that, ‘people were singing’ and also because it’s the last day, they’re going to have fireworks. So I was like, this is kind of a crazy destiny for me to be talking to you today. I want to talk about the video for ‘People were Singing’. I feel like I need to ask you about the production behind the video, more so exactly around the bridge where you just start to layer in fireworks into your silhouette.
‘People were Singing’ music video
watch here
JJ: I mean, the beginning of the video, it starts with kind of like a memory but it’s more literal. It’s like of this rodeo, the popcorn, the horses. I started in a more literal way because the first verse, it’s kind of like a guitar stripped back. But when the band comes in, like in the middle, that second part, it’s like in my mind, the song goes into that dream scape and so I just hopped on Final Cut Pro and I filmed myself in my room looking down at a light bulb. I just started layering stuff on. I had all this cool footage of fireworks from this rodeo in my hometown, actually in Arizona. And yeah, I just started putting it together. I think the song feels like those dual layers coming together and blending and exploding and pushing each other and so I just wanted to show that, somehow, but it came very naturally. The video was kind of as spontaneous as the song.
Ultra: There’s this scene in the rodeo footage where it’s just the dirt field with the horses and it’s pretty zoomed in. Did you crop that in or did you already have the camera zoomed in?
JJ: I think I was zooming in. I have this like, amazing -all my visuals I shot on this kit lens that you get for like $150 bucks.
Ultra: What do you shoot on?
JJ: So I shoot on a Sony but the lens is actually a Canon lens. I have an adaptor. It’s like the “Hoping” music video, which is my first song I released. It’s the same lens. It’s just like, for some reason, kind of trashy…
Ultra: Yes! Like, gritty.
Ultra: Like dirt on the lens.
Joshua Jensen and team backstage before his first ever Texas performance
Zip alongside Joshua during the set on Sunday
As we closed our conversation, I had a burning question for all the artists this weekend but I chose Joshua as the answer to it. Reading all the comments on all ACL related posts, everyone expressed their opinions on the conflict of sets between certain artists especially the ones in the evening. To my surprise, there was a lesson learned at the end of the inquiry.
Ultra: So, switching gears before our portrait session. I have a hard question for you.
JJ: Okay.
Ultra: So if someone were to come up to you and they were like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I should watch this show or this show since they’re at the same time.’ What’s your advice towards picking a set?
JJ: You just got to follow your gut. You got to just put your hand on your..gut.. put your hand on your heart and just like ask your heart what it desires. There’s this old tradition that people would place a rock on two sides. Two rocks representing the two different decisions and you walk into one or the other and you try to feel the feeling. It helps you decide actually, I’ve done it. It really helps you. So if you’re deciding who to date or where to move, just like physicalize the decisions. You’ll know what to see.
Ultra: I feel that. Do you use that in songwriting choices or musical choices?
JJ: Yeah. I think you’ve got to follow your gut. You, we, our bodies hold so much information. We already know so much more than we think. Our body knows and I love songwriting in that way. Just very guttural, like what’s the first thing that’s like on the tip of your mouth, just say it. Sometimes it’s fun to kind of think about the lyrics and really craft. Guttural lyrics, super fun.
Ultra: Do you find that as you’re writing a song, do you like to share the process with people you love or is it more like I’m going to put it away and then you can hear it when I’m done with it?
JJ: Keep it away. I can’t show things too early. Cause then, I start thinking about the people I showed it to as I’m making it. Then, it kind of loses a bit of its, like, purity. I think I do love showing, it depends who it is. Like my family, they’re not going to hear until it’s done. But my friends who make music, if I need a note, I’ll be like ‘Hey, take a listen. What am I missing? What’s wrong?’
Interview and Photography by Paola Miano for Ultra5280