Photo: Press
If anyone were to release a self-help book on how recording a solo album is a restorative healing process, the first thing I would tell them to do would be to speak with Jenny Lee Lindberg.
Warpaint’s bassist, temporarily operating under the moniker jennylee, spent the second half of 2015 building up to the release of debut solo album, right on! The obligatory round of promotional interviews portrayed a mixture of excitement, dread and uncertainty. As we catch up with her, the album’s been out for a little over a month and nothing of that mindset remains.
“I think the anxiety was just down to the anticipation. The album had been done for a while and I was just kind of sitting on it. So when it came out I was just really excited to share it,” she explains in her chirpy Reno drawl.
“I think it’s just important to make stuff, get it out of your system and move on. Don’t get so hung up on how something’s going to be perceived, or how it’s going to be received or whatever.”
As we speak, it’s apparent that the ideas of living in the now and letting go have become near-mantras for jennylee in recent weeks. She comes back to it so often it almost seems pre-prepared – like a politician hitting those key messages.
But being prepared is not something you’ll never catch Lindberg admitting to. The record itself has the polish you’d expect from someone with more than a decade’s experience behind them, but still keeps it rough round the edges where it needs to be. Significantly, both jennylee and right on! are deliberately presented all in lower case. And the pre-pubescent feelings of care-free indulgence that evokes are no accident.
“I just wanted to come from a very child-like place and to have fun,” Linberg says. “I wanted to be myself, write a song and not get too deep about it. Not too heavy, not too over-analytical. And also just not to try to do anything. I wasn’t trying to write a song that sounded like anything, I’d just pick up my instrument and start playing and I’d just see what happened.”
And that freedom has certainly given jennylee and air of serenity. Sometimes seen as the most aloof member of Warpiant during interviews, although she has herself put that down to self-doubt and shyness, she is very open when we speak. And branching out alone seems to have had a re-energising effect that’s surprised even her.
“It’s such a different process,” she says. “I love and I appreciate and have a lot of gratitude for the girls. I love our process and the way that we work because it’s really unique and it works.
“Stepping outside of that and being myself, it was really challenging to just be the sole person in charge of the project, and knowing that whatever I say goes; no matter what. I’m the only one involved. It was very challenging but it was also very liberating because I just allowed myself to let go.
“And it was really freeing to allow myself to do that, and because there was no one else saying ‘well no I think we should do this or we should do that’. So it was fun. I kind of had ultimate freedom and it was really, really amazing.”
As well as the recording process, Lindberg has faced head-on the challenge of finding a viable way to play her songs live. She’s co-opted a full band to tour with her and has even ceded control of her beloved bass. But as with all aspects of this process, she quickly learned to adapt to her new circumstances.
“At first I did have a little trouble with that for sure,” she admits. ”On the record I play everything and I do play bass. And I feel like I have a pretty specific style and I play a certain way, I have a certain tone. And I had to let go of that in the beginning. Because unless I was going to play, no one else is going to play like me.
“I just had to embrace it and know that with the live shows it’ll be a little bit of a different thing. But Wolf is an excellent bass player and he’s doing an excellent job. And any time I suggest doing it in a slightly different way he’s so quick to get it. And it’s not like it’s the most complicated shit to play anyway.”
And more than relinquishing certain responsibilities, being a solo artist means primarily taking on new tasks that Linberg is less familiar with. Lead vocals (she mainly sings back-up with Warpaint) and staring down the bright lights of scrutiny alone would faze many. But jennylee, as ever, is cool.
"This was my chance,” she says. “I was the lead singer, I was writing the lyrics, making up the melodies and everything like that. And that’s the one thing I haven’t really let myself do in the past.
“It’s something I shied away from for a very long time. And that was also a very liberating and empowering experience to just say ‘no I have a voice and I’m going to use it and I’m going to express myself'.
"And [the extra attention] is definitely a weird thing and it definitely makes me uncomfortable. I get extremely nervous before shows. But the minute I get up there it’s like, I’ve got nothing to lose, I’ll just let myself go. Again, having fucking fun. If you’re not having fun there’s no point in doing this."
She boldly continues: "Be yourself, don’t hold back – all those are really amazing exercises to take back to everyday life, just to be good at life. And I feel so lucky that I get to do this. I feel grateful that those are the kind of challenges I get to overcome in my job.”
The unbounded enthusiasm of the moment is set to go beyond this solo jaunt. Warpaint are currently in the studio and Linberg looks set to bring the infectious pep of alter-ego jennylee back with her. And after we talk, I feel like taking some of it back with me too.
“I’ve had such a good time being with the girls and returning to the studio,” she says. “And I feel really open. And I feel that because I’ve got this thing out and I have that outlet as well, I’m not putting so much pressure on myself, or the girls, or the project.
“I feel like I can sit back, listen and chime in when necessary. It feels really good. It’s so different but it’s so refreshing to be working with them and writing again. I feel very inspired and it’s always the best when you can have a good time. I really am having the time of my life."
Jennylee's upcoming European tour dates are below, with her London date falling on Tuesday 5 April at Village Underground. For tickets and more information, visit here.
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