Name: Merryn Jeann
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: Australian
Current release: Merryn Jeann's sophomore full-length album DOG BEACH is out February 23rd 2024 via Rescue + Return.
Recommendations: These two books have deeply touched me and remind me why we do what we do.

1. Hold onto your dreams by Tim Lawrence - a beautiful and inspiring biography about Arthur Russell and the downtown NYC music scene 1973-1992. For any A.R fans, this is so precious
2. Nina Simone’s Gum by Warren Ellis. Hilarious and human.

If you enjoyed this Merryn Jeann interview and would like to know more about her music, visit her on Instagram, and Facebook.  
 


Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I believe time is the biggest influence on art making. The more time you dedicate, give and intentionally use to making music and art, the more that anything around you can start to weave its way in, from thoughts, to politics, to feelings and to characters.

If I don’t give time, I don’t receive the juice, because I am ignorant to it.It’s an openness and acknowledgement of the importance of expression that is needed in order for the art and music to be seen and heard.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I work with chance. Maybe it’s an easy way out or something, but it just happens like that for me and I’ve accepted it’s my the way I do it …

I tried to work on a conceptual album once, as the idea excited me, songs about films, but at some point I lost enthusiasm for it, so I prefer to follow it as it appears and take the reins when feels right to do so.

What do you start with? And, to quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I prefer to think of being open to an idea.

There’s a story about an American poet, Ruth Stone, who could feel the words coming her way. She once caught a poem as it almost rushed past her, grabbed it by the tailend in one hand and whilst pulling it back towards her, wrote it out backwards with the other hand.

I don’t feel it this tangibly … but once it arrives, a whole world suddenly exists within you.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

I sometimes find old poems or one liners that I wrote years ago when looking for words with newly acquired melodies.

Sometimes old poems fit perfectly or can trigger a whole song years later with changed context and more life lived.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Definitely. Being in the creative flow is hard to describe, it’s magic. It’s the most tangible experience of what we don’t understand. A real gift to behold!

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“

Oh it’s so cool to be able to perform things live. It just makes more sense and feels more integral if able to do so.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

Oh im terrible with this. Sometimes I share things the same day I made them. Unless I think they are actually going to turn into something else, then I can leave them tucked away until it’s ready to be fleshed out. The works made more sporadically and quickly are the things I share almost as soon as I made them (a few hours or days later).

I really appreciate having an experimental music/video outlet for these more intuitive reflections and responses. By using a collage technique of phone images and recordings, I just whip something up in a couple of hours. If I were to continue touching them up, they’d lose their magic. These videos and this process almost feel more expressive and true to me than making an album in a way.

I can move on so quickly from things so I appreciate both practices and what they offer in lessons of patience and attentiveness. Both feel invaluable.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Oh big time … I think the only way is to give yourself a creative holiday to process and acknowledge the work done, then just get back on the horse and start again. Otherwise the emptiness kicks in and it’s so hard to shake it off.

Music is a language, but like any language, it can lead to misunderstandings. In which way has your own work – or perhaps the work of artists you like or admire - been misunderstood? How do you deal with this?

Hmmm, this is a tricky one. I don’t feel understood over the internet or in my day to day interactions as I feel floppy and often out of place in daily life. I like to perform to feel like I’m being truely understood. This is how I prefer to introduce myself. I feel a lot of artists connect with this, music becomes a true refuge.

So perhaps my answer is more about being misunderstood without the context of ones art rather than what can be misunderstood with their music. I think consuming rather than absorbing music can largely misinterpret it. If the lens isn’t the ‘right’ one,the audience may miss the music's intention and integrity.

I think I could take more responsibility around this but I also feel like I just want to make and see what happens.