Having spent the last few years building up a repertoire of bright and soaring indie-rock gems, Birmingham-based singer and songwriter Jay Tennant is back with another stunning release in the form of ‘Star Chasing’.
Channeling his inner David Bowie throughout, ‘Star Chasing’ sees the frontman return in stellar form. Filled with rip-roaring riffs, killer hooks, and some brilliantly catchy vocals, this new jam is one of his most bleak yet beautiful offerings to date.
So with the new single available now, we sat him down to find out more about the new cut and what he has in store for us in the future.
Words by Chris Bound
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Photocred: Christoper Brew
Chris) Hi Jay, how are you today?
Jay) Hi! I’m really good, thanks. I hope you’re well too.
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
I would say that I write cinematic post-punk and epic indie songs that are passionate, diverse and have big choruses! Films, books and life influence me in general, but musically I would say I’m a big fan of bands like The Cure, The Smiths and Joy Division.
You have just released your new single ‘Star Chasing’. Can you tell us how that track came about?
Yeah, it was released on 25th September. It was a song I wrote quite quickly really – I had the chords, verse and chorus within 15-20 minutes maybe. I then wrote 2 lead guitar riffs for it a bit later on and played around with the lyrics until I was happy with them. We recorded it in just 4 hours.
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
It’s quite dark and dramatic-sounding and it’s also relentless - I wanted it to feel cinematic and actually ‘sound’ like you’re in a car, racing across the city at night. If you watch the video for it on YouTube, you’ll see what I mean. Hopefully, we achieved that!
Can we expect a new EP, or even an album from you in the near future?
Yeah, it’s the 1st single from my 3rd solo album, which will be out some time in 2021. I have a title and artwork, which I’ll reveal nearer the time. It’s kind of a concept album really - there’s a lot of big songs on there that all link together and I think it’s definitely my best album yet!
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
Yeah, it’s definitely slowed things up for me, like everyone else. But I have 1 more single coming out before the end of the year, which I hope will go down as well as ‘Star Chasing’ has, and then I’ll be looking forward and planning for 2021 which will hopefully be a big year.
And finally, what has been your fondest memory as an artist working today?
I think just having people discover the music and being so positive and supportive about it. I’ve been lucky enough to get a lot of support from music-lovers and radio stations, especially on Twitter, and honestly – every ‘like’ or positive comment or radio-play is a big deal to me and really is appreciated.