TRACK-BY-TRACK: JACK GRAY TAKES US THROUGH 'SWIMMING IN JEANS'
Watch our interview with Jack Gray below!
Australian singer-songwriter, Jack Gray has unveiled his debut album, Swimming In Jeans. To celebrate the release, he's taking us through the collection of songs track-by-track...
Having already hit the stage in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, Gray will wrap up his Australian album tour in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend with two sold-out shows. The musician will then join In Color, supporting them in San Franciso, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, as well as an appearance at Reeperbahn Festival.
THE DEEP END
The Deep End opens the album and I wanted a song that introduced the sonic pallet of the record with the live instrumentation that builds up into the next song Dumb Sh*t. It's about this journey that I’ve been on as an artist and how by the time you finally get to these milestones and goals you’ve reaching for your whole life, it doesn’t feel how you thought it would.
DUMB SH*T
For Dumb Sh*t I really wanted to write a song with a big chorus and hooky verse melodies that are just fun to sing. I found this chorus I wrote in a session like 6 months earlier in my voice memos and knew that it had to be on the record. I think as I’m getting older, time is starting to go by faster and faster and it’s kinda scary. Wanting to hold onto your youth and make the most of it is something I think we can all relate to. And the video is really special to me cause I think that no matter how old you are, everyone has that part of them that still feels like the kid they once were and we should always hold onto that. Produced by myself and co-written with Jon Hume & Jillian Shea Dumb Sh*t is built around acoustic guitars and lyrical snapshots, shifting between sprightly verses and open-hearted choruses. It’s really about those years in high school and that feeling of just being foolish, spending time with your mates and trying things for the first time. Feeling like you can do anything and just blame it on being young, or young at heart. The music video was created with close friends in LA, actors and filmmakers Bryce Gheisar and Jem Matthews, who co-directed the visual, with Miles Murphy as director of photography. It’s loose, nostalgic, and grounded in friendship, a short film disguised as a memory.
BLIND LOVIN'
Blind Lovin’ is about falling head first into a new relationship when you barely know the person. It feels like you’re going into the situation blind, buts it’s worth it because you have all these big feelings and it feels right.
SWIMMING IN JEANS
For Swimming In Jeans I wanted to try something different with this one and write a song that feels like the beginning of a coming of age film. This track follows the story of an introverted boy meeting an extroverted girl at a party and the rest is history. Swimming In Jeans is the beating heart of the album.
BEDROOM FLOOR
Bedroom Floor is the continuation of the storyline from swimming in jeans. The song picks up the morning after the party where things get a little hot and steamy.
DRIVE HER HOME
Drive Her Home is quite a heavy one. I wrote this song about a close friend of mine was going through a tough time. everyday we would go on these drives through the canyons in LA and would just talk and I would come with these reasons why life was worth living. Eventually I started running out of things to say, but I guess with this stuff there isn’t much you can say. You kinda just have to show up for them and be there.
BLUFFIN'
Bluffin… this one's just a bop. I wrote this one about being in a situation ship where you don’t know exactly how the other persons feels about you and what that feels like. Written with singer-songwriter Jillian Shea Spaeder (Drive Her Home) from a writing session where nothing was second-guessed, this song is really special to me because it was just so much fun to write. We didn’t overthink it or worry about the story, it was all about doing what felt right and having fun with the melodies and sounds. That ease and spontaneity shaped the new single’s energy.
TATTOOS
I wrote Tattoos with Peach PRC a few years back. During the session, we quickly bonded over our mutual love of The 1975, so we left the studio and decided to go get matching tattoos. We then came back and wrote a song about it. Doing your first writing session with someone you've just met doesn't always go well and is generally pretty awkward. But Peach and I clicked right away and had a great time making this song. She is an incredible writer - while I was working on the beat, she wrote the pre-chorus in like 3 seconds and it turned out to be my favourite part of the song. It is packed with subtle easter eggs, driven by a wiry new wave bassline and rowdy sing-along chorus, it’s one of the most immediate and energised releases to date.
LOOK AT YOU
I wrote Look At You about a friend after he found out that his partner was being unfaithful and the tug of war that you feel internally. The push and pull of wishing you never found out but accepting that is better to know the truth rather than living a lie. It is a gut-wrenching awakening to a new reality, chronicling the aftermath of an infidelity confession with searing guitars and gently chiming electronics, begging the question “Is it bad that I wish that I never found out?"
IN THE PICTURE
In The Picture is about watching your ex move on really quickly after your breakup. And having a front row seat to the new relationship because you’re part of the same group of friends.
TEEN JESUS
Teen Jesus is about the contradiction of being a teenager. One minute you know everything and the world revolves around you, and the next moment you’re depressed and feeling like everyone's out to get you.
SAFE SPACE
I wrote Safe Space about losing that one person or place you can let your guard down with and the isolation that comes with that. Built around stark piano and a softly stirring chorus, it’s a reflection on the collapse of a relationship once defined by comfort and security. It’s about the person who is supposed to be your person, the place where you can be most vulnerable and completely yourself, is being ripped from beneath you. It's about not feeling safe in that environment anymore and how tough that is.
Swimming In Jeans is out now.
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