Luke Pellegrini
30/11/21
September’s Artist of the Month is the very talented Jessica Lenthall.
From being born into a family with musical parents, to singing greetings during roll call at her Primary School, music has been a part of Jessica’s life from a young age. She sung in the Australian Music Choir and studied musical theatre in High School, enabling her to hone her craft through rigorous vocal training. As well as singing, Jessica also plays the piano and the guitar but states that the piano, which she started playing at the age of eight, is her main instrument. Gushing with a big smile she added “That’s my baby, when I sit at the piano I feel just very natural, it just makes me feel so good”.
Through this love of singing and playing piano, Jessica picked up a gig in a Pink tribute band where she played keys and sang backup vocals, while also being the support act for the band. It was around this time six years ago that Jessica also started writing the songs that you can hear on various streaming platforms today. Specifically, her latest single ‘Feeling’, which was released in November. The song was co-written with a friend and it has what Jessica describes as, “A bit of a Folk-y/Country vibe” and added “This one’s got real groove and drive and a bit, kind of, down and dirty, so I’m excited”.
But not all of her songs were written back then. Her previous single ‘Circles’, which was released in August, was written in January of this year. The single was written in Western Australia’s South and tells the story of a troubled relationship, “We were in a relationship and we were going round and round in circles, based on, we were butting heads on the same thing and then we kept trying and then we’d move forward a little bit and then we’d go round again. And I was down south on my Mum’s property and I had my guitar and I was like ‘You know what, I’m just going to write something’”.
Although these songs were created with the same producer, they weren’t necessarily written the same way, as Jessica explains she “mixes it up” and says, “Sometimes I sit at the piano and sometimes I have the guitar”, divulging further on her song writing process she states, “I’m more melody before lyrics, I might have a bit of a concept in my mind, but I just kind of sit down, find a sound I’m really vibing and then play around with melody and then before you know it, you find something that catches and you’re like ‘Yeah, that’s good!’ and then you build the song around that”.
Taking inspiration from John Mayer as well as many other artists and genres, Jessica’s scope is quite broad saying, “I have a wide range of artists I will listen to, from Andrea Bocelli, to pretty heavy rock, I was a huge Metallica fan, and then there’s Country and Pop so I have a really wide scope of what I listen to. But my sound, I’ve always felt like I naturally sit in that Country/Folk/Pop genre, quite mainstream”.
And where can you hear this music? In terms of recorded music, you can catch Jessica’s two latest singles on various streaming platforms. Currently there are no albums or EPs yet that hold Jessica’s new sound. Her plan is to keep releasing single after single and then gig around with her original music. “By mid-year next year I think I’ll have enough stuff out to put together more live shows and that would be great” she said. But despite her eagerness to tour, she’s not rushing anything, saying “The sooner the better would be good, but you need the material, you need to be happy with it. I’m trying not to rush it, I’m trying to have a very organic approach”.
So if you like Country/Folk/Pop music that brings you good vibes, or you just want something to sing along to in the car, then Jessica Lenthall is the artist for you!
Follow these social media handles to keep up with all of Jessica's music and touring details.
Instagram: @jessicalenthall
Spotify: Jessica Lenthall
Amazon Music: Jessica Lenthall
Youtube: Jessica Lenthall