GEMINI ZINE - ISSUE #1

4
A S C E N D I N G
JENSYN
Where did your journey as a musician
begin?
My parents had always encouraged me to
learn an instrument from an early age but I
think my real love for playing music started
when I first began learning the bass at 9.
From there I just wanted to keep learning
other instruments like guitar and drums and
then I really got into teaching myself
production and posting remakes of songs on
SoundCloud. Jensyn came about when I
actually started to be happy
with the quality of music I
was making.
Who would you
consider your main
musical influences?
I would say I have different
influences for the different
aspects of my own music. I
love creating melodic bass
lines and that definitely
comes from my love of Jaco
Pastorius – especially his stuff with Joni
Mitchell on Hejira. My mum is a big fan of
soft/folk rock so she introduced me to groups
like CSNY and the Eagles whose tight
harmonies I became obsessed with. I also love
to mix acoustic and electronic sounds
together. I think my love for that combination
has also been influenced by film/TV
composers such as Ólafur Arnalds, Nils
Frahm and of course big names like Thomas
Newman. They have really inspired me
through their use of harmony and choices of
sounds which are always so interesting
sonically.
What does your writing process
usually look like? Are you influenced
by anything in particular?
I like finding interesting chord progressions
and harmony on the guitar, so it usually
starts there. I'll record an idea and then when
I have a lyric or subject, which sometimes
comes immediately but also often at
“
It’s an exciting time
regarding queer
representation in the
industry. More people are
sharing their stories and
more people are listening!
”
The lockdown release of debut EP
‘Untouchable’ brought cool-toned pop
soundscapes with captivating vocal
treatment, synths and virtuoso bass
lines. Now, Jensyn sits down with
GEMINI to talk in-depth about
songwriting, new material and queer
representation in the music industry.
random points in the day, I will work out a way
to fuse the two. From there I like to record and
start to produce what I have got in order to
work out what sounds/instruments I will be
using around it because that usually helps to
keep the momentum up creatively to help me
finish it!
Naturally I am always feeling something very
strongly at that moment which I can't stop
thinking about - that's why I'll be writing about
it! On my EP I had two songs about the
current Covid situation which
starts and ends the project
which definitely shows how
present it was in my mind, like
the majority of us I think. I'm
an over-thinker for sure, and if
I'm going down a spiral about
something, usually lyrics will
come from it because that's
something that helps to put
my mind at ease.
Your song ‘Blue-Tinted’ is
rooted in working out
gender identity, and has been featured
on BBC Introducing West Midlands
(congrats!) How do you think gender
and queer representation in the music
industry is changing, or may evolve in
the future?
I think it is definitely a really exciting time
regarding queer representation in the industry.
More people are sharing their stories and more
people are listening! I just want the amount of
representation to keep increasing and also more
quickly because so many people need to hear
and see themselves in the media. I think in our
generation there are lots of people leading the
way in creating a climate to allow for
unrepresented or misrepresented groups to be
heard. I think the landscape of the music
industry in the future looks diverse with music
from lots of different backgrounds which is so
needed!
‘Blue-Tinted’ came about very quickly, in one of
my overthinking spirals, and the subject matter
is very personal. The fact that then BBC West