Jessica Boswell’s ‘From The Start’ Out Now
Yesterday saw the release of Jessica Boswell’s ‘From the Start’, the gorgeous new track from a UK artist we’re featuring for the first time today! It’s always great to come across a new artist, especially when the first track you hear is as good as this. With a stylish video to accompany the single, this is the perfect introduction to Jessica Boswell – I can’t wait to hear more.
I caught up with Jessica to talk all things ‘From the Start’, how she got started in music, her hopes and plans for 2019 and squatting in front of electric heaters!
Hi Jessica, Congratulations on the new single release! What can you tell us about ‘From the Start’?
Thank you so much! Well to state the obvious, it’s a love song! It’s basically about finding the right match at exactly the perfect time, but totally by coincidence and accident. The song was originally part of my debut EP ‘Alive’,
which had its own pre-single and album single, both released last year. But popular demand was for me to do something with ‘From The Start’, so as well as releasing it as a single in its own right with a music video, I worked with composer and arranger AJ Nash to create a stripped-back live acoustic version which will be available as part of the single. So I am super excited for that to be released, and hopefully if people like it then that’ll pave the way for
some more live and acoustic sessions…
The song features a fantastic and stylish video to accompany it. That must have been fun to make?
Absolutely! I teamed up with videographer Francis Darracott who did the videos for my debut single and EP single, and we arranged to film in the Camellia House and Prospect Room at Wollaton Hall which was very exciting for me, not only because that’s where they filmed The Dark Knight Rises, but because Nottingham is my hometown. And being in my hometown, it meant my Mum could come along as a roadie and do coffee runs! Annoyingly
though, I did do my usual trick of going for a summery look but in the middle of winter – it was absolutely freezing! I could barely play the keys! We had a little electric heater in the corner of the room that I had to keep squatting in
front of between takes, and I think poor Francis had to edit out my breath in the air whilst singing haha! But we thought having some choreography in the video would help enhance that romantic feel of the song, and it was just
fantastic working with dancer and choreographer Amelia Pidduck – I was so touched with the routine she created for the song; it suits it so well and every detail is just perfect. And she looks absolutely stunning in the video. I couldn’t
be more over the moon!
What is it about the country genre that first drew you in? And describe your particular sound to anyone who hasn’t heard you before, in one sentence!
Well let’s be honest, who of my generation didn’t grow up listening to Shania Twain?! But genuinely, the creative, finding-yourself teen years for me – particularly the ones where I was discovering I could use my piano and guitar
playing for pop music and songwriting – coincided with the likes of Vanessa Carlton and early Taylor Swift, and so they were how I came into combining my songwriting with my instrumental playing, and much of the music I’ve
written – no matter how hard I try to escape those roots – has got those fundamental Americana/Country features. But since then, the most influential artists for me have been John Mayer and Gabrielle Aplin, and they are still the
artists I would choose to listen to over anyone else. So honestly I never actually considered my music to be country music until I started to pursue it seriously, and other people in the industry gave it that label. So to describe my sound in one sentence is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE! I guess it’s a British take on 90s/00s Americana/Country, but with influences of acoustic and folk…? I have no idea…Maybe let’s let the listeners decide!
To finish, what are your hopes and plans at the start of 2019?
I’m currently working on my second EP with the same producer and band that did ‘Alive – EP’. It’ll be another 5-track album, with some similar sounds, but this time embracing the country roots a bit more, as well as experimenting with slightly more electronic sounds too – a whole mix! So I’m planning that this year will see us get that ready for release, and hopefully with some tour dates lined up too!
