BY GIL WILLOW
PHOTO BY GIL WILLOW
“When I think of your face I think of you smiling, now I can’t replace all the memories burning,” Somme cries in the chorus of the title track on her latest EP. The post breakup anthem “Memories Burning” kicks off the 5-song tracklist which captures the idiosyncrasies of relationships — ranging from the unbridled angst after a breakup, to the euphoric anticipation of discovering love on the dance floor. Somme explains, “After you go through a breakup and you just miss the person, you don’t think about the end of the relationship, you think about all the good times and the ‘memory burning’ in your mind of that person smiling and laughing.
Somme is an indie pop project spearheaded by San Diego-native Jordan Cantor. She’s been toiling away at composing and writing for the past year, and “Memories Burning” is the first of 2 EPs planned for 2020. I got to chat with Somme before her album release show at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, CA, right before she performed the EP in its entirety for the first time live.
“If you start a song on guitar, then all you have to focus on are the chords, the melody, and the lyrics”. For this EP, Somme explains that she stepped away from self-producing in order to focus on the core elements of each song. With producers like Bo Weiss and Kyle McCammon to develop the intricacies of the instrumentation, Somme could now put all her energy into bringing her musical and lyrical visions to life. Somme takes pride in writing and producing her own music, so it was a tough decision to bring in outside producers. However, they shared her vision and collaborating with Bo and Kyle helped break through Somme’s creative blocks. During the writing session for “Memories Burning” Jordan had to leave early for a meeting, and upon her return Kyle had orchestrated a killer track for her to vocalize over. Exactly how she had envisioned.
Not only does Jordan appreciate guitars in the writing process, but also in pop music. “Guitars are coming back, people play guitars again,” Somme rejoices when talking about live instrumentation in pop music. Somme plays bass and sings during her performances and used to play bass in the band Party Nails. She even recorded a live drum track for the song “Kamikaze”.
Pop music wasn’t always Somme’s genre of choice. It wasn’t until her voice teacher showed her Sia at age 14 that her perspectives on pop music changed. She discovered that pop music was more than just top 40 radio, it can express deep emotion and fuse with many other genres. This led her to artists that influence her today like Lizzo, MUNA, and Phoebe Bridgers.
You can find Somme’s latest EP Memories Burning on Spotify and Apple Music. Follow her @somme for the latest announcements.