MEET ALMA JETTE
An interview between Hannah Smothers and Mary Bryce of Alma Jette, along the dried-up creek bed behind Mary’s childhood home in Austin at the tail end of bluebonnet season.
What’s an early memory you have of listening to music?
The first time where I was like, “Oh my God, I want to do that,” was watching Julie Andrews in ‘The Sound of Music.' I loved to sing as a very small kid, and I did a lot of voice lessons and got into musical theater. My voice teacher at the time also loved jazz, so I was like, singing jazz ballads as an 11-year-old, which is really cute to me in retrospect.
You recorded this album a few years ago when you were last living in Austin, in a little haunted bungalow on West 30th Street. Do you consider ‘I Found a Reason’ a Texas record?
Definitely. I feel it most on the final track of the record, a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “I Found a Reason.” Specifically on that song, the guitar tone is really textured. To me, it’s big and expansive. That feeling of spaciousness was super important to me—I wanted the whole album to feel spacious. Your place impacts how you think about what you’re doing so much. I spent a lot of time, while recording the record, thinking about oceans and deserts and all these things that are so Texan. Even when I came back from California recently, I realized again how much room to breathe there is here.
My friend did an interview with Annie Clark —another Texas artist—a few years ago, andAnnie said something I always think about: “I know in every season what the Texas sky looks like.”
That’s exactly it. Another thing I’ve thought about a lot lately is that there’s so much water here, especially in Austin—there’s so much spring water and rivers and lakes where you can swim. I think if I could pick an element that I would attach this record to, it would be water.
If you could orchestrate a perfect listening situation for the album, what would it be?
In a perfect world, this would be a driving record. If that happens, that would be amazing. That’s how I find songs that stick with me the most. And even that goes back to this being a Texas record.
How has your relationship with this record changed in the years you’ve been sitting with it?
I think my pride and conviction are the same, and the truthfulness that’s here is the same. But I think my own conviction in myself as an artist—after my house burned down and my relationship ended—has grown exponentially. I had so much fear while we were making it. That’s where Jake, the producer and my ex, came in and was like “We can do this.” Honestly, making the music videos for the record has been really healing and given me a lot more confidence in myself.
Yeah, the videos—especially this new one for “Do You Remember?” that you made with Jen Rachid are stunning. Can you tell me more about working with Jen?
I’ve known Jen for ten years, but we’ve gotten really close in the past year or so. She’s just so magical and so down for anything. I texted her at one in the morning to ask if we could make a music video, and she called me and was just like, let’s do it this week. The only image I had in my mind was a spotlight, and everything else about the visuals was flexible. Jen’s eye is unparalleled. She’s amazing.
You mentioned this before, but during the time you’ve spent with this record, your life changed drastically. What’s it like to grow up around a completed record?
Given the way that my life has sort of exploded in the past six months, the way I think about how we made the record has really changed. I also feel differently about the music itself. It feels like a breakup album. I’m honestly pretty spooked by the almost, like, premonition quality that it has. It’s eerie to hear that two people who were so in love could make such sad love songs. There is a ton of yearning here.
Do you think a breakup record can also be a love record?
Oh yeah. Before my grandmother died, I asked her—because I had a crush on someone at the time—if you ever stop loving anyone. She said, “If somebody hurts you badly enough, you can stop liking them, but you never stop loving anyone.” I think about what she said all the time
Alma Jette’s latest single "Do You Remember" reminisces on the early days of a relationship, the blur of retelling a moment in memory. The video and images above were directed by Texas/NYC based photographer & director, Jinni J.