Jacob Barrett Sits With the Feelings That Won’t Let Go on “Maybe”
Punk Head: A lot of breakup songs chase closure. Yours almost argues that closure never arrives because we keep rewriting the past. Was that the emotional thesis from the beginning?
Jacob Barrett: I don’t know that I came into writing this song with any sort of thesis in mind. I had an inkling of a particular sonic vibe in my head, and a few lyrics I had written into my notes app, but any sort of emotional framing was realized in retrospect, as often happens. I'll be in some intense frame of mind, dump it into the computer over a few chords, and then listen back the next day and think, whoever wrote this was very clearly feeling one specific thing. There's something alchemical about songwriting, in that sense. You can't write without leaving an emotional stamp, and sometimes the stamp belongs to a different feeling than the one you thought you were working through in the first place.
Punk Head: You mentioned being especially proud of the spatial reverb in the bridge. For people who aren't producers, what emotional effect were you trying to create rather than what technical process you used?
Jacob Barrett: I just thought it sounded cool lol. I could make up some sort of deep rationale for an artistic decision but the reality is that I am, like everyone, just trying things to see what feels good, and this mixing choice felt good to me.
Punk Head: You cite artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Lucy Dacus, Tracy Chapman, and The 1975, but this song doesn't feel interested in borrowing their scale. It seems more interested in borrowing their honesty. Is that a fair reading?
Jacob Barrett: I feel like I can’t say this word, but…Maybe! It’s like how Adele can’t say Hello and Taylor can’t tell someone that they Need to Calm Down. But yeah, maybe. I am inspired by many different artists, and also books and movies and people in my life. I can’t say where any particular musical-ism comes from, other than that I have been inputting music into my brain for 19 years (or more I suppose if you consider a fetus’s sonic exposure) and it sort of melted together to give me a certain set of musical instincts and interests.
Punk Head: Is there a point where technical improvement becomes a risk? If your guitar playing becomes significantly better over the next few years, do you worry about losing some of the vulnerability you value now?
Jacob Barrett: Ha! No, I don’t think so, although I have definitely tried to use this to get out of music lessons when I was younger. It’s a cop out, really. And I am getting better! I just have really weird technique and I’m scared to play it live lol but when I’m alone it’s fun…
Punk Head: If "Here I Go Again" was movement and “Maybe” is reflection, what emotional territory does the rest of the EP explore?
Jacob Barrett: Movement and reflection are both still stuck in the same rut. One tries to outrun it, one thinks about it too hard. The rest of the EP is what happens when neither of those works. It gets less polite and more desperate as it goes. I'd rather not map the whole thing before it's out, but I'll say the songs stop being reasonable somewhere in the middle.
