Step into the mesmerising sonic realm of Jack River as we embark on a journey through her highly anticipated sophomore album, “Endless Summer.”

Today, we are thrilled to embark on a journey through Jack River’s eagerly awaited second album, “Endless Summer,” where the extraordinary talent of Holly Rankin shines. This opus flawlessly weaves together pop elements and introspective storytelling, captivating listeners with Jack River’s commanding yet vulnerable vocals and her remarkable artistic vision.

The latest musical creation from Jack River serves as an ideal companion for navigating the challenges of life and the chaotic nature of our world. “Endless Summer” emerges as a radiant and uplifting treasure, offering solace and respite amidst the turbulent tides of existence.

“Endless Summer” stands as a testament to Holly’s growth as a musician, highlighting her razor-sharp songwriting skills and captivating storytelling. With ten meticulously crafted pop songs, the album captures the essence of a beach holiday amidst the apocalyptic backdrop of the climate crisis. It offers a shimmering escape, an oasis where listeners can find solace amid delusions and memories of long summer nights.

In our exclusive interview with Holly, we delve into her creative process and the inspirations behind “Endless Summer.” As a new mother, she shares how this life-changing experience amplifies her awareness of the future and the importance of using her platform to speak for the generations to come.

Among the album’s standout tracks, “Honey” explores the complexities of detachment in relationships. Holly opens up about navigating these emotions as a songwriter and maintaining healthy emotional boundaries.

Join us as we embark on an unforgettable journey into the sun-soaked melodies and poignant storytelling of Jack River’s “Endless Summer.” Allow the music to transport you, evoking a sense of longing, introspection, and the limitless possibilities of the human spirit. Step into the enchanting world of Holly Rankin and immerse yourself in her captivating artistry.

Happy: What are you up to today?

Holly: I woke up at 6am and cuddled my daughter Maggie for a little bit. Then went to the gym and came home, wrote some texts and got on my laptop. My mom is kindly looking after Magnolia today.

Happy: Where’s home, and what’s the current music scene like in your neck of the woods?

Holly: Home is in Forster on Worimi Country in New South Wales. I live four doors up from the beach that I grew up at. 

So, it’s very sublime and beautiful. To be honest, I’ve been such a hermit that I don’t know what’s going on in the local music scene at the moment, but we do breed a lot of incredible musicians.

Benny from Skeggs is from down the road, I grew up with him, and there’s a lot of other cool bands like The Ruins and Los Scallywaggs from here. 

Usually I am much more across it because I started a local festival called Grow Your Own here and I’m usually listening to all of the local artists, but I’ve been in another world recently.

Happy: Tell us about your average day.

Holly: My average day at the moment is some kind of swim, some kind of walk, and either a day with Maggie going to the library or the beach or the pool, looking at leaves and bubbles and fish and dogs.

Or an absolutely insane day on my laptop in my home office, in zoom meetings and emails, working on my album release Endless Summer or working on the Voice To Parliament campaign.

Happy: What about your ultimate day?

Holly: My ultimate day would be completely outside, spent mostly in the ocean, swimming, diving or surfing.

Meals with families, a bonfire, and camping in our van. A really good book too, maybe by Rebecca Solnit who I’m reading a lot of at the moment, and some time writing in my diary.

Happy: Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind your sophomore album, Endless Summer, and how it relates to the current climate crisis?

Holly: The inspiration behind Endless Summer firstly comes from 10 different emotional thoughts and a million thoughts within each of those 10.

So, the 10 songs are all quite different, but what linked them is probably the production that cast a spell over the whole record, which for me speaks to an escapist

world I created to step away from the chaos of our world politically and socially right now and take a little mental holiday. 

It relates to the climate crisis and the place we find ourselves in, in that, in order to do our best work and face reality, we need to give ourselves enough escapism and rest, but remain conscious of it as much as possible.

Happy: How did the psychedelic tunes of the tumultuous 60s influence the sound and production of the album?

Holly: I, like many, have always loved the sounds of the 60s and 70s – The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and The Doors, and all those artists.  

But what I felt most curious about during the making of this record particularly was the magical sounds of The Beatles and Beach Boys.

These artists were commenting in their day-to-day lives fairly directly on the social and political issues of that time, which were very, very big. 

Meanwhile they were making magical escapist music and I felt drawn to that philosophy or way of doing things, I feel akin to how they were managing their minds in such a tumultuous time.

Happy: Becoming pregnant with your first child just after writing the album, did that have any impact on the themes and emotions conveyed in the songs or how you feel about the album?

Holly: Yes, I think I became a lot more conscious of what I want to speak about during this time on Earth, and what I was doing mentally, in consciously escaping my day-to-day life working in politics and social issues.

For me, it made everything more magnified, and real and pertinent. With the birth of Maggie, the future is just so much more tangible.

It’s in my arms, and I’m speaking to it every day, a person who’s going to live far beyond my lifetime. So, it inspires me to use my platform and album to speak about the future.

Happy: Could you share the significance of the title, Endless Summer, and how it represents the juxtaposition of a beach holiday atmosphere amidst the apocalyptic horrors of climate disaster?

It means exactly that. It speaks to the kind of illusion or delusion that we’re in most of the day as we scroll and engage in the pop culture we have right now.

But also that a very real physical endless summer is coming for us and is very real to a lot of people around the world already, especially island communities and countries like India, who are already suffering in an endless summer

But meanwhile, we are all so distracted and disengaged, so it’s really a commentary on both these things at once.

Happy: Your initiative ‘Our Soundtrack Our Stories’, has gained recognition and support. How do you see the connection between music and political change, and how has it influenced your own approach to music?

Holly: I think music has the power to speak to the feeling of the times and artists are often the human barometers of the times were living in.

Artists don’t necessarily have a responsibility, but they have an opportunity to be an incredible bridge for people and for their audience to topics and issues that are really important to them. 

The space between politics and music is incredibly exciting and, more than ever, we need political commentary that is strange and funny, warm and human and emotional. Thats an artists bread and butter. 

It really excites me to be in that space and ‘Our Soundtrack, Our Stories’ with ARIA is a direct expression of when music and political commentary collide to create tangible change for artists themselves.

Happy: Honey is described as a song that explores the idea of detachment from emotion in relationships. Could you elaborate on the concept and what led you to explore it in this particular song?

Holly: ‘Honey’ is a drippy exploration of detachment and how it makes the other person feel when someone detaches emotionally in the name of spirituality or wokeness.

I find the Silicon Valley version of mindfulness to sometimes be a little bit problematic and, at the time, was feeling the personal effects of that.

I think it’s interesting to look at how the Western world has taken beautiful Eastern philosophies and sometimes augmented them quite far out of shape, and made them into something that is selfish in a negative way.

It’s also just me having a massive vent to those certain feelings.

Happy: How did your collaboration with Matt Corby and Jarryd James on Honey come about, and what was the creative process like?

Holly: Ive been friends with Jarryd for many years, and we were chatting one day and he said that Matt was starting to produce music and I was like ‘oh that sounds cool, I'd love to meet him’. 

So, I went up and the first day that I met Matt we chatted for a while, I brought some honey along as a little peace offering, which I do a lot of the time because I am a big fan of bees and honey.

After a few hours, the boys started to jam on the guitar and drums, and I started to hum little melodies and think about lyrics. ‘Honey’ was born across a day and a half of writing. From that song, I could tell that Matt was an incredible producer and had a really interesting mind that I was keen to explore.

We then ended up making the record together, so Honey is the birthplace of Endless Summer.

Happy: The lyrics in Honey raise questions about detachment, attachment, and accountability. Can you delve deeper into your own thoughts on these subjects and how they manifest in your personal life?

Holly: I think that every mind is a very complex place and mine is no different. I'm constantly navigating, detachment and attachment, especially in my really close relationships and its hard to even put words to the kind of complexity that those two emotions, or ways of dealing, manifest.

One thing I do find interesting is the way that as a songwriter, you have to kind of hyper attach to certain emotions, and you must feel them more than you usually would, if you just felt them and then got over them.

In your relationships, like close relationships, you do need to move on and get over things and be an emotional adult.

But as a songwriter, you need to be quite a child or a teenager and keep feeling and feeling and feeling something in order to write the song or finish the song.

Thats something I find interesting about attachment, and having to really consciously separate whether I’m feeling something for arts sake or I’m actually feeling it for my relationship or feelings sake.

Happy: As you ponder the idea of detachment and sing, You think you’re so free you can forget about me, how do you reconcile the notion of complete detachment with maintaining meaningful connections and relationships?

Holly: I feel like complete detachment would be not great in my mind. I feel like, in meaningful connection, there needs to be some form of attachment and some form of free-flowing emotion without like barriers and boundaries in order for something to be meaningful for me.

I know thats different for other people, but I probably couldn’t reconcile complete detachment within like a really close relationship.

Happy: What makes you happy?

Holly: My family, nature, dogs, swimming and writing.

Jack Rivers Endless Summer is out now.