Fresh off the scene, New Zealand’s Just Janie is making waves with her debut EP, “Muse and Musician.”
While the concept of a muse is familiar to any musician, Janie takes it a step further. For her, the muse isn’t just an external source of inspiration, it’s the artist themself – a wellspring of creativity waiting to be tapped.
“Muse and Musician” is a warm and deeply personal exploration of self-discovery. It’s a story of the artist and their inner muse collaborating to create something truly beautiful. Join Just Janie as she delves deeper into the inspiration behind the EP.
The Muses Behind Muse and Musician
In the winter of 2023, I travelled to the Blue Mountains, NSW to record my debut EP ‘Muse and Musician’. With producers Rick Turnock and Abby Smith (Smith and Jones), we worked for a week on three live recordings. Surrounded by bird song in their studio backing into the Australian Bush, the magic of the muses was made.
This body of work is a time capsule for the past (Nostalgia), present (Muse and Musician) and future (Love Letter to Myself). Beginning with Muse and Musician, the track delves into what it means to write and then relive your music on stage.
The second track ‘Nostalgia’ delves into the past and the unreliable nature of our memories, as well as the character storylines we create within them.
Finally it finishes with ‘Love Letter to Myself’ which is an ode to the woman I could have been, and the woman I have become. Not only that, it is a body of work inspired by many muses.
As the title track suggests, the musician has her muses. I think my understanding of a muse is different from its original meaning. In Greek mythology, it was often seen as the source of inspiration, but the Muse was just that, the source.
My muses often inspire my art because of the incredible work they do, whether that is music, art, or something else entirely. They are a person with ideas and depth. And what better way to delve into these tracks than to explore those who inspired them.
Let’s start with Muse and Musician
The Muse: Stevie Nicks
This track is the heartbeat of the EP. Muse and Musician was loosely inspired by Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, as well as many women (and men) who have been considered a muse when they have a unique talent of their own.
In Fleetwood Mac‘s case, the musicians wrote songs about one another and then performed these songs together, sharing their experiences with the whole world. That’s an incredibly vulnerable and intense ability to give yourself in that way to your music.
I write music as a form of creative therapy, to release my thoughts and feelings into another place. My grandma Suey used to say that you should write your worries onto a piece of paper, and then throw the paper in the bin.
I’ve carried this idea with me throughout my life. ‘Muse and Musician’ is at its core, an appreciation of what it means to be a musician.
The song has many levels, the most important being the idea of what creating art and sharing that art does to one’s psyche.
How to listen to Muse and Musician: Draped in a chiffon tasseled scarf, lounging in your bedroom at dusk (I’m sure Stevie would approve).
Nostalgia
The Muse: Joni Mitchell
I have a vivid memory of when my music shifted into what it is today. I remember borrowing Joni
Mitchell’s ‘Morning Glory on the Vines: Early Songs and Drawings’ from the library and devouring it in one night. The book is a collection of her lyrics and artworks. Something inside me clicked, and the songs began forming on their own. It was as if I had opened the floodgates.
I had been writing quite prolifically prior, but reading Joni’s lyrics helped me shift into the sound I’d been looking for. I stopped writing for a specific sound, I stopped trying to be ‘cool’ and fit a scene. I just started writing to write what I loved and shifted my perspective away from creating for others, to creating for myself. My main thought process was that if I loved my work, someone else might feel that love too.
I am heavily inspired by sounds from the late sixties and early seventies, including Crosby, Stills and Nash, Fleetwood Mac, George Harrison, Helen Reddy, Karen Carpenter, the Mama’s and Papa’s, Joni (of course), and this period for music, and folk. This idea of Laurel Canyon in its hay day. The music scene.
How to listen to Nostalgia: Dancing in the afternoon sun, with a case of Nostalgia for the Laurel Canyon Daydream
Love Letter to Myself
The Muse: Ourselves
Love Letter to Myself is an acknowledgment of who I could have been and an ode to the woman I have become.
This song is about self-love, and being where you are supposed to be. I often write songs for other people, filled with beautiful poetry and words I wish I could say after love and loss. Offerings to others.
But I have felt these things too and deserve my own love letter. So this was a song for myself.
How to listen to Love Letter to Myself: Snuggled up with your headphones and a warm cup of tea (this song is meant to be a self-love hug). xx
