Jessica Frech is Reinventing Herself… and She Doesn’t Want to Hold Your Hand

_{By Davis Blount}

Jessica Frech has big things brewing. Having been in Provo for less than a month, she has wasted no time making her mark on the music scene: at the end of last month, she competed in the finals of Velour’s Battle of the Bands. Last week, she released a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” featuring hometown favorite Mimi Knowles. I had an opportunity to sit down with Miss Frech and talk all things music and otherwise.

Do you think that the group that you have together now will be the band moving forward, or are you still looking for a combination that will give you the right sound?

My band meshes really well as people; we’re all really good friends, we always have a good time, but right now we are in the process of hashing out who will play what instruments and what we want in our band. Right now, we are only a four-piece band. My studio album has keys, banjos, and tons of other instruments, so we are still fleshing that out a little bit…. Hopefully we ought to have like an eight-piece band.

Eight people on stage? That’s sending an Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros vibe.

I love them, but we’re not quite as hectic on stage… not yet, at least. We are still looking to find our sound, but it will be a lot different than some of the things that I have made before.

That’s the beauty of being an artist, isn’t it? The process of being able to redefine your sound as you transition from one stage of life to another is important.

I feel really lucky to have done that early on.

I’m interested to know the thought process of you and Mimi Knowles doing covers of the same song… featuring each other. Could you take me through that a little bit?

[Laughs] Mimi is one of my best friends and has been so helpful in getting me out here, but we don’t have the same taste in music. When we decided to do a cover, I sent him a work tape of how I wanted to do it and he sent me a work tape of how he wanted it done. It became clear pretty quickly that it just wasn’t going to work, so we decided that it might be easier and wiser to make videos featuring each other as opposed to having this semi-good track. I think it worked out great because both tracks turned out amazing.

So… Mimi is a good friend. Should we be expecting more videos of you two cuddling on a blanket and holding hands?

That was actually so uncomfortable for me! Every music video that I do, they want me to have like a love affair, and that’s just not me. On a personal level, I am not about PDA. Doing that video was really hard for me. I had to step back and say: “Is this the image that I want to give off to my fans?” To answer your question, there will be more videos of us, but don’t expect us to be holding hands again.

Give me a few artists that are on your ultimate playlist.

Passion Pit, The Mowglis, Vinyl Theater, Kodaline, Judah & the Lion, Matt & Kim, Coin, Twenty One Pilots… basically all stuff that isn’t my genre.

Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Neither. I would choose dogs over cats, but I’m not a huge animal person in general.

If there were a book written about your life, what would the theme be?

Overcoming.

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Wars. I’m not super obsessed, but I like it all the same.

JFK assassination. What’s your take?

I don’t know what to think about it. I think there was conspiracy – I’m a believer in conspiracy. It’s the same with Lincoln, I think.

Do you think it was an international conglomerate of male models taking high level heads of state out? (Looking at you, Derek Zoolander).

It definitely could be… you never know.

Cowboy, Ninja, or Pirate? Take your pick.

Ninja.

Now, it is up to you to donate a question that I will ask the next artist.

Okay, cool. My question would be: “What would you do to make the world more awesome?”

Frech’s new album Home is targeted for an August 2015 release. Her single “Speak Softer, Love Louder” and title track “Home” are both available for streaming. Check www.jessicamusic.com/tour to see her at an upcoming show. You can hear “Speak Softer, Love Louder” below!