Jessi Robertson is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter who recently delivered her most daring and vulnerable offering yet. An eight-track album titled Dark Matter, the emotional record has lived with me since its release last month. Hauntingly beautiful and deeply personal, it's the kind of album that doesn't come along often.

Desperate to learn more about Jessi and her artistry, I was over the moon when she agreed to an interview! Chatting with us about her late autism diagnosis, how she develops that initial spark into a fully realised piece of music, and why her next chapter might just arrive wrapped in shimmering ’80s synths, please welcome our new friend, Jessi Robertson.

Hi Jessi, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! I'm really excited to introduce you to our ever-growing audience!

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, please tell us a little bit about your musical journey so far.

What sparked your passion for it, and how has that led you to where you are today?

I often feel like music is my reason for being. One of my earliest memories is making up songs as a kid, to the point where I probably annoyed everyone else around me. I wasn't diagnosed on the autism spectrum until this year, so I now understand that it is one of my special interests.

As an autistic person, I’ve always struggled with expressing my emotions and working through how I feel about things. I’ve always felt different. Music helped me find my words and emotions. I remember so strongly how I wanted to help other people who were in pain find comfort through the music I created. That’s why even though I touch on darker subjects, I feel my music is laced with optimism, hope, and strength.

Although I didn’t learn an instrument until I was an adult, I wrote songs constantly from a young age and have never stopped.

Now, I apologise for asking such a tough question so early on.

But...if you could pick one of your songs to skyrocket to the top of the charts and achieve massive international success, which would it be and why?

Out of my current songs, I think I would pick In Dreams Awake. It’s a reminder that it’s ok to escape into the beautiful places in our imaginations when things get hard. For me, that’s the deep places, the ocean floor, the space between the stars. But we also need to remember to come up to the surface sometimes, or drop down to the earth and be part of our communities, and be there for each other.

It’s a celebration of persistence through the difficult times. Even when reality is uglier than our imagination, we can make it just a bit brighter and more beautiful for everyone else around us.

Let's chat all things Dark Matter, your brand new album!

An emotional and heartfelt eight-track offering, it's a record that has truly grabbed hold of me.

You've mentioned that the album explores "identity, neurodivergence, and the emotional gravity of learning to accept who you are."

Please tell us more 😊

Most of these songs were initially written in 2017 for a project I was working on called Dark Matter. I never released that project, and I put all the demos away. I thought it was just too weird. Who would want to listen to my inner thoughts, comparing my emotional state to black holes or quantum entanglement? Who would want to walk through my sleep paralysis fever dreams, or hear about how much I love and hate my phone? Who wants to think about the first law of thermodynamics as a sort of afterlife?

After being diagnosed on the spectrum, I started to understand my life in a way. I had to go back through my memories and recontextualize everything through this new lens. One day, I came across these songs in my voice memos, and I realized how they resonated with where I am today.

I took out these songs that I had rejected, and I learned to love them. I gave them new life. In some cases, I rewrote melodies, or changed the lyrics, or added bridges to reflect my new understanding of myself, but the core of the songs remained unchanged. Accepting these songs became a way of accepting myself, the self I always hid because I felt it was somehow wrong, but I now finally understand and am learning to love.

Your sound has drawn comparisons to legendary artists like Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks, and PJ Harvey.

Who are some of your biggest musical influences - and if I peeked at your ‘Recently Played’ section right now, who would I find there?

I think the artist who set me on the path I’m on today is undoubtedly Jeff Buckley. The first time I heard Grace is indelibly etched in my mind. I thought, “How can someone sing like this, with both unfettered passion and supreme control?” It changed my entire idea of singing and self-expression through music.

I also listened to a lot of iconic singers from previous generations when I was young, like Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, and Billie Holiday. And I’m drawn to the ones who make passionate and meaningful music, so there’s been a lot of David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, and Prince in my rotation. And I deeply love '80s music.

If you look at my recently played, however, it would be full of independent artists from my NY and Nashville communities like Kat Jones, Mary Jennings, Omer Leibovitz, Grace Love, Benjamin Poss, Lara Ewen, Tracee Perrin, Sami Akbari, Niall Connolly, Shadow Monster, Sean Lee, E.W. Harris, and many, many more.

When a new song starts to form, what’s your usual approach?

Can you talk us through how you develop that initial spark into a fully realised piece of music?

I have two primary processes. The first, I would describe as percolating. I feel something I don’t understand but can’t move past, and something begins bubbling at the back of my mind. Eventually, whatever’s brewing back there boils up to my conscious brain and usually overflows onto the page in a quick burst. Sometimes what I’ve brewed up is a full-fledged song; other times I’ll go back and work on better lyrics, better melodies, better chords. I always think, "How can I push this to a higher level?"

My second process is simply dreaming. I dream in music all the time and wake up, grab my phone and feverishly sing what I remember into voice memos. Sometimes this results in something hilarious, other times it leads to something mysterious and interesting. I don’t usually come up with a full song this way, but often I get huge pieces.

I have an unreleased song called The Art of Failed Things, and I got the complete melody and rhythm and many of the lyrics from a dream. I think that’s another way my subconscious is at play in my songwriting. My mind is just wired that way.

When you’re not creating music, what keeps you busy and happy? Walk us through a non-music day in the life of Jessi Robertson.

Most of my life revolves around music, so there is hardly ever a non-music day in full, but there are many things I enjoy. And I’m basically a giant, creative nerd.

I love reading, particularly sci-fi and fantasy (come on out, my fellow Brando Sando fans). Everyone who knows me well will tell you that I really, obsessively love The Office. I have echolalia, so I’m always dropping a random Office quote into conversations.

Lately, I’ve become kind of obsessed with Korean dramas. I love the culture and the humor, and there’s often an inner monologue so I can follow what the characters are thinking. As an autistic person, it’s sometimes hard for me to understand people’s motivations, so I find it relaxing when an inner monologue spells it out for me. Other than that, I love creative activities like drawing, taking photos, and making videos. And most of all, I love having a good meal with good friends and catching up on what’s going on in their lives.

How do you navigate the balance between staying true to your artistic vision and adapting to changing trends in the music industry?

I stopped following trends after college. Before that, I spent too much time trying to sound like other singers. I became a mimic, and when I listen back to my early work, I cringe. It wasn’t me.

When I moved to New York in my 20s, I started to find my own sonic identity, my style of singing, guitar playing, and writing. I want to make music that is true to me and expresses how I feel about the world, so I don’t bother following trends. They always pass. I write a song exactly as long as I need it to be, so I’m not going to trim it down to three minutes. I love the sound of natural singing voices, so I’m never going to use autotune. I want to be loud, so I won’t be quiet just to fit in.

Thanks so much again for chatting with us Jessi! It's been a pleasure getting to know you better!

Before we say farewell for now, what comes next for you musically, and do you have any words of wisdom you'd like to leave us with?

I’m going to make a massive '80s synthesizer pop record next. I love experimenting with different genres, and although I’m not a very accomplished synth player, I love to play around with different textures and sounds.

I told a friend my dream is to have a song with synths that sound like an '80s after-school special. I’m also thinking about an acoustic album, just raw vocals and guitar. I’m not sure exactly what that looks like yet, but I’m terribly excited to dive back into my imaginary worlds and dreamscapes and percolating mind, and see what weird and wonderful things I can bring back to share.

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Jessi Robertson: “I want to make music that is true to me and expresses how I feel about the world, so I don’t bother following trends. They always pass”

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