July 2002
Artist Profile: Rebecca
Jensen
By
Shamus Burke
Rebecca
Jensen has a new CD out called Byupe. You can get a copy of her
CD online at www.cdbaby.com
and www.womanrock.com.
How
would you describe your music?
In normal box music terms it would be . . . folk-rock or acoustic
singer-songwriter. In more abstract true to life terms . . . it
a kind of mélange of words I came up with. When I first
started playing I came up with, not realizing the contemporary
stigma that follows it, I called it 'folk-fusion.' When I think
about it that's how I think about, but I don't use that word publicly
because people will get the wrong idea. Not really knowing what
to put first I call it 'folk-jazz' or 'jazz-folk.'
What
is the process of song writing?
It changes for every song. As a creative person you can't really
program yourself to have inspiration or come up with something.
I mean, there are methods to having things come out of you . .
. you can sit there with a pen and piece of paper and see what
happens or sometimes I'll sit there with a guitar and . . . wait.
I'll try things out and experiment. So sometimes it's the music
that comes first and I'll get so inspired by the music that the
lyrics just come. Other times I'm not feeling it so much musically
and I'll be writing a lot of . . . stuff, poetry and I'll find
something that's so inspiring to me I'll say, "I've got to
make that into a song."
Who
are your influences?
At this stage, Joni Mitchell is the primary influence. I've been
going through her catalogue and breaker her songs down, like dissecting
them. So I've really gotten deep into that. And . . . you see
. . . influences for me have different functions. There are influences
that I go to because of a certain kind of appreciation and respect
that I have for what they're doing and for it being similar to
me, so, I'm listening and I'm trying to be influenced by them.
And then there are influences that have nothing to do with me
and my music. They are just influences that I really dig, like
my parents listened to a lot of 60s and 70s soul music, so when
I was growing up I got Marvin Gaye and music like that. I don't
spend a lot of time listening to that kind of stuff, but it's
always kind of there. And then Jazz over all.
What
do you think about the music scene in Trenton?
I don't think it big enough. I'd say it's been a pleasure . .
. and a challenge in the position I've been in trying to foster
a music scene in Trenton. (Rebecca runs the Urban Word Open Mic
on Tuesdays) I was witnessing the [Trenton] music scene since
I was seven years old when my Dad was playing down at Joe's Mill
Hill. I was running around the basement playing in the linen closet.
I've seen it go through a lot of changes. The arts scene in Trenton
is pretty good, but the music scene in particular is lacking.
The
new CD, Byupe, what is Byupe?
The
name is a word that I made up when I was little and I never knew
what it meant. I remember when it happened. My family used to
joke about it all the time and I didn't know what it was or where
it came from or why, but it always stayed with me. What it meant
to me then I don't know, but what it means to me now is a spontaneous
expression of creativity.
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