Solstice
AUGUST 28, 2020
JULETTA
I wrote “Solstice” about a woman named Jenny whom I met on the day of the summer solstice in 2018. That summer was when I began rolling out my concept for this album: I would conduct interviews with women all over New York City, and then write their stories into songs.
Jenny is a yoga teacher in Manhattan, and had watched her brother, her mother and her father pass away. “If I disassociate when I talk about it, then I can talk about it”, she explained. She was beautiful, witty and fiery. She told me her favorite poem was “On turning Ten” by Billy Collins, which is where I was inspired to write the first lyric for “Solstice”:
“You tell me it is too early to be looking back, but that is because you have forgotten the perfect simplicity of being one”.
ISHAN
One of my favorite parts about working with Juletta is her fearlessness, she’s willing to write and sing to absolutely everything I give her, no matter what it is.
Around the time we made “Solstice,” I was DJing a lot. I often play a mix of house and classic disco, and the influence of both can be felt in the composition. I was also really enamored with sampling and manipulating Juletta’s voice, and the emotional effect it had on me as a listener to be hearing some hybrid between human and computer.
It’s unlike anything we had made prior, and it’s one of my favorite songs of ours.