Jana Losey
“I want people to have an ‘altered time’ kind of experience that happens in the theater or a really good movie — the kind where you can forget about what’s going on with you and travel like you’re dreaming.”
For singer/songwriter Jana Losey and her and co-writer/producer Melanie Peters, it’s not just the live performances that have felt dreamlike in recent days. After touring cross-country and moving back to her hometown of Lawrenceville, PA (population 600), Jana and Melanie recorded this labor of love mostly in the house where Jana grew up — the same house that will soon be torn down to accommodate the new highway currently going up in their backyard!
Naturally, that experience played a part in shaping the lyrical themes new songs such as “The Song You Heard.” “Some people have children, and that makes them feel a slice of immortality,” explains Losey. “I have my music to leave behind – my songs are my children, my slice of immortality.”
Though some of the stories in the songs deal with darkness and loneliness, they are often balanced by bright melodies and driving rhythms. On first listen, “5 Days” might sound like an upbeat pop song. But the origin of the song was a newspaper about a woman who fell and remained on the floor for three days before anyone found her. “My grandmother was in a similar situation,” says Losey. “I was sickly fascinated with what it must be like to be lying on the floor in various states of conciousness for that long.”
Other songs such as “The Day” are exorcisms of frustration. “Some days you wonder why you do what you do, and why don’t you just give up all your dreams right now and get a real job,” Losey explains. “That’s the emotion behind that song in a nutshell. Despite all that anger behind it, the song came out sounding strangely happy.”
It’s those juxtapositions of dark and light that reward repeated listenings with subtle shades of meaning. Whereas some musicians might be content to conjure songs with memorable melodies, Jana Losey is the kind of thoughtful writer and charismatic performer who wants to take her audience deeper and create moments that stay with them a little longer after they’ve turned off the record or left the concert.
So how does a Pennsylvania farm girl develop such keen artistic determination? Where did the vision and ambition begin to take root? If every musical path can be traced back to its first few baby steps, you could follow Jana’s back to when she was three.
“Everywhere I went I carried around a small suitcase record player, a jump rope, and a couple 45s. When I found a wiling audience, I would ‘plug’ the jump rope ‘into’ the record player and sing ‘Sugar Sugar’ by The Archies”
When she was growing up, Losey’s exposure to pop culture was limited a bit by the size of her hometown. “Today, everybody from your dentist to your mom is in a band of some sort,” Losey says. “I think it’s great that kids start bands so young now. They have so much more access to music and the world. I was pretty sheltered, and there was some good to that. But I do wish I had started things earlier.”
By taking things at her own pace, though, Losey managed to expand her range of musical skills and performing opportunities in a way that might have eluded a pigeonholed prodigy. As a result, she learned how to play guitar, piano, flute and tenor saxophone. In college, she studied voice, and minored in photography and dance.
Utilizing those acquired talents to their fullest, Jana spent five years with wacky performance art/theater troupe Squonk Opera. Staging an avante-garde Broadway production, the well-rounded Losey developed a unique talent for delivering the kind of ‘altered time’ experience she hopes her performances will inspire.
“I think my theater experience taught me to think of the show from the audience’s perspective. I think I’m also more open to combinations of music and visuals that might create things people haven’t seen or heard before.”
Those unexpected combinations were first explored on her 2006 debut Bittersweet and subsequent tour. That record, the result of a serendipitous collaboration with partner Melanie Peters, earned a good deal of radio airplay in the northeast, which translated into a devoted following of fans.
“When Melanie and I started to explore writing together, the songs got good really fast,” Losey reflects. “I wanted to share them. I left New York burned out, but with this project, I felt rejuvenated. So I slowly crept back into the business.”
The success of the Bittersweet album encouraged her to begin thinking about how to construct a long-term, sustainable career in music. As a result, she began to take a big-picture view of her life in general and how she could sow the seeds for a long career, and eventually create a permaculture community. That direction inspired her to make changes that affect many aspects of her life on the road.
“My commitment to Permaculture right now is mostly a commitment to considering the environment in everything I do. From office supplies and CD production to food choices, gasoline and motel rooms, I try to make the least amount of impact I can.” Losey’s goal is to use her music, Web site, and touring performances to support and spread the word about environmental sustainability.
In the past year, organic evolution has been evident in Losey’s songwriting process as well. Whereas, Bittersweet was an experiment in writing pop songs that originally were intended to be sold to other artists, Losey describes her new record Blocks as a project that was conceived and structured as an album from the beginning. During the development of Blocks, Losey’s primary goal was to focus on her storytelling.
“I want to not forcefeed people an oversimplified lyric, and at the same time, not be so esoteric that my intention is not clear. I always strive to be a better songwriter and I hope the albums played back to back will illustrate that.”
So what’s next for this modern Renaissance woman? “I’m working really hard to make a fanbase that is lasting, not following trends,” says Losey. “People who will like the artistic changes I will no doubt go through. We plan to be bi-coastal traveling back and forth between upstate New York and California.”