Interview with Jess Kemp: ‘Matter Of Time is an uplifting, stomping, feel good anthem’

Manchester-based singer Jess Kemp is gearing up to release a new, undisclosed acoustic track before Christmas, with a view to bringing out another EP next year. ‘It has clean, honest vocals, it’s a nice warm song with a bit of strings in it,’ she said.

In July, she released ‘Matter of Time’, a track she describes as ‘very close to my heart, the words and story behind the song mean a lot but it has become increasingly poignant as we move into 2020’.

Kemp actually wrote the song in 2018 during the third year of her university studies. ‘The workload got a little bit much and this song just came out of that. It has been re-cut to send uplifting vibes and feelings of relief as we reach the end of a pandemic and emerge on the other side.’

As the lyrics go: ‘You said, remember that thing you’ve always dreamed of, keep it in the back of your mind and just watch all of the things fall into place and it’ll take some time but you’ll learn to wait, and watch the tower get built for yourself to sleep in, stars don’t shine till your heart’s broken, so take some time, to get in line, it’s gonna come your way, it’s a matter of time.’

She hopes that people will see it as ‘an uplifting, stomping, feel good anthem that encourages listeners to keep the faith, continue dreaming and remain hopeful that one day we will reach the other side, a better place’.

‘We Were Falling’, which she released in April is essentially a love story, even though she says she doesn’t tend to write them: ‘It’s about that time in a relationship when you’re going through a hiccup, where you can tell the story of the hiccup when you come out the other side. This is probably a funny way to describe it but it’s as if you go through it and all your colour is taken away, you become momochrome, then once you get to the other side, your colour starts coming back.’

The chorus reflects that mood: ‘And I knew, we were falling, but you, you were stalling, somehow you put the shine back in the stars, we mended our own broken hearts and you, you lassoed all the broken parts. And I held out for a brand new start, with you.’

For Kemp, it is her favourite out of her songs: ‘I love the vibe, I’ve got an emotional connection to it,’ she said.

Her debut single, ‘Fairy Lights’, came out in 2015, followed by her debut EP Camden in 2016. Off the back of the EP release, she went on to release ‘VondelPark’ which tells the story of her 2016 tour of Amsterdam. She has since headlined Manchester Academy 3, The Deaf Institute, Sacred Trinity Church, Gullivers, The Eagle Inn and Factory Manchester.

She is a massive fan of Taylor Swift. ‘Of all of her music but I love her really country music, those were the songs that I first played on the guitar when I was 14/15. I also grew up listening to a lot of Queen and ABBA, and 70’s and 80’s music like Fleetwood Mac.’

If she could collaborate with anyone, she goes for Taylor Swift. ‘Or Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac), I think they’d be amazing. Stevie is just so cool, isn’t she?’