PORTSMOUTH, NH – Boston artist Jen Kearney finds a stellar balance with the music that she creates. While walking the fine line between soul and R&B, she also blends in elements of funk, jazz, folk and blues to forge a dynamic sound. Along with these sonic characteristics, Kearney also makes sure she gets some sort of messaging across through the lyrics and her vocal delivery.
On May 23, she and her band are going to bring a vibrant atmosphere to The Press Room in Portsmouth. Singer-songwriter Jill McCracken is opening up the evening with it all starting on the early side at 7 p.m.
Kearney and I had a conversation ahead of the show about her latest single, looking forward to performing at The Press Room for the first time and plans to put out a vinyl record in the near future.
Rob Duguay: Back in March, you released a new single titled “Long Division” as a reaction to the polarized state of our society, so what was the catalyst for writing this song? Was it something you saw on the news, something you saw while being out in public or something else?
Jen Kearney: It was leading up to the end of the election and in my opinion, the unfortunate result, so I started writing it in December. I was thinking about how we got here and how polarizing things are. Social media is great in the sense that musicians can promote their shows there, we can all keep in touch there and there’s so many other wonderful things about it, but I also think that it’s algorithmically designed to create some division. That’s part of the song along with talking about the divide, obviously our wealth inequality and several things that pertain to what we are doing as humans. We’ve become this callous that we’ve ended up here doing what we’re doing and seeing these results with the constant defunding of the arts and the rights of women being completely gone in some states.
We’ve gone so far backwards so fast that it’s kind of maniacal, in my opinion.
RD: I totally get what you mean by all that. What was the experience like recording the song at Chillhouse Studios in Charlestown, Massachusetts?
JK: It was really quick. I wrote the song so fast and we decided to go into the studio back in January. I sent a demo I did on Logic Pro to the band and they all liked it so we booked a date to record it. We sort of did it just live, so it was self-produced with the engineers there making the decisions on what to put in and what to leave out, but musically, it was pretty much as is almost.
RD: It’s cool that it worked out that way. There’s also a lyric video out for the single that features various locations, including a cemetery and a wharf among others, so how did you go about putting that together? Was it you just filming stuff on your phone and then editing it afterwards?
JK: It was very low-budget with me just walking around the North End area of Boston on the waterfront. The sepia tone of the city felt right with putting those images behind the lyrics.
RD: Makes sense, I thought it was a cool array of visuals.
JK: Thanks!
RD: No problem. Being a Boston based musician, what are your thoughts on coming up to Portsmouth to perform at The Press Room?
JK: I love Portsmouth. I’m so excited to get up there, my band and I haven’t played the Seacoast, or New Hampshire in general, in a while so I’m excited to get back up there and make our debut at The Press Room. Jill McCracken is amazing and she’s going to be doing an acoustic set, so we’re pretty stoked to do it.
RD: It sounds like an awesome time. Can we expect an EP, a full-length album, or even another single or two to follow up “Long Division” later this year? When it comes to recordings, what are your plans for the rest of 2025?
JK: We have some more dates set to finish up another batch of songs and we’re going to try to release a vinyl in the fall. We’re trying to get together the money for that and vinyl is expensive, but I’m really excited to do one. I’ve never done it and I just think it’s a lot more fun than streaming, so that’s the rock solid plan.