For Asha Jefferies, music exists somewhere between joy and loss, finding hope and beauty in life’s most uncertain moments. Drawn to songwriting by a need to make sense of the world around her, the Australian artist creates music that embraces vulnerability, possibility and the extraordinary things that often escape our everyday attention.
Her new album, Desire Is An Angel, explores desire as a means of understanding ourselves and our connection to others. Combining deeply personal songwriting with bold, expansive arrangements, the record marks a period of self-discovery in which Jefferies has learned to embrace her ambitions, trust what she wants and allow music to soften her perspective on life.
We caught up with Asha to talk about finding beauty in uncertainty, reclaiming her ambitions, the freedom that comes with vulnerability and why the unpredictability of live performance is all part of its magic. Read the Q&A below.
For anyone discovering Asha Jefferies for the first time through this interview, how would you describe yourself as an artist – and what is it about songwriting that keeps pulling you back to it?
“I like to make music where joy and loss meet, bake it in sparkly leadlines and sprinkle in wisdom and hope. What pulls me back into songwriting is how sad I’d be without it.”
You’ve said that you wanted to make music that would “soften” you. I love that idea – what does being softened by music mean to you, and do you feel like making Desire Is An Angel gave you what you were looking for?
“This album has given me what I was looking for…and so much more. I feel like everytime I put out music I learn so much about who I am, both as a person and as an artist. For me, being softened by music is the experience of allowing music to remind me that life is fragile, beautiful, humbling and that there are extraordinary things happening beyond our everyday consciousness.”
The album explores desire not simply as wanting something, but as a way of understanding ourselves better. What have your own desires taught you about who you are?
“I think I’ve learnt how connected we all are through our desires. We all experience the same feelings of possibility, uncertainty, disappointment, even if we desire different things. Through documenting my desire, I’ve discovered that underneath everything I yearn for externally, is actually the desire for something far beyond whatever that external thing could give me.”
You’ve spoken about previously feeling timid or hesitant to want things. Has learning to trust your desires changed the way you take up space – either creatively or in your life more generally?
“Absolutely. Learning to trust my desires has changed a lot about how I see the world. To zoom out, in Australia, there is a real tall-poppy syndrome that reinforces young women to not be too ambitious. I think re-connecting with my desire has helped me claim ownership over what I want instead of believing that it’s “dangerous” or “greedy” to want things and try to reach for them.”
‘Art of Suggestion’ explores that exhilarating space where attraction still exists largely in your imagination, before you know whether it’s reciprocated. As a songwriter, are you naturally drawn to those unresolved, in-between moments where there aren’t necessarily any clear answers?
“I live for the in-between moments! They are most frequently unexplainable and universal and I will spend forever sinking my teeth into them, to attempt to paint that feeling of possibility and hope but also agony and exhilaration!”
Desire Is An Angel is more sonically ambitious than your debut while also being more intimately personal. Did becoming more vulnerable in the writing make you want to be bolder with the music surrounding it?
“I definitely threw a lot of paint at the wall making this album. Lots of big feelings with maximalist arrangements. I didn’t really go into writing it thinking it was going to be as vulnerable, but I guess it’s what naturally happened and is one of the most fulfilling parts of songwriting for me.”
You’ve spent the last couple of years taking your music around the world and sharing stages with artists including Courtney Barnett and Soccer Mommy. What have you discovered about yourself through performing live, and what do you hope happens between you and an audience when you’re on stage?
“Live music is like magic and whenever I get to see it or be a part of it, I feel connected to something greater. There can be a lot of unknowns and I think it can be easy to try and over control the variables, like singing the same songs every night, saying the same things in between songs. But the crowd is as much a part of the performance as the people on stage and I love allowing spontaneity to take place when I’m performing. I guess I’ve discovered I enjoy being surprised, and I hope the audience will surprise me.”
Finally, you’ve said making this album helped you realise that you can give yourself some of the things you’re searching for. What do you hope Desire Is An Angel might help somebody else discover about themselves?
“None of us would be here without desire, it is one of the deepest codes in our DNA. I hope this album inspires someone to discover how deep and powerfully desire is living within them.”
