Sometimes life throws you curveballs, and the only true response is to “get weird.”
That was just the case for the new duo of Jade Jackson and Aubrie Sellers, and their first album as Jackson + Sellers is the result. You may recognize those names, since both women had (and still have) thriving solo careers as roots-rocking singer-songwriters. Tending to keep things close to the creative chest, each is normally fiercely independent, too. But when the pandemic hit and put their plans on hold, they decided to branch out, infusing Breaking Point (out Oct. 22) with a double dose of jagged-edge, femme-fatale power. And mostly, it was just for the hell of it.
“We weren’t shooting for any direction at all,” Jackson explains, just a few weeks before the album’s launch. “We just had this opportunity to be as open and weird as possible, and just have fun with it. It never felt constricting or like we were trying to be country or not be country. It was just, ‘Let’s get weird!’”
“For me, it was like whatever your first instinct is, we need to go 10 notches weirder than that,” Sellers adds with a laugh. Weird or not, the duo now call the new album one of their most satisfying musical experiences. Mixing equal parts pretty and gritty, 11 new tracks fuse scuzzed out rock-and-roll aggression with angelic voices and close harmony, like some kind of post-apocalyptic female version of the Everly Brothers. It’s a project that offers both an outlet for all that built-up frustration of the last 18 months, and a supportive shoulder to lean on, and it sounds like the duo have been together for years. But actually, the project and the partnership came out of nowhere.
“We both felt like things really aligned,” Jackson says. “It’s like there was this road paved ahead of us that we weren’t really aware of until we connected. Everything was just like green light, green light, green light, and it really guided us into this project.”
The pair first met at AmericanaFest a few years back but weren’t exactly instant BFFs. Mutual respect is a better term for what they shared. But then, with COVID-19 causing some serious soul searching, Jackson decided a change was in order. She direct messaged Sellers via Instagram, asking if she’d sing harmony on a haunting Simon & Garfunkel-style ballad called “Hush,” but when they got together at Sellers’ L.A. home, the two hit it off so fast they couldn’t stop. They spent a whole night bouncing tunes off one another and recorded their newfound vocal explosiveness right then and there.
Jackson says she felt a “gravitational pull” between them—and so did her label. “We pretty much had a fun sleepover,” she says now. “Then we just sent my label a couple of demos we had done that night and they were like, 'Hey, we want a whole record. Ten songs, and we need it [soon].’” With no time to overthink, the duo reconvened in East Nashville with Ethan Ballinger (who co-produced alongside Sellers), and Jackson + Sellers was born. Knitting together ’70s rock pageantry and modern indie-rock fury, each singer takes the lead on three self-penned tracks, while splitting time on one co-write and three completely re-imagined covers. The woozy, roots-reggae groove of “Breaking Point” helps reveal the anything-goes approach and their philosophy on this COVID-times standout.
“That’s a song I wrote, and Jade really liked it,” Sellers says. “As far as a title, I was drawn to it because I think it has a double meaning. ‘Breaking point,’ like reaching a breaking point in a relationship, or just life. But for us it was also like a breakthrough.”
Their connection is easy to hear in the set’s first track, as Jackson + Sellers delivers a teeth-kicking cover of Julie Miller’s “The Devil Is an Angel.” It definitely showcases the “get weird” ethos, since Miller’s version is a bluesy dirge, and the new one feels like a mix of Blondie and The Ramones.“It really sums up the energy of the record, and, also, it was equal representation of both of us,” Sellers says. Elsewhere, tracks like “As You Run” reconstitute one of Jackson’s acoustic ballads with an atmospheric, electro-pop vibe; “Waste Your Time” feels like galactic grunge-pop; and Suzi Quatro’s 100-mph rager, “The Wild One,” gets a half-time makeover. There’s more to explore and plenty of intrigue—both for listeners and the duo, who seem to feel like the project helped reignite something. Each has since relocated from L.A. to Nashville, and there may be more plans for the duo going forward. It’s almost like getting weird was just what they needed.
“This was the first project I worked on where I didn’t think about the outcome and it ended up being one of my favorite things I’ve ever created,” Jackson says. “I hope we can inspire people who were like me before and have this agenda about where they’re going and how it needs to go. It’s like, no dude, just express yourself and be around people who inspire you, regardless of the outcome. If you love it, that’s the most important thing. I just wish I had known that as a younger songwriter.”