Jess Locke Teases ‘Real Life’ Album with Lead Single “Uncomfortably Happy”

Today sees the return of raw and honest storyteller Jess Locke with the announcement of her fourth album, Real Life, out on Friday, 3rd May, through Dot Dash / Remote Control Records. The celebrated Melbourne/Naarm-based songwriter shares a sample of the long play that explores mortality with “Uncomfortably Happy.”

Setting the tone for the forthcoming album, “Uncomfortably Happy,” says it all in the title. Backed by fuzzy guitars and swelling synths, Locke questions the temporary aspect of living. The buoyant chorus attempts to sweep these anxieties and overanalyses away – a celebration of chaos and letting go of control, of failure even, because all of it is just temporary. Locke admits, “It’s something I write about a lot, maybe because I am still trying to become comfortable with the idea that life is temporary and meaningless and that’s a good thing.”

Real Life explores this notion further, with Locke attempting to make sense of a world that feels more and more unreal. It’s an exercise of melancholic introspection, dealing in alienation, impermanence, despair and darkness, and then also revelation. Locke explains her experience saying:

“Writing this record, I found myself thinking a lot about what it means to live when you know that one day you will die, not just individually, but as a species, as a planet. . . So while it’s quite a heavy topic, a lot of the album is a process of returning to the present moment, realising that it’s the only thing that’s real and that the only purpose in a life that will one day end is to experience it, and that’s quite liberating on a personal level.”

Real Life Track Listing:

1. Everybody’s Going To The Same Place
2. Red Moon Rising
3. Piece Of It
4. Real Life
5. Not Important
6. Uncomfortably Happy
7. Rocket To Ride
8. Killed A Fly
9. Take It Back
10. Interlude
11. The Place

Jess Locke ‘Real Life’ album artwork