Julia Massey is a Seattle singer-songwriter who performs on guitar and keys with her band The Five Finger Discount. The band recently played a live KEXP in-studio where they debuted their new song, “The Story Of The Earth, So Far”. Since that recording, Julia and her band have tracked, mixed and mastered the song and are ready to release it formally Sep. 20^th (tonight!) at The High Dive in Fremont. The Monarch Review had a chance to chat with Julia about the single and the universe! 

Jake Uitti: The cover for your latest full-length is a bear in outer space. And your new single, “The Story Of The Earth, So Far”, talks about the beginnings of the earth and oceans – what is it about this mystical space quality that inspires your songwriting?

Julia Massey: It seems to me that art is best understood as reflections of our experience.  For myself (I will go ahead and lump in the band here, too), life is pretty darn good.  Good enough to have the luxury of time to think about the cosmic play we’re sharing at the moment. That said, what I like most about this song in particular is that it seems like it’s going to be metaphysical from the title, but honestly my intention was to document, concisely, what we know about the general history of our planet to date. Long story short, I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.

JU: What about the cosmos interests you so much?

JM: It’s creativity and improbability.  And that we are an integral, yet seemingly inconsequential, part of it.  This is, of course, my own opinion, but that’s just it!  Anyone can have an opinion about this vast universe of which we are all a part.  You can apply meaning to it in infinite ways, or no ways at all, but the one thing we all have in common is that we’re a part of it.  I think that’s pretty much the coolest thing to contemplate regarding the cosmos.

JU: Is this type of connection and integration how you feel about being in a band too?

JM: I never thought of it that way, but now that I’m pondering it, I can see that it is an easy comparison.  The same way that there are rules and laws that govern the universe, so does a band use rules and laws to govern the music it plays.  It is these rules and laws that administer some sense of order in a chaotic scene.  Whether it draws directly from musical theory or an agreement between the players, it won’t exist unless everyone agrees on them for a period of time.

JU: And so along with this single is the band working on a new LP?

JM: We are always working on a new record as far as writing is concerned.  To be more specific, we will probably start the tracking process come the new year.  We hopscotch recording cycles with this other band called The Jesus Rehab and they are in the middle of producing an LP, so we’ll begin shortly after their release.

JU: It’s almost like the two bands share a member and the singers are married or something, huh?

JM: Something weird like that.  And gosh, why the heck don’t they just form one band anyway??