"In your bedroom / On the floor next to your bed / Probably under but over the carpet / There's a t-shirt that I want back / I know you still have it / In December, I saw you were in it..."
The melancholy pallor of "strip mall" by singer songwriter Jake Minch bears witness to the stress of youth especially when uncontrollable situations like a father dying when you're 3, being raised by a single mother who is dealing raising 4 kids (and more) get in the way of feeling normal. Couple past remembrances and a tendency to use your talent as a songwriter as therapy, a way of purging things. I may quibble with the sonics of "strip mall", finding the mix a bit harsh, with the vocals too loud, might wish it felt like eavesdropping instead of right in my ear but I cannot deny, the emotional pull. There is something unfettered and punk here while feeling like an internalized folk song at the same time like a collision (embrace of) of Jeff Rosenstock and Simon and Garfunkel. It is deceptively beautiful and awkward at the same time. Every time I get the opportunity to share my thoughts, to hear Minch's art I am impressed.
Of "strip mall" this young artist shares:
“I wrote strip mall in my dorm in february. If im honest I don’t remember writing it. When I got to college I was working on this mini-novel/really-long-journal thing about the person I loved during high school; just as a keepsake to have when im older— and also as a goodbye to them I think. For the sake of convenience I'm gonna call it a book. I would log a couple hours worth of writing per day into that book.
Some days I miss them, but most days I think I just miss being 17 and lockdown and staying up all night talking on a face time call. I miss falling asleep on the phone with my friends and having it not be weird and I miss the summers in Connecticut and hitting a vape for the first time and sitting down leaving ur hand open next to you and hoping they do the same. I had so much time to daydream and stretch things out and I don’t think ill ever have that amount of time or energy again. This is so dramatic, but I do think thats kinda what strip mall is about.
I will tell other people “you were the best thing that ive ever had”, but this song is not for them. I will love people more and I will get to do so much, but I will never write a book about anyone else, and I will never write these songs about anyone else, and nobody will encompass my hometown and my teenage years like they will do forever.”
“I wrote strip mall in my dorm in february. If im honest I don’t remember writing it. When I got to college I was working on this mini-novel/really-long-journal thing about the person I loved during high school; just as a keepsake to have when im older— and also as a goodbye to them I think. For the sake of convenience I'm gonna call it a book. I would log a couple hours worth of writing per day into that book.
Some days I miss them, but most days I think I just miss being 17 and lockdown and staying up all night talking on a face time call. I miss falling asleep on the phone with my friends and having it not be weird and I miss the summers in Connecticut and hitting a vape for the first time and sitting down leaving ur hand open next to you and hoping they do the same. I had so much time to daydream and stretch things out and I don’t think ill ever have that amount of time or energy again. This is so dramatic, but I do think thats kinda what strip mall is about.
I will tell other people “you were the best thing that ive ever had”, but this song is not for them. I will love people more and I will get to do so much, but I will never write a book about anyone else, and I will never write these songs about anyone else, and nobody will encompass my hometown and my teenage years like they will do forever.”
Jake Minch's songs and other artists who, for the most part, offer sparse instrumentation and personal stories are not speaking for the rest of us but many of us will relate deeply to the songs. The connective tissue between artist and audience is oftentimes pain and the odd awkward joy of being able to share it all.
"And over and over and over
I pray that I see you again
No other way I can turn it
You were the best thing that I've ever had
And over and over and over
I think that the world's gonna end
So I blame the wind and my dealer
When I'm askin' about how you've been"
I pray that I see you again
No other way I can turn it
You were the best thing that I've ever had
And over and over and over
I think that the world's gonna end
So I blame the wind and my dealer
When I'm askin' about how you've been"
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.instagram.com/jakeminch/
"I am a loud spectator and an individualist.
Outside of music, I am scared of being corny and I am an anxious body. I used to like running and I spent a year waking up before the sun to run a 5k every day - and even though I don't do it anymore I like to bring it up because it was when I was most proud of myself and I want to do it again.
I like to hold doors open and pay for dinner, and my little sister tells me I have more friends than is normal, but I keep my close circle small, and have even them, at an arm's length.
I don’t have the attention span to read and every 2 months I start vaping again…and usually only quit when I am in a place where I don't know the places that won’t card me. I lie a lot, usually about the things in the last sentence…and also about my plans for future things…and sometimes I'll tell a story and fit a lie into it somewhere and I don't know why I do it, but I do. I often dig myself into these holes because of it and my closest friends are the people I can turn to when I am the bottom of one.
It's been a long time since I've been in a conversation and not felt like I was having a “fight or flight” response. I am performative.
I am most honest when I’m writing - it is the most me I can be around other people, and, with a possible correlation…I find myself hating everything I write within a few months of writing it (which will definitely make releasing music difficult).
I write at low points, and recently (unless it has spilled out of me), I've accumulated hours of voice memos of me mumbling with pretty guitar in the background. I like to make gentle music in contrast to my surroundings. I can tell when a song is gonna happen when I feel my heartbeat slow and I can focus; on a normal day my mind goes really fast and I am infamous among my family for losing my train of thought mid-sentence. When I was a kid and we were out in public, I would get distracted by something and leave whoever I was with and whatever I was doing to stare and walk towards it. My family would call that Jake's world. I find that I write my best music in Jake's world.
Growing up was hard. When I was three my dad passed, leaving my mom and 4 kids behind. My best friend Emily and I have speculated the story of my dad “falling down the stairs” since high school after learning that my family’s riddled with bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and ADD. It changed the way I see my issues. I am a hypochondriac, so there was a moment in time when I “knew” they would take me out. I don't want them to.
Anyways, we grew up poor in a wealthy town in Connecticut, and a red town in a blue state. Kind of pretty in a “there hasn’t been a new building since the 70’s” kind of way. That plus my single mom, 4 kids, and a minimum wage job resulted in a lot of running and screaming and guilt. I am quiet now, but I find myself carrying the running and guilt with me in a lot of my relationships with others. Speaking of relationships, I have never loved anyone as much as the guy I did at 17 years old, which makes love songs difficult. Most of my songs are about things mentioned prior."
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/jakeminch/
"I am a loud spectator and an individualist.
Outside of music, I am scared of being corny and I am an anxious body. I used to like running and I spent a year waking up before the sun to run a 5k every day - and even though I don't do it anymore I like to bring it up because it was when I was most proud of myself and I want to do it again.
I like to hold doors open and pay for dinner, and my little sister tells me I have more friends than is normal, but I keep my close circle small, and have even them, at an arm's length.
I don’t have the attention span to read and every 2 months I start vaping again…and usually only quit when I am in a place where I don't know the places that won’t card me. I lie a lot, usually about the things in the last sentence…and also about my plans for future things…and sometimes I'll tell a story and fit a lie into it somewhere and I don't know why I do it, but I do. I often dig myself into these holes because of it and my closest friends are the people I can turn to when I am the bottom of one.
It's been a long time since I've been in a conversation and not felt like I was having a “fight or flight” response. I am performative.
I am most honest when I’m writing - it is the most me I can be around other people, and, with a possible correlation…I find myself hating everything I write within a few months of writing it (which will definitely make releasing music difficult).
I write at low points, and recently (unless it has spilled out of me), I've accumulated hours of voice memos of me mumbling with pretty guitar in the background. I like to make gentle music in contrast to my surroundings. I can tell when a song is gonna happen when I feel my heartbeat slow and I can focus; on a normal day my mind goes really fast and I am infamous among my family for losing my train of thought mid-sentence. When I was a kid and we were out in public, I would get distracted by something and leave whoever I was with and whatever I was doing to stare and walk towards it. My family would call that Jake's world. I find that I write my best music in Jake's world.
Growing up was hard. When I was three my dad passed, leaving my mom and 4 kids behind. My best friend Emily and I have speculated the story of my dad “falling down the stairs” since high school after learning that my family’s riddled with bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and ADD. It changed the way I see my issues. I am a hypochondriac, so there was a moment in time when I “knew” they would take me out. I don't want them to.
Anyways, we grew up poor in a wealthy town in Connecticut, and a red town in a blue state. Kind of pretty in a “there hasn’t been a new building since the 70’s” kind of way. That plus my single mom, 4 kids, and a minimum wage job resulted in a lot of running and screaming and guilt. I am quiet now, but I find myself carrying the running and guilt with me in a lot of my relationships with others. Speaking of relationships, I have never loved anyone as much as the guy I did at 17 years old, which makes love songs difficult. Most of my songs are about things mentioned prior."
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