{"id":27213,"date":"2019-02-22T14:15:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T19:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=27213"},"modified":"2019-02-22T17:42:04","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T22:42:04","slug":"band-of-the-month-thelma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/band-of-the-month-thelma\/","title":{"rendered":"BAND OF THE MONTH: Thelma"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_27215\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27215\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27215 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/thelma-1024x731.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27215\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: Grace Pendleton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A guitar is only about eight pounds, but it can feel much heavier when you bear that weight on a shoulder prone to dislocation. Likewise, it\u2019s not easy to play it with swollen and dislocated finger joints. But since she took up playing professionally, Natasha Jacobs \u2013 the force behind Brooklyn-based band Thelma \u2013 has had to deal with a constant pain that threatened her career. The band released its <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/5g4UNBRnwaKiHDXYpF4nVT?si=HZc2UJjwTiW51wx5aasLXg\">debut<\/a> in 2017 while Jacobs studied composition at SUNY Purchase, and while demoing a second record, she began investigating her health issues in earnest. In the course of that journey, Jacobs was diagnosed with unrelated thyroid cancer, which jeopardized her singing voice, and it wasn\u2019t until that was under control that she finally had an explanation for her pain \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ehlers-danlos.com\/what-is-eds\/\">Ehlers Danlos Syndrome<\/a>, a genetic disorder that, for her, manifests itself as loose joints and faulty connective tissues. But none of this kept Jacobs from completing her sophomore record, not only because she\u2019s an extremely resilient person, but because, as she would attest to in the very title of the LP, out today, that making music wasn\u2019t just a passing hobby or cold ambition. For her, it was <em>The Only Thing<\/em> she could imagine doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApart from music, it just really changed my perspective on life and what I want,\u201d Jacobs says. \u201cBefore, I was so focused on making it as an artist, which, we all want that. But I think it really made me value love and friendship in a different way and what I want my life to be like. And also, [I started] really thinking about how you don\u2019t have to be a <em>successful<\/em> artist to be an artist.\u201d With <em>The Only Thing<\/em>, Jacobs has learned to be truer to her art: pursuing the pop-oriented sounds that brought her joy as a child; embracing synthesizers because they\u2019re easier for her to \u201cmake an aggressive sound with so little effort;\u201d and leaning in to the idiosyncrasies of her voice, which she says friends have described as that of a \u201cprimordial baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/5pkiussZQzepQq3M4bcmJ5\" width=\"300\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past I was so focused on trying to make my voice sound perfect or good or something\u2026 I realized that wasn\u2019t really working for me,\u201d she admits. \u201cWith this record being really symbolic for me, [I was] just trying to have fun playing music, focusing much more on being playful and emotive and just capturing the characters of the songs. I\u2019m a pretty goofy person in general and I feel like my whole life I\u2019ve been known as someone who makes funny voices.\u201d She allows her voice to creak and moan and wail and whisper when the emotional thrust of the song calls for it; even on more abstract tracks like \u201cSway,\u201d she oscillates between an almost operatic flutter and playful cooing delivery.<\/p>\n<p>Though this way of singing is more akin to the likes of early-aughts freak folksters Joanna Newsom or CocoRosie, Jacobs is indebted to the tongue-in-cheek pop sensibilities of Lana Del Rey and Lady Gaga, too. She inhabits characters, as on \u201cStranger Love,\u201d who long for the romanticized version of their crushes despite knowing the reality won\u2019t live up to it. The lovelorn narrator of \u201cTake Me To Orlando\u201d is so besought with fantasy that she punctuates her verses with a sharp, breathy intake, almost like a hiccup. Even when she\u2019s adopting these characters, Jacobs\u2019 personality shines through \u2013 particularly her sense of humor. In the video for \u201cStranger Love,\u201d Jacobs leads a geriatric water aerobics class (\u201cThat was a real swim class! They let us film it!\u201d) as a sort of metaphor for going through the motions whilst in the throes of unrequited love.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FLdv08hjG_Q\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But perhaps the most poignant moments on the record come when Jacobs confronts her health struggles. On \u201cNever Complain,\u201d she seeks a way to \u201cuntangle my body like a silver chain;\u201d her voice echoes over distorted guitar, a metaphor for the distance she must cross to do something as simple as go out, \u201cBut I do it and never complain.\u201d Jacobs isn\u2019t feeling sorry for herself, just getting caught in a reverie that anyone with a debilitating disorder can relate to. \u201cNo Dancing Allowed\u201d has what is perhaps one of the most poignant metaphors for living with chronic pain ever put to song: \u201cPain is an island with a cabaret law \/ Right there on the wall \/ No Dancing Allowed \/ When I\u2019m alone with no one to enforce, I turn the music loud \/ My body will remind me, no dancing allowed.\u201d Not only does it suggest her physical discomfort, but also the isolation and frustration that comes along with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t personally have any idol songwriters who have written much about physical pain. I can\u2019t think of many songs that talk about it,\u201d Jacobs notes. \u201cAnd so much of the population is chronically ill or disabled &#8211; I just really hope that these songs can get to those people and help someone in some way.\u201d Jacobs underwent surgery on her shoulder in November to help alleviate some of her pain, though she says it still feels like it\u2019s bruised, with slow healing times being a common issue for those with EDS. She\u2019s on thyroid medication but opted out of surgery due to the threat of vocal paralysis; she monitors it regularly and hopes that if it worsens, there will be less risky treatment options available, and the medical technology around that looks promising. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m still very much in the midst of what I was going through when I wrote the record,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I think it will be interesting to see [the songs] from a greater perspective in time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For now, she\u2019s realized how many obstacles stand in the way of normalcy for folks with chronic pain and invisible illness. \u201cI would love to tour and I do feel physically capable, but with self-releasing [the LP] and all the money that goes into medical stuff I\u2019m not in a place right now where I can do a ton of DIY touring, physically or financially,\u201d she says. \u201cSo many labels, when they reach out to you, they\u2019re like, are you touring? How much DIY touring are you doing? Not only is that really hard or close to impossible for people who are disabled, but it\u2019s also really hard for people who don\u2019t have a lot of money. So I think it\u2019s kind of unfair in many ways, to have those expectations of an artist.\u201d She also says that venues need to step up when it comes to accessibility, and is heartened by the active push for more of that from organizers like Sean Gray of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/itvaccessible.com\/\">Is This Venue Accessible<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advocacy was on Jacobs\u2019 mind when she wrote \u201cChosen Ones,\u201d the album\u2019s stirring closing track and one she says is among her favorites on <em>The Only Thing<\/em>. She says it was one of the most \u201cimpulsively emotive songs\u201d on the album. \u201cThe emotion poured out and it happened so quickly and I was like, crying while writing [it],\u201d she remembers. In it, she reminds her inner child that she\u2019s worthy of love, and encourages her to fight for it. \u201cEvery day \/ You\u2019re trying hard just to be brave \/ For the child screaming bloody murder inside,\u201d she sings, letting her voice flutter wildly. \u201cIt\u2019s such a dark thing to say, I just feel like there was no way to say something like that unless you\u2019re doing it kind of wacky,\u201d she says with a laugh. Like many of the songs on this record, the music is disarmingly buoyant given its subject matter, but that\u2019s territory that Thelma navigates handily. \u201cI think that was my only way to cope with what was going on [healthwise],\u201d she says of the album\u2019s swooning string sections and danceable grooves. \u201cAlso, it\u2019s funny &#8211; I <em>feel<\/em> so much more since I went through this. I\u2019ve become a much more empathetic person and feel so many more emotions. But I also feel like a little bit \u2013 no, a lot \u2013 tougher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Thelma&#8217;s sophomore record<\/em> The Only Thing <em>is out today; she&#8217;s playing a handful of shows over the next few months, where you can cry, dance, or do both, and hopefully say hi.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>THELMA TOUR DATES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2\/22 &#8211; Everybody Hits @ Philadelphia, PA *<br \/>\n2\/23 &#8211; Secret Project Robot @ Brooklyn, NY *<br \/>\n3\/1 &#8211; The Chateau @ Albany, NY<br \/>\n3\/2 &#8211; Wherehouse @ Middletown, CT<br \/>\n* w\/ Mutual Benefit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A guitar is only about eight pounds, but it can feel much heavier when you bear that weight on a shoulder prone to dislocation. Likewise, it\u2019s not easy to play it with swollen and dislocated finger joints. But since she took up playing professionally, Natasha Jacobs \u2013 the force behind Brooklyn-based band Thelma \u2013 has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[615,573],"tags":[32,8553,8552,8551,8510],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/thelma-e1550875075119.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27216,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27213\/revisions\/27216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}