Lucky Number Music

Critically acclaimed, indie-rock powerhouses Jay Som (Melina Duterte) and Palehound (Ellen Kempner) have joined forces to form a new project called Bachelor. Today, they release their debut single “Anything At All”. The two musicians came together in pre-quarantine 2020, recording in California during what was then a rare break from touring. Written, performed, and produced entirely by the pair, the new single starts with a heavy, funky bass line followed by a chorus so playful it could be a schoolyard taunt.

The duo explains, “We’re so excited to finally share this song and announce our new band! We’ve been dear friends and huge fans of each other for years and were lucky enough to get to work together before quarantine in January 2020. One morning Melina was showering and this bass line idea just stuck in her head. She went downstairs to play it, waking Ellen who then came down and joined in on drums and started recording. After we got the basic track down we wrote lyrics about queerness, lust, and longing.Writing and recording “Anything At All” was a really natural process and releasing it now feels very hopeful and joyous to us.”

Stay tuned for more Bachelor news coming soon in 2021!

LA-based Jay Som – aka Melina Duterte – will release her second record Anak Ko later this month – which you can pre-order NOW. Ahead of release she has shared brand new single “Nighttime Drive”, a restless road song, but one with a sense of contentedness and composure, which “basically encapsulated my entire life for the past two years,” explains Duterte—always moving, but “accepting it, being a little stronger from it.” She sings, memorably, of “shoplifting at the Whole Foods.” Duterte focused more on bass this time, “I just wanted to make a more groovy record”.

You can watch the comical, paranormal video above, which director Han Hale describes as “a homage to the song’s namesake; the song is about being a band on the road and the comradery involved.” Melina adds, “I feel like Han’s style and vision for the video worked so well with the track and what it means to me, kind of a freaky juxtaposition – especially the added layer of alien activity.” Check out the video where Melina-fast asleep in the van en route to a gig-dreams that her and her bandmates go full-on X-Files and have an alien encounter. 

Jay Som just performed at Pitchfork Festival and Fujirock in Japan, and now she’s preparing to bring Anak Ko on the road for a massive international tour with a visit to the UK in November. All dates are on-sale now – find a show near you and get tickets HERE.

LA-based Jay Som – aka Melina Duterte – has shared brand new single “Tenderness”. The track is taken from her forthcoming second album Anak Ko which will be released on August 23rd 2019. Pre-order the album HERE and watch the video for Tenderness, directed by Weird Life, below.

The slow-burning highlight “Tenderness” begins minimally, like a slightly muffled phone call, before flowering into a bright, jazzy earworm. Duterte calls it “a feel-good, funky, kind of sexy song” in part about “the curse of social media” and how it complicates relationships. “That’s definitely about scrolling on your phone and seeing a person and it just haunts you, you can’t escape it.”

“I have a weird relationship to social media and how people perceive me—as this person that has a platform, as a solo artist, and this marginalized person. That was really getting to me. I wanted to express those emotions, but I felt stifled. I feel like a lot of the themes of the songs stemmed from bottled up emotions, frustration with yourself, and acceptance.”

Jay Som will tour the UK and Europe in November, which includes a London show at The Garage. Tickets for all shows HERE.

Very happy to announce that we are now working with Jay Som – aka Melina Duterte. Her new album ‘Anak Ko’, pronounced Ah-nuhk Koh, and meaning “my child” in Tagalog will be released on August 23rd 2019.  See releases for album art and tracklisting, and pre-order and pre-save the album HERE.

To celebrate the release, Jay Som shares subtly explosive lead single “Superbike”, where Duterte aimed for the genius combination of “Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette”—“letting loose,” she says, over swirling shoe gaze

In addition, Jay Som announces a UK and European headline tour in November, which includes a London show at The Garage. Tickets for all shows HERE.