Tobias Jesso Jr. discusses the goofy side of his debut album, ‘Goon’

Tobias Jesso Jr. doesn’t mess around. He’s about as direct as a suckerpunch to the chest, from songs to sense of humour. As tall as Peter Crouch (#indiepete), as likeable as your next best friend, his early days were defined by smoky demos, detuned pianos and just enough mystique to lure in a loyal crowd. Now the cards are on the table, first album ‘Goon’ being the most pronounced, heartbroken debut since Bon Iver dusted the snow off his laptop and cried in a cabin for several weeks straight.

In the new issue of DIY (out Friday 27th February), he talks about how he’s the complete opposite of a serious ’70s songwriter style he’s being associated with.

Being lumped in with legendary songwriters is something he shrugs off. Compared to Randy Newman and 70s stalwarts from day one, Tobias says he “can’t compare to those guys - they’ve had the time to wear into people’s hearts.” The parallels crop up, he says, simply because his producers were sending him seventies classics at the time of recording. “I’m not gonna lie about the music I grew up listening to,” he starts. “I’m not gonna go, ‘My parents played me Bob Dylan when I was three years old.’ No - I was listening to Vanilla Ice. Sum 41, Goldfinger, Blink-182, Red Hot Chili Peppers - that’s what me and my friends were listening to.” Shunning the seventies for a second, the one song he’d always play in the studio as a reference point was Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’. “I was like, ‘This is it. This is the one. That’s got it’.” The guy shouting “How could you babe?” in sky-reaching hysteria? The songwriter who says he thinks he’s “gonna die in Hollywood” over gloomy minor keys? That’s one side of Tobias Jesso Jr. - here’s the rest.