You are going to be fine
You are going to be fine is J.Steinfort’s debut LP, a bittersweet outing of Folk and Americana inspired nostalgia.
After writing songs on and off over the years while working his day-job in advertising and raising a young family, Jesse started recording acoustic sketches of ideas and sending them to a guitarist friend (Karsten Jurkschat) living in NYC, who would tinker and return them. These returned sketches began to sound quite compelling and when the lockdowns that started happening around the world in 2020, Jesse found himself with more time for music and quickly brought together the bones of an album.
You are going to be fine is J.Steinfort’s debut LP, a bittersweet outing of Folk and Americana inspired nostalgia.
Recording and engineering most of the tracks from his tiny home studio, he added arrangements, guitar, and keyboard parts recorded by Karsten on the other side of the world. While enlisting the help of other long suffering friends to help bring more colour and dynamics to the preliminary recordings.
Opening with the sound of the wind and waves of Mentone Beach, the album title and title track, ‘You are going to be fine’ is a personal mantra for the bottom of an emotional downswing and the understanding that this too shall pass. Unassuming personal stories are lyrically connected with broader shared experiences in a striking balance of intimacy and relatability.
The uptempo ‘How I Paid for my First Guitar’, complete with rolling banjo, reflects on the inexperience of youth and lessons learned the hard way through the lens of an irresponsible instrument purchase. Garage rock inspired ‘Daisy’ considers childhood naivety and the loss of a beloved family dog. Haunting ‘Fight or Flight’ was initially penned in the aftermath of the “Black Saturday” fires around Melbourne but in subsequent years has only seemed to gather more relevance. The album wraps with the melodic feedback of ‘Feels like Forever’. Specifically documenting the isolation of lockdown, but more broadly ponders the difference between time as it is experienced or as it is remembered.
Dave Moore adds a dark and moody pedal steel to the slow burn ‘Out of My Mind’, while Max Abrams and Steve Patrick bring their Nashville Brass flavour to the soul inspired ‘Where I’ve been’. The distinctive raw sound of the production was developed with the help of mixer Adam Selzer in Portland, OR (M. Ward, The Decemberists) and mastering by Jon Neufeld.
Opening with the sound of the waves of Mentone Beach, the album title and title track, ‘You are going to be fine’ is a personal mantra for the bottom of an emotional downswing and the understanding that this too shall pass. Unassuming personal stories are lyrically connected with broader shared experiences in a striking balance of intimacy and relatability.
“It’s truly one of the most mystical things about music when you can hear something new for the first time, and yet it is not unfamiliar, somehow you immediately accept it and it becomes home.”
The uptempo ‘How I Paid for my First Guitar’, complete with rolling banjo, reflects on the inexperience of youth and lessons learned the hard way through the lens of an irresponsible instrument purchase. Garage rock inspired ‘Daisy’ considers childhood naivety and the loss of a beloved family dog. Haunting ‘Fight or Flight’ was initially penned in the aftermath of the “Black Saturday” fires around Melbourne but in subsequent years has only seemed to gather more relevance. The album wraps with the melodic feedback of ‘Feels like Forever’. Specifically documenting the isolation of lockdown, but more broadly ponders the difference between time as it is experienced or as it is remembered.
Overall the record maintains a fresh yet familiar feeling and a hopeful thread from start to finish. Though melancholic in tone it acts as a cathartic release and ultimately you know you are going to be fine.