Jesse Rutherford & His Solo Career
As some of you may know, Jesse Rutherford is the face and the main vocalist of The Neighbourhood. To give a little background, the alternative band recognized heavily for their 2012 hit “Sweater Weather,” kick started in 2011. Since then, they have climbed the charts and gained recognition with each album they released. I Love You debuted in 2013, giving off an edgy, rock vibe. Wiped Out!, released in 2015, resonated a SoCal sound. Their latest album drop in 2018 was self-titled, and showed off a more retro, hip-hop side of the band. You can clearly see the versatility and their effort to produce different sounds.
While Jesse was very well-off making music with his buddies, he felt like he was missing something. He wanted to show his fans a form of artistry they never knew he was capable of.
That’s when he began releasing songs on SoundCloud under the alias “The Factoury”. Not too long after, he mysteriously dropped his first solo album “&” (Ampersand) in 2017. The album cover in itself presents a more androgynous side of Jesse. For example: In this 7-picture format one picture shows Jesse wearing a leather jacket, representing his masculine side. On the other hand, there’s another picture of him wearing a colorful open blazer with orange lipstick, showing off his feminine side.
Jesse gives us a mix of alternative-pop, hip-hop, rap and acoustics in this album. His experimentation with many different genres and sounds surprised many of his fans, and he eventually went on to host his own solo tour in 2019 (I happened to attend his show in Boston, and it was amazing). In the midst of his tour, he released his second solo album GARAGEB& in April 2019. The title was inspired by his journey in rediscovering his love for writing music. In an effort to fight his dependency on his phone, he would resort to making music on the app GarageBand as opposed to checking social media constantly. And yes you guessed it, the songs on the album were produced on GarageBand by Jesse himself — specifically 10 out of 12 of them.
As for now, that’s the timeline of Jesse’s journey to creating a solo career. If you would like to hear some of his music, click the links below to give it a listen!
