Jesse Blake Rundle, an artist based in Boise, Idaho, has made a career out of creating intricate, authentic folk rock. On his latest album, Next Town’s Trees, he continues expanding musically and lyrically, with songs that reach deep into his emotional core. “I wrote these songs during a time of immense change,” he says. “I was finally leaving the church, uncovering my sexuality, starting my first relationship with a man, finding joy in sobriety and settling into my life as a musician.”
The music he composed for the album has more electronic elements, but never loses its homespun organic feel. “I got into electric guitars, analog synths, drum machines and horn arrangements on this album,” he says. “There are lots of layers, flowing textures and percussion driving the songs forward”
The album blends folk, pop and the feel of modern classical composers. The title track, a ballad about his spiritual transformation, sets the tenor of the album. A bassline that suggests the sound of a heartbeat lays the foundation for tolling electric guitars and Rundle’s mournful vocal. “When I lived in Santa Fe, I often sat in a park near a monastery bell tower,” Rundle explains. “The ringing would only reach my bench when the wind blew it in, a sound that was almost a memory. The song, and the album, questions my evangelical upbringing and other constraints I needed to leave behind. I’m telling my story of what I’ve found on the other side.
Quiet acoustic guitars and ambient washes of horns and strings open “Fire,” a mid-tempo tale of loss and longing. Rundle’s vocal describes past events in a melancholy manner, adding a hopeful prayer for a better future. His frisky vocal and acoustic guitar introduce “White Hot,” an ode to new love. It builds to an orchestral peak, marked by shimmering strings, blazing horns and overlapping voices, slowly falling back to Rundle’s solo voice, describing the gentle light in his lover’s eyes.
“Fools & Ghosts” opens with a syncopated backbeat, chiming electric guitars and a vocal from Rundle that drifts through the mix like a ghost. As the song unwinds, he slips into anguish, his vocals merging with the resonance of eerie guitars to express grief without any remorse or judgment. “Hand in Hand” is a hushed love song that sounds like a hymn to a new love and the tension created as the relationship unfolds. The album weaves a nostalgic spell that never slips into self-pity or guilt.
Boise may not be regarded as a hotbed of musical innovation, but Rundle’s determined to be a part of the new scene changing that. “There’s a thriving community of bands and songwriters here, with a lot of bands working in their own niche,“ he says. “The place is beautiful and the pace of life is easy. I'm running a recording studio with a friend and I'm excited to be a part of the great music coming out of Boise.”
He released his debut, Radishes and Flowers, in 2020. The album set 12 poems by Wallace Stevens to evocative melodies, using elements drawn from folk, rock, pop and modern classical music. After playing some of the tunes at open mics, he met engineer Nate Agenbroad. They and laid down the tracks for Radishes and Flowers on weekends at Mixed Metaphor Recording over a two-year period. Rundle played most of the instruments, with Agenbroad and other friends contributing percussion and horns. It was released just as the Covid lockdown started and garnered favorable reviews. Dublin’s MP3Hugger said: “It sure does feel like this is an exercise in lifting spirits, even going to so far as encouraging those of a mind to sing-along. The pretty arrangements are ably matched by the sweetly idiosyncratic vocals[…]serves up so much on a plate for us, sweet helpings containing soft vocal gestures that have genuine chamber pop allure. Huggable from start to finish, via a Boise artist who is just who he is.”
Rundle was born in the flint hills of Kansas and grew up with music all around. “My mother was an exceptional pianist and site reader. I have many key childhood memories of hearing her play, joining her for a duet, and taking lessons from her.” Growing up, he sang in churches with a family band that included his father, mother and sisters. In grammar school, he joined a few bands and began playing guitar and writing songs. At University of Kansas, he kept expanding his musical vision with the Mathbird instrumental project. “I carried around my iPod with a microphone attachment and made field recordings of the sounds around campus, and then turned them into instrumental arrangements.”
Near the end of his college years, Rundle entered a period of musical hibernation due to an injury that prevented him from playing.“It was devastating to lose my ability to play. After many years without music, I moved to Boise, Idaho, and found a guitar that was a perfect ergonomic fit. The tones were rich and delicate and I used alternative tunings. With that guitar, and those tunings, I could again play without pain and found my voice.”
As the pandemic enters its next phase, Rundle is gearing up to play live with his band: guitarist Thomas Paul, clarinetist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Harris and drummer David Kelly. He’s planning a West Coast tour for this winter, working on an original score for an indie film and finishing up an EP of songs that didn’t fit the theme of Next Town’s Trees. Today, his horizons are as open as the Kansas skyline he was raised in.
