The ROTTEN Issue: Jake Minch
Words & Photos by James Norcross
Before meeting Minch backstage at the High Noon Saloon, I watched from afar as he met fans for meet and greets. A few even handed him their own artwork, inspired by the drawings Minch posts online. His style resembles that of a classmate’s doodles on the margins of a notebook — doodles that are more than deserving of their own comic.
After performing a cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Chinese Satellite,” I walked into the back room with my camera. I was prepared for a quick photoshoot, but instead, Minch asked me to sit down on the couch and talk. As I got candid pictures of the singer-songwriter, we picked up from where we left off in our last interview just weeks prior, where he gave me insight into his creative process, musical friendships and drawings of Gracie Abrams.
“There’s art and then there’s the circus.”
Just a few minutes into our conversation, the New York based singer-songwriter mentioned this quote he had read recently. On one hand is the quiet songwriting experience with just a guitar and voice memos app at hand. On the other hand is the spectacle made of this intimacy once the stage lights go up on tour and the audience crowds near the stage to sing along. As for Jake Minch, he’s trying to stay as close to the art as possible.
Minch has made a name in the music industry by simply being himself. Since he began posting on Tik Tok in 2021, he’s garnered an audience of over 100,000 followers and attention from the likes of Lizzy McAlpine and Paul Mescal. Minch’s videos appear as if they were uploaded straight from his camera roll, with the only added flair being the occasional text box for a song title or lyrics.
Earlier last year, Minch released his debut album, George, a record filled with lines that feel as if they were ripped from a journal, or more accurately, a napkin at a cafe.
“I’ve been trying to challenge myself to always have a pen with me,” Minch said.
The other day, he had been listening to a Song Exploder interview with MJ Lenderman where he talked about “going to a coffee shop and writing twenty phrases down.” The closing track on the album “Twice” is a great example of this lyrical methodology. “Life was a clogged straw and you and me were sucking from both ends,” Minch sings. It’s one of many lines from Minch that stick with you long after the track has ended.
Minch worked with veteran producer Tony Berg, known best for his work with artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and Sarah McLaughlan, on the album. George falls in an adjacent soundscape to these artists, yet exists in a world of its own. With intimately recorded guitar and piano, it can feel as though Minch is playing a song just for the listener’s ears, even in the record’s loudest moments.
Minch recounted the first time that Berg heard “Unicef,” where the producer said: “Jake is not ready, but let me spend some time with him.”
Minch and Berg’s dynamic would go on to inform more than just the music on George. “ All my favorite artists are the funniest people you’ve ever met,” Minch said about a conversation they had when discussing the visuals for the album done by Pond Creative. It’s hard not to feel nostalgic when viewing the album’s photoshoot and two music videos, as their warm look feels as though you’re watching someone’s childhood shot on film. “You should make your title funny,” Berg had told him. Minch ended up titling the album his birth name, George. Though frequently serious in subject matter, the album’s title and lyric videos featuring what Minch calls “people doing bad karaoke” give the project a childlike flair.
While there are no officially featured artists on George, it’s a very collaborative album, with Mason Stoops and Alix Page adding guitar and backing vocals to various tracks. It was “total imposter syndrome” Minch said about working with these artists whom he admired so much. “It just feels like I have a crush.”
A lot has changed for Minch since he released his first EP, how many, in 2023. He now resides in New York City, but spent two years before in LA which “did not go well.” Looking back on this time, however, he feels grateful for it.
His 2024 single “jessie” marks a shift in his discography as growth spurt both vocals and instrumentally. Compared to the minimalistic drums of his debut single “handgun,” the soundscape of a high school marching band dominates the track as drums and horns bring the song’s angst to life in its cathartic final moments.
“That was the first time that I was using my voice,” he said about the song. “I’d been way into Paul Barbo to not use [it].” “It was one of those from the ether writings.”
The music world has shifted since 2023 as well. With TikTok changing the way that artists create and promote their work, starting off in the industry is vastly different from even a few years ago. Reflecting on the current music scene, he said he sees “what happens when someone is willing to step on art to get what they want business wise.” However, amid this dizzying time, he thinks that “new ideas will stand the test of time,” noting the success of Geese as a hopeful example.
While his music has gained him an audience, Minch has a not-so-secret weapon that has attracted many online: his drawings. These sketches, often of monkeys, are reminiscent of children’s book illustrations.
If I had asked him just a few days prior about his favorite mediums for visual art he would have said graphite and anything that he can play with physically, but recently, he was convinced by an art store employee in Warwick, New York to buy a fountain pen. He showed me a few pages from his sketchbook, which were filled head to toe with superhero-like depictions of Gracie Abrams that could easily belong in their own comic book, with gestural marks exaggerating her poofy top and huge pants.
Minch frequently hangs his artwork up in his bedroom, and showed me one of them, a sketch of a man staring creepily at the viewer. “I like living in the art,” he said, “I realize now that I have to stare at this dude in bed.”
From his visual art to his music, honesty is at the heart of Minch’s work. He often sends his songs in progress to his friends, asking, “did I lose the plot at the end?” This earnestness is evident in his songwriting as well. Many tracks on George feel like you’re listening to a kid recount their day at school beat for beat, and out of a desire to document every moment, they end up saying something profound beyond their years. In this sense, Minch gives a spotlight to the unintentional.
Childhood is a thematic throughline of the record, even when tackling topics of grief and addiction, most evidently on “Nostalgia Act,” the first song on the album. Minch takes the listener on a journey through his past, playing hide and seek along the way.
The candid man I spoke with in the green room was the same one who appeared on stage that night with his small but strong backing band. The musicians were illuminated by a few warm lamps that made the show feel as if the audience had stumbled upon him and his best friends having a jam session. The singers Daryl Rahn and Kate Stephenson joined him on stage for a few songs, including a cover of “Kyoto” by Phoebe Bridgers.
The warm energy on stage was a stark contrast from the emotionally charged album and recording process that he had explained. “I spent a long time angry,” he said. Songs such as “For Leaving” were written right after a breakup and its raw emotions come through in its loud, triumphant, outro. The vastness of loss is explored in both the record’s loudest and quietest moment, peeking into every area of the feeling you can hide in.
“I wrote an album that I was scared of,” Minch said, but he also said that while touring George, he learned to make it fun.