Photo Credit: Haleigh Scott

A couple of years have passed since Glass Mansions came throughout ZOne. We were listening to “Matches” and wondering when we’d get more new music from the quartet. Fast forward to today and we’ve got a new album from the next evolution of Glass Mansions. Now a duet, Jayna, and Blake are still going strong with Ritual, touring and even more. We caught up with Jayna just to see what was going on and here’s what we found out…

Kendra: Ritual is finally out and it’s been a long time coming. What hurdles did you two have to get over in order to get this released?

Jayna Doyle: Where to begin? Ritual has been several years in the making for us. From letting go of toxic people in our lives, to downsizing to be a two piece, to figuring out how to fully self-fund an independent release that sounded bigger than DIY. Our biggest hurdle has been to stay focused on what we’ve wanted our end goals to be and to not be swayed away or bogged down in self-doubt. Ritual is truly the EP we’ve always wanted to make, from start to finish. It feels good to finally release new music that is 100% us.

Kendra: You went very DIY for the “Landmines” video. Is it more satisfying to do things like that on your own instead of hiring someone?

Jayna: “Landmines” was a really fun video for us to shoot ourselves. We’ve worked with Shae Winston in the past on both music videos for “Just Friends” and “Nightswimming.” We absolutely love him and working with him. For this song in particular, and before releasing the EP, we wanted to take a chance in doing it ourselves this time just to prove to ourselves and other indie bands out there that you can def make a badass music video on a budget.

Kendra: I noticed that in both “Landmines” and “Just Friends” you guys have this flirtation with light and a beautiful relationship with color. Would you say that light and dark visual showcases a parallel between your sound?

Jayna: Interesting question! I’d definitely say that the answer to that might be different depending on the viewer’s perspective and how they interpret the songs personally. I work closely on our music videos’ lighting and coloring details and have this really cool physical condition. I’ve come to learn more about in recent years, called synesthesia. Basically what that means is that when I hear/listen to music I actually hear the notes and chords as individual colors.

I try to recreate those colors in the music videos for each individual song – and I’ve realized more synthy/bass heavy songs of ours like “Landmines” and “Just Friends” are more in the purple/red world for me whereas “Nightswimming” appears more green/teal/blue for me. It’s an interesting thing for me to personally experience and I try to replicate that in how we portray the songs with our visuals.

Kendra: In your opinion, what is the number one sign that two people cannot be “Just Friends?”

Jayna: I’ve always been an all-or-nothing type person. You’re with someone 100 % or not at all, I don’t believe in the grey area.

Kendra: Last time we talked you guys noted which Suicide Squad members you’d be. You said, Harley Quinn. It was just announced that she is getting her own movie soon. With that, which song off of Ritual would you pitch for the soundtrack to that and why?

Jayna: This was a tough question! We think “If You Need Me / Don’t” would be the perfect song for Harley Quinn. The song is initially about cutting ties with toxicity and what no longer serves you. The chorus captures her wild card spirit: “Run from me / I’m a wolf cutting teeth/gold electricity.” I love that from time to time she uses the damsel in distress characteristic to lure victims in, which is also present in the song: “one more thing before you go / if you need me, then… don’t.” You could also lift the pre-chorus as a direct line meant for The Joker: “always had the Ace but never played it / I was always a risk worth taking.”

Kendra: You guys just got off the road but are going to play some one-off shows in May/June. How are shows like that different than the ones you play back to back?

Jayna: One-offs are special in that you have more time to prepare for them individually. You can make them larger than what you’re allowed every night on a six-week long tour, like the one we just did. Playing local, regional one-offs or even weekend warrior type stuff is also nice for us. That way we aren’t as road weary or eager to get back home. It’s funny though because these one-offs completely ignite the itch in us to get back out on a longer tour because we just can’t get enough of playing live and touring.

Kendra: What do the summer months have in store for you guys?

Jayna: We have quite a bit of things lined up that we are waiting to confirm. I can say we’ll be doing a RITUAL TOUR: PART II. You can also expect to see us at some new festivals. We’ll be spending a lot of the summer writing new music as well.