Aubrie Sellers and Jade Jackson reintroduce themselves within the more rock-leaning context of a newfangled creative union, Jackson + Sellers, dropping a teaser track “The Devil Is An Angel” on July 21. Combining Americana forces, the pair readies their exploratory debut album, Breaking Point on October 22 via ANTI Records.
The two rising stars aligned during the pandemic to create a cosmic compilation of intuitive songs written for each other’s breakups. It all began as a social media DM that Jackson sent Sellers during the lockdown days, asking her to contribute backing vocals on a new song. Bonding over their instant chemistry and shared exploratory desires, Jackson + Sellers pour the strengths from their individual artistry into a pop-rock duo bred from a place of deep friendship and unmatched musical simpatico.
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“I wanted to push us even further into the rock & roll sound I’ve been on the edge of for my last two solo albums,” said Sellers. As the daughter of singer/songwriters Jason Sellers and Lee Ann Womack, and the stepdaughter of music producer Frank Liddell, the Nashville-native stepped slowly out of her country influence. Sellers’ 2016 debut album, New City Blues, was distinctly Americana, padded with subtle rock edges. Her 2020 follow-up, Far from Home, saw Sellers boldly swap out her searing pedal steel for the plugged-in power of more electric guitars.
Hailing from California, Jackson channeled a similar soundscape on her own pair of albums —Gilded (2017) & Wilderness (2019). The breakthrough country-rocker, with her unique West Coast perspective, shares punk roots with Sellers and a blistering desire to unearth what lies below her softened surface.
Jackson adds, “Like throwing a paper airplane in the air, not knowing how far it would go or where it would land, we followed the path of this record. From the first moment Aubrie and I sang together I felt the trajectory of my creativity shift, letting spontaneity and raw, unadulterated creativity lead the way. I’d never trusted the process of creating more than in the making of this record.”
Breaking Point evokes the pair’s shared desire to record a project that would reflect their ‘90s raucous roots that further diverge into ‘70s-influenced rock and ethereal indie-pop. Written in Los Angeles, and recorded in East Nashville’s The Cabin studio in late 2020, Jackson + Sellers masterfully crafted a rollicking meditation on personal experiences of universal sentiments like vulnerability, isolation, sensitivity, and autonomy.
Jackson reflected, “This is an album that pays homage to unique, independent women who created their own path, wrote their own songs, had their own sounds.”
Co-produced by Sellers and Ethan Ballinger, Breaking Point is an amalgamation of individual influence. Jackson and Sellers contributed three tracks each and co-wrote “Wound Up” with Ballinger. In addition to their original material, they selected deep-cut covers including their first single, a reimagination of Julie Miller’s “The Devil Is an Angel.” They also recorded genre-bending interpretations of Suzi Quatro’s defiant “The Wild One,” and Shannon Wright’s “Has Been.”
Their first track off the forthcoming project, “The Devil Is An Angel,” sees the pair concoct a blend of Southern-tinged girl-rock with undeniable musical kinship. With haunting harmonies, they transform Miller’s 1997 track into an angst-filled anthem.
Sellers stated, “With ‘The Devil Is An Angel’ we got to pay homage to one of my favorite songwriters and reimagine what the song would be like as a full-tilt rock song. As soon as Ethan played the guitar on the intro, it set the tone for the energetic heartbeat of the record.”
Pre-order Jackson + Sellers forthcoming LP Breaking Point, here.
Photo Credit: Ashley Osborne
Breaking Point Tracklist
1. The Devil Is An Angel
2. Breaking Point
3. As You Run
4. The World Is Black
5. Waste Your Time
6. Hush
7. Fair Weather
8. Wound Up
9. The Wild One
10. Has Been