Jay Som
An indie singer/songwriter noted for her lush and textured, home-recorded production style as well as her pensive songs, Jay Som is the alias of multi-instrumentalist Melina Duterte. She collected early demos and previously shared songs for her first label release, Turn Into, in 2016. Jay Som refined and expanded her stylized sound while continuing to record at home for albums including 2019's Anak Ko. In 2021, Duterte teamed up with Ellen Kempner of Palehound to form the duo Bachelor.
The child of Filipino immigrants, Duterte was born and raised in the California Bay Area. She began writing and sharing music on social media while in middle school, cycling through various monikers over time until she eventually settled on the name Jay Som. It was created with the Wu-Tang Names Generator (the same website that turned Donald Glover into Childish Gambino). As Jay Som, she posted a series of tracks in the early 2010s before issuing a collection of select songs and demos called Turn Into in early 2016. It was co-released on cassette by Wave Dweller and Topshelf Records. Jay Som soon signed with Polyvinyl, which reissued the set in July 2016 as she began work on an official debut. In the meantime, she toured the U.S. and Canada in support of indie artists including Mitski and Peter Bjorn and John.
Jay Som's first record to be conceived as an album, the self-produced Everybody Works, arrived in 2017. While it offered an upgrade in clarity, it retained an intimate, bedroom pop sound. Everybody Works spent a week on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. Later in 2017, Duterte moved south to Los Angeles, where she found a kindred spirit in lo-fi singer/songwriter Justus Proffit, and the two began writing together. The collaborative EP Nothing's Changed followed on Polyvinyl in 2018. Jay Som's sophomore full-length, Anak Ko (Filipino for "my child"), arrived on the label in 2019. While written on a solo writing retreat in Joshua Tree and produced, engineered, and mixed by Duterte alone, it was her first solo album to feature guest musicians, including Proffit, Vagabon's Laetitia Tamko, and Chastity Belt's Annie Truscott, among others. Duterte's next project was another collaboration, this time with fellow indie songwriter Ellen Kempner, better known as Palehound. The duo released Doomin' Sun under the name Bachelor in May 2021.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Trouble (from ‘Three Months’)
Pop - Released by EMI Recorded Music Australia Pty Ltd on 17 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anak Ko
Alternative & Indie - Released by Lucky Number on 23 Aug 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Think You're Alright / Rush
Rock - Released by Jay Som on 24 Jun 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Soccer Mommy & Friends Singles Series, Vol. 1: Jay Som
Alternative & Indie - Released by Loma Vista Recordings on 21 May 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Everybody Works
Alternative & Indie - Released by Lucky Number on 10 Mar 2017
Pitchfork: Best New Music16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pirouette
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on 26 Jan 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turn Into
Alternative & Indie - Released by Lucky Number on 27 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Thousand Words
Alternative & Indie - Released by Lucky Number on 20 Feb 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Simple
Alternative & Indie - Released by Lucky Number on 19 Feb 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turn The Other Cheek
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on 1 May 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nothing's Changed
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on 28 Sep 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Feelings Meeting
Alternative & Indie - Released by Next Door Records on 18 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Polyvinyl 4-Track Singles Series, Vol. 3
Alternative & Indie - Released by Polyvinyl Records on 1 Aug 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
forget about it kid
Alternative & Indie - Released by Jay Som on 4 Sep 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo