Meet Jenna Fournier

We recently connected with Jenna Fournier and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Jenna with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I’m going to give the credit here to my father. When I was a little girl, we were living in one of many brand new cookie cutter developments in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was the fastest-growing area in the United States back in the late 90s. Our back yard was entirely desert dirt. If you dug into it and added a little water, you could make clay that would dry and harden in the sun. So I would make little cats and figurines, and my father would set me up on the sidewalk to sell them, and take them to his work to sell them to his coworkers and bring me back $7 to re-invest into better quality clay. He gifted me with his own entrepreneurial mindset from a very young age, and taught me to be disciplined in the things I wanted to pursue. My dedication however… I think that part is just a very pure love for music and art, and a very sincere belief that these things can shape perspectives and change the world for the better, in little or big ways.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
KID TIGRRR is the new solo project of singer-songwriter Jenna Fournier, a painter/visual artist best known for fronting the shoegaze hybrid NIIGHTS, which formed in 2010. Following three studio releases and four international tours to Japan with her band, Fournier parted ways with her record label and ventured into audio engineering to experiment with home music production in 2020.

Her first single, dubbed by the artist an ‘anti-single,’ is a haunting, hypnotic piece unfolding over nearly seven minutes. The song ‘Shapes of Water’ began as an official demo for EarthQuaker Devices’ Aqueduct vibrato pedal, and then evolved into a set staple performed with live-looping. It was later recorded live for Dreamgaze Fest, a world-wide music festival presented virtually by DKFM Shoegaze Radio during the pandemic. Jenna then went on to track the song at home, adding layers of electronics into the soundscape. Earlier this year, Fournier’s vision was fully manifested with the addition of live drums to finish off the recording, resulting in an ethereal blend of ambient post-rock that explores themes of cycles and regeneration.
‘Shapes of Water’ is the first track released from Kid Tigrrr’s upcoming debut LP, Stoned and Animald. Lyrically, the album courageously tackles heavy topics including mental health, abuse, and addiction. Fournier’s most personal work to date is also her first musical release she recorded and produced largely by herself. Finding inspiration from her long-time DIY hero Grouper, she set out to make something minimal in the way of clean, sparkly, dark bedroom-dream-pop, but the project grew into something much more layered than she initially envisioned over the course of three years in the making. The finished album is experimental yet polished, maintaining the shoegaze influence heard in her band while embracing her early folk roots as a songwriter.
Stoned and Animald is set to roll out over the next several months into Spring with videos to go along with the songs, and Kid Tigrrr assures you that Niights also has new music in store for fans who like some rock to go with their ‘gaze.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For one, the ability to look all around me, including directly in a mirror, and confront the good, the bad, and the ugly. And then, the ability to express all the things I’ve experienced, felt, desired, criticized, thought or questioned. And finally, the courage to share what’s been created.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Deep breaths. No, really.

My best advice is remembering to practice self care and rest in between the gigs, events, busy seasons, big release days, difficult clients, etc. Diet, exercise, and sleep are directly connected to our mental health and ability to manage the things we pile on our plates, and the things thrown into the mix that we didn’t anticipate. Also, a major contributing factor to feeling overwhelmed is not setting proper boundaries to begin with, or not charging enough for our time and work. For a lot of us, these things take practice, too, and we need to be mindful about how thin we spread our energy.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Observer Studios Jarrod Berger

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