Jay Som is the musical project of the American, Oakland, California-based songwriter Melina Duterte. Her debut album, Turn Into, was released on Polyvinyl Records. Duterte is the daughter of Filipino immigrants and grew up playing trumpet. She had originally planned to attend a conservatory program for jazz but instead decided to focus on songwriting. After enrolling in community college and studying music production and recording, she began recording in her bedroom studio and self-released music under the moniker Jay Som. Duterte performs all the music on her records herself and records in her own makeshift studio in her bedroom. Following the success of Turn Into, Duterte has opened for Peter Bjorn and John, Mitski and Japanese Breakfast and been featured on Pitchfork, NPR and Rookie. Liz Pelly of Time Out has described the Jay Som project’s sound as “mesmerizing and multidimensional dream pop that favors reality over escapism, drawing from classic pop and funk”. Pelly also described Duterte’s singing as “low and languid”.
