Los Angeles Artist zzzahara Brings Different Sound, Same Goals to Denton

When indie rock artist zzzahara was growing up in Los Angeles, their babysitter introduced them to the burgeoning world of emo music. It was the early 2000s, and the then-10-year-old Zahara Jaime lived close enough to a slew of venues where you could drop $25 or so and see a full lineup of great bands.

But it wasn’t just the music that appealed to zzzahara.

“I remember watching bands when I was young, and if I saw some of them at the Subway across the street or the Denny's, they'd say hi,” says the musician. “Or I would say hi, and they would be cool and talk for a bit. I've always wanted to lead the way and keep that in the culture.”

zzzahara, now 30, has carved out a career combining the emo sounds of their youth with shades of punk and bedroom pop. But even if their new album, Spiral Your Way Out, is their biggest and most experimental production yet, zzzahara is still thinking about the young fans who gravitate to artists for more than just music. That includes their Dallas fans, who will undoubtedly show up when zzzahara plays at Rubber Gloves on Wednesday, May 21.

“I feel like a lot of my fans are 12, 15, in their teens,” they say. “I just try to be fun and make sure everyone has a good time.”

Even, they add, “if I’m moody or sad.”

Spiral Your Way Out’s 10 tracks contain plenty of moodiness and sadness, thanks, as always, to the artist’s lacerating, whip-smart lyrics (zzzahara majored in speech-language pathology in college, a fact they credit for their penchant for clever turns of phrase.)

In this album, their lyrics lash out at an unnamed lover (“You're still with him / Being someone you're not”) while, at other times, owning up to their own shortcomings (“I tried to listen to what you said / It went in one ear and out my head”). What’s different here is what complements those lyrics — namely, plenty of driving guitar and propulsive drums. And if the themes are similar to their past work — heartbreak and depression — zzzahara’s latest effort benefits from an impressive roster of collaborators.

Granted, teaming up with other talented artists is nothing new for zzzahara, who previously joined forces with Eyedress for a well-received lo-fi LP. Now, for Spiral Your Way Out, they enlisted musicians who’ve worked with indie pop favorites like Japanese Breakfast and Caroline Polachek.

Alex Craig, a Ducktails alum, helped produce “Wish You Would Notice” (a guitar-driven lament that’s also one of the album’s standouts) while drummer Sarah Tudzin from L.A.’s Illuminati Hotties and indie rock veteran Jorge Elbrecht also lent their talents, the latter pitching in as producer.

This all-star team helped zzzahara achieve their vision of a different kind of record.

“I didn’t want to really do the lo-fi stuff anymore,” they told the Observer. “I like it, but it's too easy for me. If I had to be quite honest, if I open my laptop, I could make one of those beats real quick, and I don't think I wanted to do that for this record. I wanted to get better at the composition, get better at transitioning, get better at the lyrics, just do something that was different.”
The result is zzzahara’s most confident album yet: a record that grabs you with the assertive “It Didn’t Mean Nothing” and sustains the momentum with sonically lush songs like “Ghosts” and “Bluebird.” The latter, zzzahara says, is all about the themes of acceptance, maturity and responsibility — to themself and the people around them — that take up so much of their mental real estate these days.

“With ‘Bluebird,’ I feel like that was one of those songs where I'm like, ‘Oh, shit. I am getting older, and through getting older comes loneliness,’” they say. “There's nothing else to fill the void. Drinking isn't going to fill the void. And going out every night and meeting new people isn't going to fill the void. The void is there, and it's up to me to kind of entertain it. And as I grow older, my coping mechanisms aren't working anymore.”

The song also draws inspiration from poet and author Charles Bukowski, who was deeply familiar with drinking and going out every night.

“From reading Bukowski and watching all these interviews of him toward the end of his life, I saw how he just kind of let himself be,” they say. “There was no filling the void. I mean, he just did what he could to make it through the days and the nights.”

When they weren’t going to emo shows, zzzahara spent much of their youth skateboarding. They’ve never lost their laid-back skater’s effect, a classic Californian voice that makes their stories all the more endearing. It’s not just the voice, either; their West Coast vibe conveys a sense of hope and optimism that belies their moody tunes.

“I never really let obstacles bring me down,” they told an interviewer last year. And perhaps there’s no place where they’re more hopeful than on stage at a show.

“I think in the studio, especially for writing this record, I was masking my emotions,” they say. “I lost a lot of friends after a breakup, and I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I don't need to advocate for myself sometimes. Maybe I could just sink into my work.’”

Now that they’re touring the record, it’s a different story.

“There’s something different about playing them live,” they say. “It's such an enriching experience for somebody to buy tickets to come to your show and see and hear the album. I feel very fortunate to be able to bring this music to life and, more than anything else, I’m just grateful for the people in the audience.”

“I want to show them,” they add, “how grateful I am.”

zzzahara will perform on Wednesday, May 21, at 7 p.m. at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, 411 East Sycamore Street. Tickets start at $20 here.