Ethan Jewell

Coming out of a season filled with loss, heartache, and raw loneliness, Ethan Jewell’s newest release, “loneliness in the presence of company,” takes listeners through a dark period in Jewell’s life. 

Losing a lot of friends over the past year and the loneliness that came with quarantine, Jewell turned to writing to sift through his emotions and describe the loneliness he felt. With “loneliness in the presence of company,” Jewell hopes his words can help others feel less alone in their loneliness. 

“I was faced with this new reality where I was totally by myself. I started writing about that loneliness and describing it. Instead of pushing it away, I embraced it. I quickly realized that if you embrace your loneliness, it isn’t too lonely at all. I’m really hoping that’s something a lot of people can get out of this album,” Jewell said. “Although loneliness sucks and it hurts, this album shares all those difficult parts of it. At the end of the day, if you can be okay with that loneliness and be content with that, it isn’t so bad.”

For Jewell, music was never really on his radar and he hated poetry prior to starting to write his junior year of high school. This all changed for him when he discovered Hobo Johnson, who Jewell describes as a “great spoken word artist.”

“Once I heard Hobo Johnson and his style of poetry, which was far different than anything I had ever heard, I formed that emotional attachment to it,” Jewell said. “I would say the poetry came first and then it was followed by the music because “musical poetry” wasn’t something I had really heard of prior.”

“Musical poetry,” is how Jewell describes his sound. In Jewell’s music, the lyrics are center stage, forcing listeners to really listen. 

“I only write when I am intensely feeling an emotion. Sometimes I have trouble describing the songwriting process to people because it does not sound realistic. If I am feeling something heavily, I’ll have this feeling come over me, it’s kind of a disassociation and I zone out. I just have to write. It just kind of flows and it’s almost like a meditative state,” Jewell said. 

“How Dare You” is Jewell’s favorite track from his new album as he feels it challenges the idea of having your feelings invalidated when you are really struggling. 

“A lot of times when you tell somebody you are struggling or you show a vulnerable part of them to you, a very common response is them just telling you that you will be fine. In reality, that is super unhelpful to those who are struggling with mental illness,” Jewell said. “How dare you tell me it’s going to be okay, how dare you tell me to put on a smile and just push through it. I think that feeling and invalidation is something that is not talked about that often.”

Turning to music has been a healthy outlet for Jewell and he emphasizes the importance of feeling your feelings rather than pushing them away. 

“When you don’t feel a feeling, it simply doesn’t go away. It goes into a metaphorical storage and it marinates more and more intensely behind the scenes. Inevitably, it will resurface and then you will have to face it again. It will be way more harsh,” Jewell said. “Emotional processing is part of the human experience that so many of us brush aside because it’s uncomfortable. Nobody wants to feel sad, nobody wants to feel angry, but we have to.”

Like the seasons, as Jewell describes it, summer can’t be experienced without winter, such as happiness cannot be felt without sadness. 

With his newest album, Jewell looks to go on tour for the first time in 2022 and is looking forward to connecting with others face-to-face. 

“I’m looking forward to, as cheesy as it is, being lonely together. It’s the name of the tour,” Jewell said. “I’m looking forward to being in a room with like-minded people who hear me and understand me. My hope is I can hear and understand them back.”

Jewell’s latest release “loneliness in the presence of company” is available on all streaming platforms.