Plain Jane, Moody Joody's debut full-length via Photo Finish Records is almost here—six years after the band first started talking about it. "We have been talking about this album and have had the title/concept since the early days of the band in 2020," says co-lead vocalist/guitarist Kaitie Forbes. "For us to finally be putting it out into the world feels so surreal."
It also wasn't made the way people assume albums get made. "It wasn't the most glamorous, and it wasn't hunkering down in a big studio for a couple weeks like you see in the movies," Forbes says. "We all work different jobs and have been sort of scraping by pouring our hearts into this album. It came with a lot of sleepless nights, exhaustion and took so much longer than we intended."
Some of that time was spent knowing when to leave a song alone, which producer/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Pacheco says is harder than it sounds. "The most important part, but also sometimes the hardest, is just staying in tune with your gut and not overthinking it," he says. "Sometimes it's screaming at you to stop messing with a song because it's done, and other times it's telling you that you need to call up a violin player even if we're mixing it in three days."
The title character is something like an alter ego—co-lead vocalist/synth player Kayla Hall built her around the idea of taking up space without apologizing for it. "'Plain Jane conceptually was born from a place of deep longing to take up space, unapologetically and boldly, as a woman in the world," Hall says. "It's about honoring every past version of self and deciding which parts of self gets to come along for the ride and which ones you want and need to shed—and sometimes the shedding is the universe forcing your hand."
Hall isn't vague about what that shedding looked like in practice. Asked what she wants people to know about the record, she runs through the last six years without much editing: "I've moved like six times, gone through several breakups, came out as bi, cut out alcohol for a few years and then partied… a lot, got a dog, lost a loved one, traveled the world, got diagnosed with ADHD, entered my 30's, racked up credit card debt and got sent to collections! Oops!!!!"
Lead single "Suburbia" is the clearest distillation of the album's actual subject, which is less heartbreak than it is watching someone opt for the safe version of a life. Over rhythmic synths, Forbes and Hall trade lines like "You traded me in / for the American Dream / right before you hit / the silver screen / you traded your life for suits and ties / settle down for a wife / maybe a secret life." Pacheco wrote it with Scott Harris (Role Model, Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber) in Brooklyn in January 2025 and says the band clocked what it was right away: "[We] immediately could tell it was emotionally a cornerstone of the record."
Not every song came from a plan. Despite years of stockpiling titles and even a few songs written five or six years in advance, the band says some of the record's best material showed up by accident, in loose sessions with Harris. "Some of the most memorable and important moments were the days in the studio with Scott Harris where we would just start jamming and see what happened," Pacheco says. "Those songs really filled out the record in ways we didn't expect."
"OOPS!" is the clearest example—Hall says she barely remembers writing it. "It was one of those studio sessions where I barely remember anything, it was all just a fun, high energy blur, and this song came out on the other side of it and kicked off this entire era of an album cycle," she says. Forbes points to "Loretta's Last Call" as another one that wasn't part of the original blueprint: "[That one] felt unexpected but it fits into the album in such a nice way."
"Geraldine" sits at the other end of the record. Hall wrote it for her late grandmother, who had Alzheimer's. "I miss my grandma so much and I hope that it brings healing and comfort to anyone that's lost a loved one," she says. Pacheco says it's also just a register the band hadn't shown before: "I'm also excited for people to get to hear sides of us that we hadn't yet explored, like the softness of a song like 'Geraldine.'"
"Rosie's Party," meanwhile, is the oldest song on the album—written in 2021 and held for years because the band knew it belonged here eventually. "It's crazy it almost timestamps such a certain chapter of life and this sort of rebellion and freedom and love feeling. Bleached hair and limerence," Hall says. Forbes calls it a preview of a side of the band people haven't heard yet: "It shows a new side of us, a more sensual, confident and mature side. We knew it was supposed to be on this album so we've been waiting on it for years."
Asked what the album is actually supposed to do for people, Pacheco frames it as the band finally answering its own founding question. "In our heads, making this record was essentially answering the question: 'How do we want to introduce Moody Joody as a band to the world?'" he says. "I think we've finally been able to fully answer that question both sonically and conceptually. It feels like the fully realized version of the ethos and energy in which we first started the band. "
Forbes is more direct about the hoped-for use case: "I would love if our listeners took this album as encouragement to go after the life they truly want, and not the life that is expected of them."
Fair enough!
Plain Jane drops this Friday via Photo Finish Records, be sure to check it out.
Photo Credit: Dillon Jordan
