Jessy Lanza fused r'n'b and footwork to make some of 2016's most perfect pop

On the morning we speak, Jessy Lanza has been home in Hamilton, Ontario for less than 24 hours, and she’s still getting over her jetlag. Since the beginning of this year, she and her drummer Tori Tizzard have played nearly 70 shows across North America and Europe in support of Lanza’s album ‘Oh No’, a record which fuses compulsive, synth-heavy footwork anthems with her gorgeous, dreamy r’n’b vocal style to create some of 2016’s most perfect pop music. It’s the singer and producer’s second record, and also her second in collaboration with her partner, musical and otherwise, Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys.

In the studio the pair are a duo, but the face and name of the project is Lanza’s. “When we were deciding on a name before the first record,” she remembers, “we chose mine, because I think he’d had enough stress touring with his own band. That’s what appealed to Jeremy most about the project, because he could do the music and then stay at home! Which was a smart move. You never understand why touring’s hard until you’ve done it. On the scale of things in life which are tough it’s not that bad, but if it’s not for you, you find out pretty quickly.”