Photo of jo passed with Emily Donville (right, CJSW).

jo passed performed during Sled Island on Wednesday, June 17th at Dickens.

Interview Audio:

Interview Transcript:

Emily (CJSW)
Hi, my name’s Emily. I’m here on behalf of CJSW Radio at the 2026 Sled Island Music and Arts Festival. I’m sitting here with jo passed. How are you?

jo passed
Pretty good. How are you?

Emily (CJSW)
I’m very well, thank you. Let’s jump right into it. I want to talk a little bit about your sophomore album, Away. You put it out back in January of this year, it was eight years after the release of your debut album, and you know, I find the album cover particularly striking. You know, you have your silhouette cast against the wall, there’s a lone chair. Before we get into the album itself, tell me about the cover art, like how did that come together and the story behind it?

jo passed
Yeah, I’ve done like since I started this project, I’ve done some like selfie, I guess it used to be called auto photography or whatever, but like yeah, like for press pics I would do my own press pics, was like the first pic I did, which like back in 2015 when I started this for my first EP, I had like this play on just how my hair is always in front of my face, and I was like sitting on a chair, and so I did a sequence of photos, and for every release I’ve done a photo that’s like just a self photo of me sitting on a chair, and then I thought it’d be funny for Away, it’s both like poignant and like meaningful, but also kind of hilarious that if I just did a photo of just an empty chair, like for the next one, that’s yeah, called Away, and for a while I was toying with, like, ‘oh, it’d be great to use this as my press photo too,’ as my anti-press photo.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, I like it. It feels a little maybe contradictory because your album also is very deeply personal, and yet, like, you’re on the album cover, but you’re kind of not, like, you’re the shadow. Cool juxtaposition there. So yeah, it’s a deeply personal album, grapples with a lot of themes like ego death and death itself and general loss, and I was thinking about how I feel like time has a way of making you kind of question your, you know, thoughts and kind of experiences, and so I was curious, because the album was kind of worked on and off for over the course of eight years. What was it like translating those experiences? Like, did you kind of trust your experience, or do you feel like it kind of took on a mythology of its own as you were kind of translating them?

jo passed
Yeah, definitely. Like, I think the feeling of trying to establish some like permanence in the songwriting was, it was nice to have time with the songs and have some of them sit. Some of them were like written in 2016 even like, and some of them were written like later on in the cycle, but yeah, songwriting is funny because it has, I definitely think there’s like a little bit of like a spark. I think a lot of people talk with this in their song, like you kind of get just like struck by an idea, and then it doesn’t… I feel like a lot of great songs don’t really take that long to write. I kind of have like a weird process where there’ll be like a spark, and then kind of this delirium of like reaching for something that isn’t quite happening, and that ends up taking longer for me. Like, songs will end up being, I’ll do drafts and drafts, especially with lyrics and that kind of thing.

Emily (CJSW)
Do you find you’re like a bit of a perfectionist?

jo passed
I guess so. I guess that’s what happened when it’s like eight years. I mean, it’s funny because I don’t think, like, it wasn’t like I was working on the album every single day, and it was just this, like, ‘it’s not right!’ kind of thing. It was like a pick up and put down, and more like evaluating broadly, you know. Part of that time was the pandemic, so I was a very, like, social level of a lot of people evaluating, playing music live, like, because you couldn’t do it, so we’re all put in the stasis where we had to, like, think about it for a bit, right? And that, for me, I had already kind of started thinking about it, or I was having, like, a bit of a, like, ‘okay, is this really, like, what I want to be doing?’ The last time I played Sled in 2019, I actually did a solo set and wrote new material just for that set, and the last song, Mother Night, which is on this record, was like part of that set, and that was part, that was me starting to explore, like, ‘oh, like, what is, what is it that I’m like wanting out of playing music and doing this, and on a creative sense?’ So that was a really special set to do this fully different solo thing, and there are songs I played at that set that I only played at 2019 Sled Island, and never played again.

Emily (CJSW)
You just had to be there.

jo passed
Totally, yeah. So like yeah, that whole just taking more space and time with something I think was part of the feeling, like in the feelings of accepting certain aspects of, like, the permanence of the songs. I don’t know, but yeah, yeah, so. I definitely… it’s really nice where the record is, like I had another version of it that I didn’t quite like, and I didn’t listen to it for a year, and then I came back to it and was like happy to find that I still didn’t like the same things and liked the same things, so that was a nice thing to be afforded time. And now I’m really happy with the whole record, like it’s just a record I really love, and I’m happy that it’s like out, and I’m happy with the songs.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, it’s nice that you, like, had all that time to sit with it, and like there’s part of me that’s like okay, it took eight years, like, was there pressure to, like, get it out? Or was it like, “No, I’m just gonna take my time and do it, you know, to the beat of my own drum,” so to speak?

jo passed
Yeah, I think that was the thing I learned, that there was a lot of pressure to do a second record with, like, Sub Pop at the time, too, and, but there was a lot of… I won’t get into various factors. I had an A&R person quit, the pandemic, all these different things, kind of slanted. The first, like the sales of my first record were not amazing, like lots of little things like that, little things like that, that made it like, yeah, there was a possibility I’d do a second record, but there was like a lot of pressure on getting a second record together, and that was like, not, I realized I’m like, I actually don’t necessarily perform well or create well under that kind of pressure, so yeah. I am like starting another record right away, though, and the next one is going to be a lot quicker now, and stuff. There was like a lot of cool aspects to, like, there was a lot of process workshopping with Away where I eventually, when I was like, “Okay, I don’t really have a time limit, I’m going to like try writing a bunch of different ways or try different approaches.”

Emily (CJSW)
To see what sticks?

jo passed
Yeah, and that’s cool, because it’s given me, I do just feel like better at the record making process now. There’s a lot of like just workshopping that process in making this record, which is, yeah. So I think the next records won’t take eight years. Yeah, because I’ve done that work. Yeah, I’ve learned.

Emily (CJSW)
No, it’s a fantastic record.

jo passed
Oh, thank you for listening to it.

Emily (CJSW)
It’s awesome. I’m curious, over those eight years, how has your approach to music making changed over time, and what does the act of making music look like, maybe today, compared with, you know, eight, nine years ago when you put out your debut?

jo passed
Yeah, I think, I think today I’m seeing so much more with social media, like really process-oriented, like people are liking to see, you know, the construction of a song on like reels and stuff like that, for instance, like, which I think is pretty different then. And in a lot of ways, you know, I definitely made this record like not putting it on social media that much, although there’s actually a few reels that were like legitimately the tracks that I played on Away that are like on my Instagram, but that’s been interesting to see. How much, I also think, with like AI and all this conversation now, I think people are really turning more of a focus into like the actual like labor and the creation process with artists, so, and I don’t think that’s bad, although it does like lower some of the mystery, like you know, like, but I think now, because there’s like a nefarious part of the mystery, like if it’s like we don’t see how the thing was made, then it’s possibly just weirdly, sloppy generated, you know. So, so, yeah, I don’t know. That’s been a huge change for sure, like just in the past couple years, even. Yeah, it’s made me think, I’m like, do I want to just like record a whole record on social media now? Is that like thing to do or something?

Emily (CJSW)
Like, do you feel pressure now to like, when you’re making a song, like, I can imagine that might be at the forefront of your mind. Like, how is it going to be received on social media? Like, how I feel like some artists now are thinking about, like, ‘okay, how can I make, like, this 30 second hook that will hook people on social media to listen to my songs?’ Like, do you feel that kind of influencing your work too?

jo passed
Oh, definitely. I don’t think it’s for me, like I definitely, while I’m like working, like I’m working on new material right now, and the thoughts come up that I’m like, ‘oh, I should like record this next take,’ but then I’m like, it’s not there, like I know what I mean, like I’m like, it everything takes a lot longer than you’d like it to, working on a track sometimes, like, and when you’re writing all the like parts and stuff like that, so yeah, like I think that those thoughts for me sometimes end up like being more like of a barrier towards like feeling like I’m freely creating something. But also you can just like record those things later, or whatever, like it doesn’t have to be like, “Oh, that was the actual time that you actually came up with that part, or whatever,” right? Yeah. So I’m kind of, I’m putting the brakes on thinking about that too much while I’m actually writing. Yeah.

Emily (CJSW)
You’re kind of carving your own path, away from the push and pull of social media, and every thing.

jo passed
Yeah, totally, yeah. I mean, it’s cool. I wish it wasn’t… It’s, you know, the idea that we can just like show videos and recordings of ourselves, like, instantly to all your friends and community is amazing. It’s just like wrapped in so much darkness that it’s like a bummer.

Emily (CJSW)
Like, I’ve also been thinking a lot about like parasocial relationships, and I don’t know if I have a question, so much as like an observation about how I feel like fans and listeners have this entitlement when it comes to the personal lives of these artists and celebrities, and I feel like it’s really weird, like I don’t think we were ever meant as human beings to have that kind of level of access and expectation on the parts of these, you know, notable figures. It’s definitely bizarre and a little dystopian. While you were working on your record Away, you kind of took some time away to work with some other folks in terms of producing videography and filmmaking and kind of composition. What was that like, and how did that maybe support and influence your own creative process?

jo passed
I’d done a lot of music videos and started doing like indie filmmaking, and you know, worked in that creative capacity, and it’s been really interesting to like inform audio production, because it’s like just you’re working with a lot bigger chunks and components, so like preparation in terms of the production side is like really important in video, like, because it usually, and you have to, like, you know, secure a space, or like, you know, you’re working even just like with bigger file sizes, all this stuff, right, and with audio. So that’s been cool, like both good and bad, to like bring back into like music, that was something that really did. Like I started the later half of the recording process for Away, ended up being like a lot more informed by like actually being like more scheduled out and stuff like that, and organized and diligent in that way. Yeah, but then it’s like I’m striking a balance now where I’m realizing, like, music just takes a lot of space, like, the creative side, you just… There’s also, like, I mean, when you’re filming a music video, someone has to just kind of snap into the right vibe for you to capture it, and stuff like that, but, like, creating something and recording it, you have to really, like, curate a really, like, good vibe and space for it to be like, you know, for people to actually be feeling what they’re playing and recording, or what they’re writing, right? So, there’s like a push and pull between that. You can’t get too, like, rigorous with like a schedule and expect results in that kind of same way, but it’s interesting. Yeah, it’s just a different, it’s a bit more like A Type vibes in filmmaking than for music.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, that’s really interesting. You performed last night at Dickens alongside Palehound, Gus Englehorn, and Brock Geiger. First time performing in Calgary since 2019. I’m curious, how does the crowd energy or overall culture at Sled Island, kind of compared to what you experienced back home in Vancouver or Toronto?

jo passed
It’s good, it’s great. I mean, so many people in the crowd I recognize from other bands too, like, so it is like I think Calgary, like in my history of playing Calgary, audiences are really like genuine and warm and pretty focused, and actually, and it seemed like really open too, which is really nice.

Emily (CJSW)
I think we’re like a pretty tight knit, but passionate community. So I think you kind of hit it right on the head.

jo passed
Yeah, that’s always been the feeling that I’ve had. Vancouver audiences are kind of like a little aloof. Vancouver does not have a good rapport, like a good history of being a good audience city, to be honest, but I do think people are like pretty like spaced out, and I mean people do show up in Vancouver too, and stuff.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, I’ve had good experiences at Green Auto, I will say that.

jo passed
Yes, Green Auto is great.

Emily (CJSW)
Yeah, they’ve cultivated the great community there.

jo passed
Yeah, totally. Yeah, Red Gate is great too. Yeah, I still like help run a venue called KW Studios in Vancouver, but that’s like kind of more of like a city art space vibe. But yeah, Vancouver’s cool, Toronto’s… Toronto’s like people are really great when they like show up in Toronto and stuff like that, but it’s also like there’s so many shows happening all the time, sometimes.

Emily (CJSW)
Kind of spoiled for choice.

jo passed
Yeah, yeah, totally, but yeah, it’s fun, it’s really fun out there, so.

Emily (CJSW)
Nice. Yeah, Calgary’s music scene kind of has that, again, reputation for being tight knit, but passionate. Did you get a chance to check out any Alberta acts? Or are there any Calgary bands on your radar?

jo passed
Well, I saw, I mean, just Brock Geiger yesterday, and I just stuck around that show, and they’re great. Yeah, Chris was drumming, who I believe…

Emily (CJSW)
Chis Dadge, yeah. He’s in everything, he’s awesome.

jo passed
Yeah, they’re super great. I mean, I have.. I just, because it’s the first day, I haven’t seen very much music yet, so.

Emily (CJSW)
Is there like anyone you’re looking forward to catching this week?

jo passed
Is Hermitess from Calgary? Yeah, that’s the first thing I’m gonna see tonight.

Emily (CJSW)
I saw her at Contemporary Calgary art gallery like a month and a half ago, and she absolutely blew me away, so you’re in for a treat.

jo passed
Sweet. Yeah, I’m excited for that. I have to look. I did it, like, I totally used the schedule app in the Sled Island app, and I know I really intensely did it, and then just totally forgot I what selected, so I have to like look at it. But yeah, no, I’m excited. Again, Innerouter is a Calgary band that I’m friends with. My friend, Tom, is in that band, but they’re playing on Saturday, and I’m leaving Saturday morning, so that’s one of the ones gonna miss.

Emily (CJSW)
Passing ships in the night.

jo passed
Yeah, totally. But shout out to them too, yeah.

Emily (CJSW)
Awesome. I have a couple more questions for you. I’m very curious, what are you listening to these days?

jo passed
I was just listening to Gus Englehorn, who I played with, and I listened to leading up to the gig, and his new record’s awesome. So, that’s really, really sweet. There’s a band out of Toronto called Wedding. It’s this guy named Walt. He’s just been putting out some singles, and they’re super awesome. So, I’ve been listening to that.

Emily (CJSW)
I think I’ve heard of them, but I don’t think I’ve heard their music. So, I’ll have to check that out after this.

jo passed
They’re great. Yeah, I’ve been listening to just because I moved to Toronto, like fairly recently. I’ve been listening to a lot of Toronto bands, so like MOTHER TONGUES is a band I really, really love. They play Calgary before. Yeah, I’m playing with them in July, which is great. July 10th in Toronto. Little Kid is a great Toronto band. Bands playing here from Vancouver. Buddie’s put out a really amazing record, so I’ve been listening to them a bunch. Yeah, who else? It’s a project called Maneka. It’s from New York. I’m playing some shows with, and he just put a, Devin just put a really good record last year, and it’s amazing. Yeah, it’s good. So, yeah, that’s kind of the top stuff.

Emily (CJSW)
Okay, lots of artists for me to sink my teeth into. Nice. Before I let you go, just curious, like, what’s next? Like, you’re working on new music, you’re playing some shows.

jo passed
Yeah, I have, like, a Northeast tour, like doing a tour or a show in Toronto, and I’m doing Montreal and Philly, New York, and DC in August, and then yeah, and next, directly next up is I just am setting time aside for a few weeks to like really get a like dig into this next record that we really did start recording last year on tour in Anaheim. Yeah, so I have all these drum beds, drums and bass and guitar beds, and stuff like that. So it’s like pretty far along, but I need to like just really commit some time to really getting into it, which is gonna be fun. Yeah, and it would be cool to have that one come out in 2027 and not 2034.

Emily (CJSW)
For sure. It’s crazy. Well, I very much look forward to hearing it. Thank you so much for your time. This has been an interview with jo passed here on CJSW at 90.9 FM. Enjoy the rest of your week here at Sled.

jo passed
Thanks. Yeah.