Interview and Photo by Alder Boutin
Um, Jennifer? is an offbeat indie rock duo whose transgender identities underscore their music. You may know them from being Towa Bird’s opening act, taking New York’s queer music scene by storm, or their witty social media videos. Elijah “Eli” Scarpati and Fig Regan are a breath of fresh air, and they take themselves about as seriously as their band name, which refers to a fabricated entity named Jennifer who watches over them.
On Friday, Eli and Fig talked with me in the cozy backyard of a DIY music venue in Philadelphia called God’s Automatic Body. We huddled under a fire escape to avoid the rain, but Eli’s enthusiastic gestures carried him back out into the drizzle on more than one occasion.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Your debut album Um Comma Jennifer Question Mark hit 1 million streams within 3 weeks of its release. Congratulations, by the way. You talked a bit in your recent Them interview about how the album’s success is landing with Jennifer, so now I’m curious to hear your take. How are you feeling about the public reaction?
ELI SCARPATI: Wait, I love that. First of all, that is a perfectly written interview question. That is excellent.
FIG REGAN: Nobody asks about us.
ELI: Nobody asks about us.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Just Jennifer?
ELI: Just Jennifer. Nobody cares about Fig and Eli. We’re people too, write that down.
FIG: It’s really fucking lovely to see people’s reaction and see which songs take off, and it’s so nice to have people that we’ve never met before telling us what our music means to them.
ELI: Yeah, it feels to me like everyone’s let in on this club, because we’ve had this time fostering our own relationship with this music, and now it feels really good to put it out there. Now, everyone gets to be a part of it and have their own experience with it, like listening in their own rooms and everything. My favorite thing about music is everyone gets to have this shared intimate experience. So it’s really exciting.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Some of the assorted objects on the album cover, like the fish charm for “Fishy” or the testosterone vial for “Went On T,” have pretty clear meanings. But others haven’t appeared before in the band’s work. Can you pick a couple of those and explain their stories?
ELI: Oh my god, oh my god, this is a perfect interview. I cannot believe you just asked the question that I’ve been like, “Someone ask me about it.”
FIG: Ask about the goddamn shit on the album.
ELI: About the shit on the thing!
FIG: There’s certain stones and stuff that we would set up when we were recording, so they were the way that we would kind of create the sacredness of the space.
ELI: Yes. Exactly. There’s a couple of stones and a vial of magic potion that my psychic gave to me years back, and it contained this soap for a bath and this rock I was supposed to meditate with. There’s also an old tissue I found in the coat pocket of my ex-girlfriend’s jacket that she left in my house with her lipstick stains that I do hold sometimes for comfort. And I hope to god she’s reading this. She knows that I do that.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Did you ever meditate with that rock?
ELI: I meditated heavily with that rock, yeah. Meditated for hours with that rock.
FIG: The blue feather was kind of the last one that brought it all together.
ELI: Oh my god, the blue feather is crazy. Our label rep, Madison, who is our everything, told me this story about how if you see a blue feather somewhere, it means that your manifestations are working. And I was like, damn, I wanna find a blue feather so bad, but I was never gonna find a fucking blue feather. Like, it is not gonna happen for me. And I was on the phone one time on tour, and I went into a backyard and I saw a blue feather on the ground, and I was like, no fucking way. So I picked it up and I took it, and that’s on the album cover, in addition to a four leaf clover that I found that same day. There’s a lot of magic in that whole thing.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: There’s gifts from my partner, Taylor. Like, this little mythy doll that I hold dear. It’s kind of a gender affirming thing to have stuffies.
ELI: Yes, yes!
FIG: It’s really sweet. And also this rock, actually, this is the first rock they got me, and this is on the album, right?
(Fig reached into her pocket here and produced a black and pink smooth marbled stone.)
ELI: Yes.
FIG: It’s really gorgeous. It was a sweet gift, and I think we also had it in the studio.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: We all know that Jennifer is difficult to please, but if she had to pick a favorite song on the album, what would it be?
ELI, FIG (simultaneously): “Jennifer’s Dungeon.”
ELI: “Jennifer’s Dungeon.” She loves it in there.
FIG: She loves it in there. It’s her home.
ELI: It’s giving me a really warm feeling, actually. I’m like, what if she’s near?
FIG: When you walk in, you obviously see the dungeon part, but to the left and right it’s like, “Bless this mess.”
ELI: Yeah, and it’s like a Tudor-style home.
FIG: It’s gorgeous.
ELI: And it’s like, “Don’t talk to me before I have my coffee.”
FIG: At heart, she is a mother. Her kids have left the house.
ELI: She’s living for her for the first time.
FIG: She’s like 55, 60.
ELI: She is 55, 60.
FIG: She’s going 55 in a 60.
ELI: She’s 55 going on 60. She’s 60 going on 22.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: “So Sick” is the first track on the album and your most recent music video. What was the inspiration behind this song – and its wild cast of characters credited at the end of the music video?
ELI: This song came from my first part of time in the city. I was around a lot of people who I don’t talk to anymore who drank really heavily and would get into fights, and I was like, this is not what I want. Like, you go out and you have the same kind of night, and people weren’t always interested in connecting in a different way. They leaned on things to not really be present and not really connect, and it just wasn’t my thing. So that song is like, you know what, this doesn’t work for me. I don’t think that this is the way that I wanna be around people. It was fun making a music video with all of my friends that I have now, because it’s all these people that we do really love and that are really cool. So it was cool reclaiming that with new friends who we feel connected to.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Eli, you’ve directed most of the band’s music videos, and Fig, you’ve directed one as well. What is the process like being so involved with creating those visuals for your songs?
FIG: It really, really feels like I’m making a YouTube video again.
ELI: Fuck yeah.
FIG: When I was like, 10, on my flip-camera. But with a script. In terms of creating the visual, I think it’s about serving the song. What does the song feel like? And can we capture that?
ELI: I don’t think of it always in terms of visuals. It’s just like watching a story play out. When I write, I do have something in my head of I see the way that somebody’s saying something. I see an inflection or something like that, and then usually it unfolds. All the shots and everything come to mind really immediately. Like, of course it’s gonna be like this. So it doesn’t even feel so much like I’m pairing something with something else. These characters guide me and tell me what to do. Whatever the story is, whether it’s my life or someone else’s life, it feels like letting something out.
FIG: I think of “Went on T” and how that video really couldn’t be anything else. It is so that “fuck you” attitude that I think it really captured.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Can each of you tell me what your favorite part is about making music with the other?
ELI: Oh my god, I love that question too. Can you go first?
FIG: Well, what’s that video of Kim Cattrall where she’s like, “He fills me out, I fill him out, and we go for it,” where her husband is playing the bass.
ELI: Wait, that video, and also there was something similar that I was watching recently. It was Charli [XCX] and A.G. Cook talking about each other, and I was just loving the way they were looking at each other. That video, the upright bit [with Cattrall and her husband], we have to find that one.
FIG: We have to redo that one.
ELI: We should redo that one. I would say my favorite part about working with Fig –
FIG: Oh yeah, I didn’t answer the question. You can come back to me.
ELI: Okay, here are my two things. One is that I feel like you listen to the song, what the song needs, and you put that first. We’ll try out ideas, and there’s just a “Oh, does this thing work or not?” I feel like you’re really open to that, always. If it does, it does, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t, and that’s just how it goes. It’s very easy to settle, like, “Should we do it this way or that way?” Because we just listen to it and one of the ways is good. You’re very in touch with that, so it’s very easy. I’d say the other thing is the humor. Like the “Cut Me Open” solo, that take on guitar over the last solo, it was crazy and fucked up–
FIG: Kind of bonkers.
ELI: And it made us laugh in the studio and it was like, “Yeah, let’s put that in. That’s the one.”
FIG: My favorite part of working with Eli is he’s so goddamn talented. It’s Eli writing the bass parts and the drum parts and the rhythm or lead or both. Also, your writing is so good.
ELI: Wait, stop, I love you so much. That’s so sweet, I love you.
FIG: It’s a type of writing that’s so clear and concise, and I think you’re really good at capturing a feeling in narrative form, and that’s something I really love and respect about you.
ELI: Oh my god, will you send me this to listen to it so I can go to bed? Fig ASMR.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Have there been any moments with your community or listeners over the course of creating and sharing this album that reinforced to you why you create your art?
ELI: This moment, you asking that question. It’s a beautiful, beautiful question.
FIG: It is constant. To have our friends come to our show, to come up to me afterwards, and be like, “That song you played is my favorite song you’ve ever written.” And I’m like, “Great, I’ll send it to you.” I feel like releasing the music is an expansion of that. Now our other friends get to hear it, you know?
ELI: Yeah, totally.
FIG: I just love these fucking people.
ELI: When people are like, “This song meant this to me,” or seeing people sing the lyrics and knowing that they have their attachment to it. It lets you revel in it more, because the best part of writing a song: it’s not that it’s about you, it’s that it’s about this thing that you love. Like, I wrote this song ‘cause I liked the way it sounded. That’s why it’s always funny, people being like, “Oh, is it weird for you to hear your own music?” I’m like, “No, I love it.”
FIG: No, that shit rocks.
ELI: Yeah, it rocks. I love this band. Like, of course I love it. So getting to share that with other people feels really good. It doesn’t feel like there’s an imbalance of “this is my thing.” It doesn’t feel ego-y. It feels like people get it and they have their own thing with it, and their relationship to the music is as important as mine is.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: You are vocal about a number of social justice topics, including the importance of transgender rights. Especially considering the current administration, what message do you hope to share with your presence and your art?
ELI: I have two messages in my head when we play. One is for trans people, that we got you and we love you and we know what’s up. We know what we’ve got, and we have our shit figured out. We know that what we’re doing really fucking rocks, and just keep fucking at that and don’t let any of the other shit in your head, because this is the best thing in the entire world. Transitioning and being trans and being queer is such a fucking wonderful gift. So that’s the most important one, and the other one – to people who don’t understand us and who don’t get it yet and aren’t there – is that we’re people and we want a lot of the same things that you do, and we’re just gonna keep keeping on. That it’s not going anywhere and it’s been here forever and it’s just not that far from anything else that you know and love. Like, trans people are just fucking people. It’s not all that crazy.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: You seem to have built a strong community of musical collaboration and friendship with fellow trans and queer artists. What advice would you offer to your listeners who may not know where to start finding or creating spaces like that?
ELI: That’s a great question.
FIG: Go to shows. For me, being able to go to Purgatory in New York and see these DIY shows. Our bassist for this tour is from one of the bands that we met from just going to shows. Go to shows, follow each other on the internet. Also, being intentional about the shows that you go to. Something that I’ve gotten better at is being more intentional about supporting my friends’ work and really letting people know that I value what they’re creating. Just showing up is huge.
ELI: Yeah, I think that is the hugest thing, which, Fig, you really taught me. I feel like I found my trans community with Fig big time, big time, big time. And I like your sweater, I haven’t told you yet.
FIG: Thank you so much, I like your sweater. Is that Machine Girl? It looks like Machine Girl.
ELI: Thank you. I don’t know what this is. Yeah, I think going out is the biggest one, and it’s hard for me to do. I like internet community a lot. I think whether it’s in real life or online or wherever, just giving compliments – it’s free – goes a long fucking way. Just saying, “Hey, I fuck with you. I fuck with your vibe, I fuck with your art. I appreciate you.” I think people are always happy to hear that. And I think it takes away some of the fear of social interaction and of connection and all those big things that can feel really intense, just being like, “I like you. I want to be your friend.” You know what I mean? It’s huge.
FIG: I feel like it’s so hard to take a compliment and it’s so hard to give a compliment, but it makes you feel good. People aren’t always able to receive what you’re giving them.
ELI: Yeah.
FIG: And I think that’s why it’s so hard to to take and to give those things, because everything is so fucked up, and we’re supposed to suffer. But that’s not true, and it’s actually nice to tell somebody that their song made you feel something.
ELI: I would do that a lot, and people wouldn’t always respond the way I would think they would, and I was like, did they not like it? But the way I trust it is, if I tell someone something, even if they’re kind of uncomfortable in the moment or they don’t really wanna hear it then, they’re gonna take it home with them. And that’s a nice thing to give. I feel like when you give that, then it comes back with you.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Loudspeaker Collective 