MAKE SURE

Sometimes the most poetic way to tell a story is straightforward and without embellishments. On his latest record as Make Sure, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Aubrey Jackson frankly relays his experiences with grief, heartbreak and—ultimately—forgiveness in a way that’s both conversational and confessional. 

Ninjutsu is an album about the discipline of healing—the process of looking back and dealing with old wounds instead of pretending that they don’t still hurt. And if there’s an artist who knows a thing or two about discipline, it’s Jackson, who diligently put out music for ten years under various monikers, self-releasing dozens of projects before his label debut with Tooth & Nail Records.

Musically, Ninjutsu draws from a familiar well of influences, bridging intimate dream-pop and expansive folk-rock. Recorded primarily in Jackson’s apartment, with supplemental work done at Clubmen Studio in Blairsville, Georgia, the record captures Jackson’s sensibilities and personality as a producer and performer: gentle, immersive, and warm.

If there’s a singular thematic through-line to Jackson’s prolific output as a songwriter, it’s an honest reckoning with the embarrassments of life as a person struggles and grows. On Ninjutsu, this reckoning takes form in an autobiographical song cycle that finds Jackson looking back on recent emotional turmoil and finding a way to forge ahead. “Pressing on is never just this black and white thing,” he says, “There are always these fuzzy emotions clouding things as you try to move forward.”

What makes Jackson’s writing stand out is its humility and shamelessness as he recounts his own struggles. Listening to Ninjutsu is like getting a hug from a close friend after baring your soul to them. It captures the liberating feeling of truly knowing that someone else has walked down the same road of disappointment, awkwardness and redemption. “Talking about vague pain isn’t helpful,” Jackson says. “It’s your actual story that gives people hope.”

Ninjutsu will be released in 2021 through Tooth & Nail Records. Joshua Aubrey Jackson lives in Auburn, Alabama where he is almost always out on a run or making music.