The Weather Inside

The Weather Inside is the project of Oklahoma singer, songwriter and producer Jesse Cohen. Formed in the mid 2000s, it pairs 1980s synth melodies and electronic beats with ambient soundscapes and layered polyrhythms, later grounded by folk instruments played live.

Cohen was 24 when he made the debut album Colourful Year. A small advance paid for a faster computer, a good microphone and an audio interface. He recorded between October 2003 and August 2006 in a loft apartment in the Paseo Arts District, his Mum's house in Bethany, and at Soma Sound, Audyssey and Auxillary Drain Studios in Oklahoma City. The album features his own glitch editing and string arrangements, guest vocals from Bebe K, and a collaboration with Kmotiv.

He then built a live band with close friends, and they became part of Oklahoma's indie scene, playing Norman, Stillwater and the Paseo Arts District alongside The Ugly Suit and Kunek, who later became Other Lives.

Colourful Year came out on November 6, 2006. Kenny Herzog, then editor of CMJ New Music Monthly and later a writer for Rolling Stone, heard the demos and gave the band a full page feature. That earned them an invitation to the CMJ Music Marathon in the autumn of 2007, where they played a packed showcase at Kenny's Castaways in Greenwich Village.

In 2009 Cohen moved to New York City with less than $2,000 to his name. He spent the next twelve years producing records, busking in the subway and playing The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall and rooms across Brooklyn and Manhattan.

For its 20th anniversary, Re:Mission Entertainment reissues Colourful Year, remastered by Jeff Mortimer at JM Mastering, UK. The reissue includes new liner notes from Jesse and a full colour disc, limited to 100 copies in a Digipak.