Jesse Tellem (born Jesse Safferling on 12 September 1992 in Eberbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) grew up with music long before he knew it would one day be at the centre of his life. His father played drums in a punk rock band in Chicago, while his mother shaped his musical taste and opened up the world of soul music to him. Jesse grew up amid colourful chaos: musician friends coming and going from his father’s basement studio, curious tattooed characters who made noise and at the same time introduced Jesse to the drug “music”, which helped him through so many crises and filled the silence. When he was two years old, his cradle was often swapped for a sleeping spot under the big mixing desk in the basement. Wrapped in a blanket, with headphones on his ears, that was where Jesse fell asleep most easily. His mother always tucked him in there lovingly, and she was also the one who played him Prince and often woke him up with it. Jesse always wears his “Prince chain”, and to this day it connects him to his mother, whom he lost as a child and carries with him in his thoughts.
Two years ago, something happened to Jesse Tellem that he never would have expected: he lost his joy in music. For someone who never wanted anything else, this was not a slump; it pulled the ground from under his feet. He had placed so much expectation and pressure on the thing he loves most that at some point the connection snapped. The way back started small. First a rented room in someone else’s studio, then a studio of his own. Then came the first jam sessions with friends. No plan, no goal, just playing. And bit by bit, everything came back, stronger than before. “Feels Like Home” tells of that moment when you realise: I’m back. I’m doing what I love, and everything that’s happening right now feels right. “I never wanted to do anything other than make music. When I realised I wasn’t enjoying it any more, that was really unsettling. Only when I started playing again without any expectations was I back home,” says Jesse. Recorded live with his band and friends in a cabin in Denmark, “Feels Like Home” is the first glimpse of an album about loneliness and how to leave it behind. Jesse found the answer outside, far from the isolation of his studio den: he packed up his circle of friends, his band and producer Axel Seyboth and drove to Denmark. Ten days in a cabin, everyone in one room, the entire album recorded live. There are no takes pieced together track by track and no software replacing musicians. Everything you hear was played by people, together and in the same moment. And you can hear it. His album “Loneliest Guy In The World” will be released in summer 2027.