JADE IMAGINE RELEASE NEW SINGLE “HOT BATH”
Eyes closed, head back, ears covered with water. Sounds blurred and distant, body floating, your mind let free to wander. jade imagine’s new single “Hot Bath” is this warm and fuzzy feeling, masterfully expressed in a song.
I was instantly taken by this new single; it’s sonic quality, it’s crispy production, the gritty guitars and uncomplicated drums, it’s incredible hook. “Everything has a phase/ Cold water down the drain” hits the same satisfying note every time. The song is short and sweet, and definitely warrants a few replays.
Photos by Hugo Kohler
“Hot Bath” is out now, with a fantastic new video to go with it. Created by long-time collaborator Hugo Kohler and bandmate Madeline ‘Snoopy’ Lo-Booth, these artful surreal visuals are a perfect accompaniment for the song and deserves a look also.
We spoke to jade imagine about the in’s and out’s of this new single and it’s video to get a little insight to their sound, their creative process and their plans for the future.
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To me, “Hot Bath” stands out among the songs of jade imagine. Previous releases can be surely classified as indie rock or folk (or both), but this single with its raw distorted guitars and cool, vivid vocals, seems to belong to many genres and stands beside the likes of PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning and Sonic Youth. Who or what were some of your influences in creating the sound for this single?
I love that you hear all those different influences in “Hot Bath”. When we were writing and recording it, I think I was leaning into a feeling more than a particular genre — something a bit urgent, a bit gritty, but still quite hypnotic. Bands like Sonic Youth and Dry Cleaning definitely sit in the back of my mind as inspirations (although the song was written before I’d heard of the latter), but also artists like Broadcast and Crumb—people who know how to balance raw energy with atmosphere.
I love music that feels tactile, where you can almost hear the room it was recorded in and each instrument is having a turn at saying something, a call and response, conversational kind of thing…
“Hot Bath” comes in hot with an awesome new music video to accompany it, perfectly capturing the dreamy themes of the song and matching the scratchy and fuzzy sounds of the music with a dynamic film quality and grain.
What was the process of making the video? Did the song define the video or vice versa?
For the film clip, I decided to give up full control, which was a first for me. I’m usually there working round the clock on everything visual, down to the last detail. But this time, I handed it over to Snoopy (our bass player and unofficial stylist) and Hugo, who had previously worked on the Instinct That I Wanna Know clip, with Jules as the subject and just let them do their thing. They’re an absolute powerhouse team — their ideas always come so far out of left field and what they create feels so fresh and exciting to me. It was so liberating to trust the process and see where they’d take it.
It’s taken me many years to really see the true path of collaboration, to feel the absolute freedom and trust to hand over the reins to a project and just let it evolve without needing to control every part of it. I used to be scared to let go but now it really excites me. Funnily enough, that whole experience mirrored what the song is about: learning to lean into uncertainty and just let things flow. The way they played with grainy textures, dynamic movement, and a kind of surreal dreaminess captured the energy of “Hot Bath” in a way I never could have imagined on my own. It was really special to step back and let it unfold.
This new single was recorded in the same session as your sophomore album Cold Memory from 2022. What about “Hot Bath” led you to want to release it separately?
Yeah, “Hot Bath” was recorded in the same sessions as Cold Memory, but it always felt like its own thing. The album had this cool, cohesive flow to it, whereas “Hot Bath” had a bit more of a restless, stand-alone energy. We loved it, but it just didn’t quite fit within the arc of the record. So, we sat on it for a bit and now feels like the perfect time to let it have its own moment.
Finally, as it has been over two years since Cold Memory, what does this new single mean for jade imagine in 2025? More music? Live performances? A tour? We are excited to find out!
I love that you’re excited! Right now, I’m just taking things as they come. “Hot Bath” is kind of a bridge between what we’ve done and where things might be heading next. There’s always new music brewing, so I’m keen to keep working away on that… but I think this release is about embracing a bit more spontaneity, following ideas as they come, and seeing where they lead.