“Fight for your rights, and dance your socks off,” proclaims Ashli St. Armant, who has been performing – mostly under the stage name Jazzy Ash – for more than two decades. The singer-songwriter and arts educator has always been an avid student of Black American music, flipping through iconic catalogs of doo-wop, rock ‘n’ roll, and Motown, and she calls on that history of resistance and joy with her latest single “Honey,” the final primer to her forthcoming record, Good Foot, out this Friday.

Good Foot busts a groove right from the start, instilling the performer’s intention of offering happiness in a current state of unease. “No matter the age of the listener, I want them to be reminded that it’s not only okay to experience joy during these difficult times, it’s necessary,” she says. “I hope they crank this album up loud and just let loose.”

The album’s six songs are resolutely hopeful, but this year has most certainly weighed on her heart. A queer black woman and mother to two young sons, Jazzy Ash comes from a long line of civil rights activists. “In the beginning, I felt a lot of pressure to ‘get out there’ and march in the streets, but I also wanted to hunker down and protect our nest,” she says. “Then I realized that, in a lot of ways, I’ve been doing activism work for many years. We perform shows about Black music history for student audiences all the time, and in those shows, we always talk about racism, slavery, and civil rights.”

Music doesn’t just serve as a protest though – it can also be a balm. “It’s incredible to think about all the wonderful music that has come out of the darkest days in Black American history. The 1960s… was full of civil unrest, racism, and social uncertainty. At that same time, Black musicians were developing doo-wop, rock-and-roll and that classic Motown sound,” she points out. “I came to realize that this was the coping mechanism. This was self-care.”

That’s certainly true of “Honey,” premiering today. The doo-wop ditty intoxicates with its starlit production, classic structure, and the tender vocal dance between Jazzy Ash and real-life partner and LGBTQ+ activist Pam Rocker, with whom she co-wrote the song.

“Back Into My Body” was meant to be simplistic to provide an intimate feel, as if the listener were right there with the band. They ended up using no guitars at all, which helped create a lighter, softer feel than their previous singles, all of which were recorded in the Nashville with Collin Pastore (Lucy Dacus, boygenius) studio in Nashville. Slow Dress hopes to release the six songs as their debut EP, eventually.

Solomon — who cites Julia Jacklin, Father John Misty, and PJ Harvey as her biggest influences — was playing in Boston indie band Jakals when Jones met her at one of their shows and asked to play with the band. In November of last year, Jakals dissolved, and Solomon and Jones split off to form Slow Dress.

In contrast to their previous work with Jakals, where they provided all the instrumentals themselves, they put a lot of the music in the production team’s hands for Slow Dress, including not just Pastore but also engineers Scottie Prudhoe and Preston Cochran. “We were nervous about it going in, but we were happy with how it came out,” says Jones. The duo reunited with Jakals bassist Zach Wulderk to record the session.

They’ve released three singles so far: the dark, earthy “Everyday Affair,” a piece of commentary on the homogeny and mind control imbricated in the modern world; the mystical, fairy-tale-like “Butterfly,” which expresses frustration with humans’ indifference toward the planet and one another; and the impassioned “Stew,” where Solomon imagines the afterlife and sings about wanting to live life fully. Overall, Solomon says their music aims to navigate the “contradictory nature of being human.”

“I think I struggle in normal language to feel like I’m actually expressing my experience, in that I almost feel like I want to be able to say multiple sentences at the same time… in a good amount of the songs, I’ll try to express different things that I’m feeling, even if they contradict,” she explains. “Creating songs feels like it’s giving voice to all these things happening at once, all these contradictory feelings we’re experiencing at any given time, and kind of validating all those different experiences.”

All the proceeds from “Back Into My Body” will be split between Brookline Mutual Aid (which Solomon says she has personal connections to) and National Bail Out. “We believe that redistributing as much money as we can is one important way to support people who are oppressed by the current system and people fighting against that oppression,” says Solomon.

Solomon hopes listeners take a sense of hope from the unexpectedly joyful turn the song takes, especially during a time when many people’s mental health challenges are being triggered. “I was in a place for a bunch of years where I was just feeling really trapped and really hopeless and sort of had no sort of concept of the future or how to feel good in my life and in myself,” she says. “I think it’s a constant practice — I’ve been doing a lot of meditation and self-reflection — but I think it’s possible to come back into a sense of connection to yourself.”

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