Run to the Light with June McDoom

Words by Matthew Spence:

Genre has gone through multiple growth spurts as time goes on. To the point where every five years, each gen has that family reunion moment of “Oh my, you’ve gotten so tall.” Taking the Rorschach inkblot test for how one sees genre will leave Gen Z to Gen X seeing different colors than Amelie’s world. Akai MPCS for rock? Rocksteady grooves for country (if only)? The world is yours; with the right creative mind and acceptance of influence, it can lead to the expansion of music some may be stubborn to embrace with a big hug. The music hugger- June McDoom.

June McDoom (I know what you’re thinking… don’t think it, but she’s honored), the 29-year-old folk artist who’s been reeling in fans from general audiences and music peers alike with her spacious sound. Dreamy, atmospheric, enchanted, and entrancing are all of the above correct ways to describe her music, but it’s also too easy. It’s like if Folk got a makeover: more stylized, equipped with a new personality. However, I’m like the subjects in teen flicks: June’s music isn’t lost in its swag but instead explores the realm of sound to build its growing character in a genre that may rule out certain attributes. Strings, maximalist production (generally), and vocals that fit for a lullaby; she’s getting ready to officially mark her turf with her debut album now, “Follow The Light,” set to release in October of 2026. A fitting title as she’s been taking her own advice and, through her own creative intuition, is finding ways to earnestly stand out in the crowd.

Born and raised in South Florida to Jamaican parents, before June was June, she was Alyssa. Just living and absorbing whatever art was around her, whether it be music from her parents or whatever was on pop radio or her friends were playing. One thing is for certain: her childhood consisted of a lot of reggae. Going with the motion, you might think she would have immediately had a spark for art right out of the womb; however, truth be told, she was naive to all of her talents. It wasn’t until later on in her early teens that she really figured out she could sing; by sophomore year, she found her path and soaked up as many influences of her own as previous ones.

Simon and Garfunkel, soul music, ’80s pop music, reggae, and just being a lover of old music. Step by step, she took on the task of being the best artist she can be, and by the end of high school, she took her best foot forward and nose-dived into the acoustic sound hole. Applying for a 5-week program at Berkeley and getting in. Soon after getting into the Grammy program and, after that going to the new school in NYC for jazz/vocals. From there on forward, June officially crossed over. Moving to NYC and being embraced by the local scenes/community she didn’t really have back in Florida, June was hooked and there to stay and play. Now, she’s two EPS including her self-titled EP of 2022, and one album coming soon. June has grown to do a lot in the past 5 years: open up for Clairo, Lil Yachty, Jessica Pratt, and so on and so forth; she’s getting admiration from a list of the day, the Evergreen music fans of tomorrow.

June’s music has you internally spinning like a hypnosis wheel but externally leaves you centered, wanting to embrace the vibrations flowing out of your speakers.

We Gen-Zers and younger are living in a post-genre-segregated world compared to four years ago; things musically had a militant uniform in presentation in view, but now, living in genre harmony, every genre is loosely connected to another and inspired by one another. Requiring more acceptance and freedom, June is a picture-perfect example of that. Putting her name in a genre generator will be no different than putting a fork in a microwave; shit will explode. But that’s where Beauty and the Blur begins. Alternative, Indie, and Soul—the audience will be finding the bullseye with Folk. Have her tell you, though, simply put, “I love genres.” June’s music scrambles the word “traditional” with production that feels expansive and foreign to the ears of “folk purists.” Vocals that oxymoron: haunted and angelic. Underneath her production blanket are songwriting and lyrics that can remind plenty that less is more: direct and poetic.

It feels June’s continuation of the folk tradition is keeping the interpersonal connection and its spirit all while exploring the musical landscape to see what she can cross over to that world. Ridden the immediate vision of the folk starter pack of singer, guitar, and the bonus of oddly specific lyrics.

Her latest singles “Get Out of My Life” and “Without You” from the upcoming album exemplify that perfectly. Explaining more about the project, she details, “I wanted to do something ambitious that is a little different. I think some people may hear this and not connect to it or not understand cuz it’s just not the stereotypical thing that people are generally making. I think I’m proud of that.” The name of the game is clear for her: “I’m trying to introduce people to different things.” She’s proud of her weirdness, wearing being a creative explorer more than her guitar strap, and she hopes to translate that with her work of the past and to the future. “Explore all the things around you. I feel like sometimes people may feel they need a community to guide them, but a lot of my life was alone finding things I love.”

Now it’s all coming together in full effect almost 5 years after her debut EP. Open it for Heavy Hitters and music today. June has added another storyline to her life, gearing up to release her debut album and going on her first tour as a headliner. Life has been feeling like a celebration in a world. And in the midst of that, I got the crash, the party! Or was I formerly invited? I don’t know. Either way, I got to chat with June for an immersive combo about so much: our Jamaican heritage, social batteries, mid-2000s health, and cereal; so much laughing and chatting, we could start a podcast [but we won’t though]. Some stuff will make the interview; some of it won’t. Roll the interview.

[Reminder: it’s law to have 1 Boss Pedal.]

What affects you more: creative burnout versus imposter syndrome?

Creative burnout for sure! I think imposter syndrome; at this point, I’m over the whole imposter syndrome thing. Everyone is making everything; I pretty much make most of my music. Pretty much hands-on with all of the parts and process of my music, so I get burnout a lot. It also depends on the part of the stage of the process I’m working with. What I write, I don’t write more than like 10 minutes. I can’t do that; some people can sit and write for like hours, but my inspiration dies pretty fast.

Opening up for big-name acts (Clairo, Lil Yachty, Jessica Pratt, and so on), is there a certain first impression you hope to make whenever you’re introduced to a new audience/fanbase?

I guess I would hope to leave… My music is some kind of dream-like folk thing that has a lot of genre influence, so I know that’s interesting for a new listener. I know it’s the most easy to grasp, so I just hope to make it sound very beautiful to people. Also, I’m working on how I want to play my songs live. I think when I first started playing, I was more rigid and trying to play Perfect through all these openings, I’ve realized it’s cool to be free.

Where are you in life, and does it translate into your upcoming album?

I’m in my late 20s, and I feel like when I started this record….. Basically, the record is a whole thing about my identity because I’m putting in all the interesting things that I love into the record. Also, I’m talking about family and all the positivity that’s been a guide for me finding myself, and I feel when I started the record I was like, “This is who I am; these are things I love; I know who I am.” Every time you do a record, you’re like,” Who am I?” <Laughs> and I think now I’m at the interesting point in my life, about to enter my 30s. Also, I have type 1 diabetes, so I have health things I have to think about getting older, so I feel like this record especially because why I wrote it for people, and the message I want people to take from it is to continue to follow the simple things that bring joy. Surround yourself with family members and friends that remind you to live a simple, happy life, and by doing that, dream and be weird. So I think I feel like I’m still kind of finding myself in the same way I was before, but I’m following the message.

Any ideas you finally got to flesh out and accomplish on your album?

When I finished working on the McDoom EP, I was really starting to get into, like, the older era of Rocksteady and some ’80s dancehall stuff [the production of that music]. When I started working on that album, I wanted to include some influence a little bit, but that was my general goal: to try to try out experiment with. Every time I make a project, I’m generally going to do the same thing: write a song, and then I have a million things I’m into and want to try to see if they all work together, but the older I get, I want to do it more concise. If there’s too much going on, it’s harder for people to grasp, so I’m trying to figure out more efficient ways to present things I love in my music.

Why did Alyssa McDoom become June? The difference between the two?

Okay, well, Alyssa is just my name, and McDoom was my last name, and I didn’t want my artist name to be my name, but everyone’s like McDoom is kind of a crazy name; “you can’t abandon McDoom.” Was going to abandon it, but then everyone said no, and so I just wanted to change my first name, and I thought of June, kind of like one day
when I was driving in the car. My grandma’s name is Joan, and it sounded like June; it just kind of came to me, but I just wanted the project to be something other than my name.

First album & first headlining tour—any other music first looking forward to?

I’m honestly grateful cuz a lot of the musical things I would love to experience, some of them have happened, so that’s really cool! I guess growing and playing more shows. I’m still new to the experience of building a scene of what my fan base is like and collaborating with other artists; there’s something cool I did, maybe I will share with you…

[Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Info to remain sealed until revealed. Sorry…. Eh]

……. Stuff like that happening is always really special.

Anything you had to unlearn to progress as an artist?

When you go to, like, school for just purely technique for 4 years, I think I’ve been trying to unlearn trying not to be such a technical creator and not be so perfect. So when I sing, like, I don’t really ever do warm-ups or anything because the music that I love is more of artists that are not technically perfect, but they’re like very emotional emotors. Yeah, I think I’ve been trying to unlearn all the musical—- I’m also just like a really heady creator; I’m kind of like overly thinking about things, so I just want to be a little bit more like a “free pretend/ I don’t know a lot.” <chuckles>

Are the tabs for “On My Way” accurate on UltimateGuitarTab?

Oh, I have no clue <laughs>. I didn’t know there were on there. I’ll double-check them.

Future Plans

Well, my birthday is in December; I’m turning 30! It’ll be a little special bash. I also really want to get a cat <laughs>. My album comes out in October, and I have a couple of singles that are going to come out that I’m excited to share. I’ll be playing the music in the coming months; it’s going to be really fun! I’m going to do it with a full band, which I’m really excited about; it’s going to be sick! Just playing more music and making it.