Fast Facts
- Artist name: transmothra (styled all lower-case)
- Member: jae lethe (styled all lower-case)
- Pronounced: “jay LEE’-thee”
- Gender: non-binary; any pronouns (except “it”)
- Instruments: guitar, synthesizers, piano, bass, percussion
- Other credits: composition, programming, engineering, production, mixing, mastering, graphic design, website
- Previous bands: The Loving Scares (Anthony Dawson)
- Solo project
- Genres: dark alternative, darkwave, goth, heavy rock, electronic
- Influences: Afghan Whigs, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails
- Location: Dayton, Ohio, US
Press Releases
Transmothra Unveils “Understandable,” a Raw and Unflinching Look at Childhood Isolation and Low Self-Esteem
[FAIRBORN, OH] – Darkwave project transmothra announces the release of the new single, “understandable,” a track that strips away metaphor to deliver the artist’s most profoundly autobiographical and vulnerable work to date.
Available now, “understandable” is a rare and powerful departure into memoir, addressing decades of deeply rooted emotional pain. The song is an unflinching look at the lifelong struggle with low self-esteem and chronic feelings of being unloved and unseen.
Unlike the project’s previous narrative tracks, this single draws directly from the artist’s experiences—specifically, feeling a persistent lack of connection and acceptance. The lyrics detail the isolation of having few close friends and the crushing realization that their absence often went unnoticed, leaving a permanent emotional scar that the artist identifies as leading to Avoidant Personality Disorder (AVPD).
“Understandable” transforms these complex, difficult feelings into a haunting and resonant piece of music. The raw honesty of the subject matter, coupled with transmothra‘s signature atmospheric soundscapes, offers a moment of profound recognition for anyone who has struggled with feelings of inadequacy or the lasting impact of early emotional neglect.
This track is an act of bravery—a therapeutic confession and a statement that the most painful parts of the human experience are, in fact, understandable. It invites the listener to confront their own internal landscapes and find solidarity in shared vulnerability.
Listen to “understandable” here: https://transmothra.bandcamp.com/track/understandable
Previous
Dayton, Ohio, US – Dayton-born multi-genre music artist transmothra (solo project of jae lethe) has released the first single from an upcoming, as-yet untitled album project. The track, “no more.,” is a tone poem seemingly about hope and an ideal world free of various manner of social ills — at least until the shocking punchline hits. With its driving-yet-disorienting beat and chamber strings holding down the song’s foundation, the piece builds and grows as synthesizers rise up to fill the air. Lyrics reach for more and more thematic territory until it all seems to be in greater and greater danger of crashing down. By the end, we are left to wonder: does the final line reference an obstacle, or a solution?
About transmothra
transmothra is the darkwave/synth-focused solo project of jae lethe, known for their atmospheric sound and exploration of dark, complex themes.
Bio
The solo project transmothra is the musical brainchild of jae lethe. Born and raised deep in the long shadow of Dayton, Ohio (land of funk, post-industrial gloom… and also airplanes), lethe was infected by the rock & roll virus as a small child. With formative influences as diverse as The Beatles, Sly & the Family Stone, Yes, Journey, Tangerine Dream, Prince, The Posies, Soundgarden, and Midlake, it’s not very surprising that they churn out music with a variety of textures and even styles.
The piano was the first instrument lethe learned, but it was the synthesizer and guitar that caught jae‘s attention in their teenage years. Before long, a drum machine, a four-track cassette recorder, and an Autumn spent at Chillicothe’s The Recording Workshop cemented the direction and destiny of their life. It was in this period that they played in a band called The Loving Scares, the project of high school friend Anthony Dawson, who managed to get a song played on local college radio station WWSU. Several lineups later, jae moved to Florida with a mutual friend and spent several lean, hard-knocks years there, culminating in a month-long trek across Europe with a friend.
However, during these years, musical plans were thrown off for over a decade by a growing and excruciatingly painful tumor in the worst part of the body imaginable: the end of a fretting finger. During this time, jae made the best of it by composing and recording music electronically; first using a first-gen Sony PlayStation (!), and then on computers. Thankfully, the tumor was eventually properly diagnosed and surgically removed, leaving a wide open space ahead of them, to fill with new music at last.
Much like their long-time heroes Todd Rundgren, Prince, and Stevie Wonder, jae prefers to create everything themselves, from playing guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion, and singing, to production, engineering, programming, mixing, and mastering, to the visual art, and even this website.
Jae‘s lifelong muses include death, grief, loss, pain, longing, hope, love, and the future.
Brief
transmothra, the solo project of Dayton, Ohio’s jae lethe, makes genre-crossing dark alternative music for late nights, with themes ranging from lust to despair, madness to fury, the yearning for an improved human condition and the celebration of temptations and thrills, and with a sound running the gamut between plaintive to howling.
Music streams
Lyrics
understandable.no more.treachery.like we are.
Sometimes it’s so unbearable to be me
I just can’t do anything anymore
For everything I’ve ever said and done
I have a regret that cuts me to the core
It’s my own fault my life is misery
Maybe i was born on my deathbed
I told an old friend I wanted to end it all
I’ll never forget what he said
“Understandable”
Nobody ever wants me around anymore
It’s been years since i’ve had any friends
I don’t wanna go out anyway
I just want all this to end
I think i might be the worst person ever
I just feel like such a fool
And i know there are so many reasons
Why you’d be so cruel
That’s understandable
This all started the day i was born
And love was only ever tough
It seems like it’s only gotten worse
I’ve been working on myself, but it’s never enough
My own worst critic is having company over
I’m just so glad that everyone agrees
My feelings are valid
Yeah they make a lot of sense
That’s understandable.
There is no pain
There is no loss
There is no suffering
There is no war
There is no hardship
There is no hunger
There is no unkindness
There is no despair
There is no fighting
There is no killing
There is no unkempt hair
There is no cheating
There is no falling
There is no broken promises
There is no bigotry
There is no hate
There is no longing
There is no chaos
There is no destruction
There is no lying
There is no master
There is no slave
There is no violence
There is no bondage
There is no ugliness
There is no greed
There is no ignorance
There is no bloodshed
There is no theft
There is no regret
There is no emptiness
There is no sadness
There is only death
I lost my way
Took me so long to find it again
And I lost some time
But i won’t let it bring me down (won’t let it bring me down)
Treachery
That’s what your love means to me
Treachery
Even a fool like you sees (treachery)
I took the bait
And you slowly reeled me in (reeled me in)
I saw the gun
But i didn’t know who it was for (didn’t know who it was for)
Treachery
Even the best men can’t see
Treachery
That’s what your love means to me
You turned me out
I turned you in
You would’ve turned me off
But i turned you on
You were so bad
I was no good
Isn’t it funny
How things turn out
Treachery
That’s what your love means to me
Treachery
The end of the century
Treachery
That’s what your love means to me
Treachery
Even a blind man can see
Treachery
wait until now to say the things you thought of
say it unto me the way you think you practised it
say to me love that you never thought you would ever be
so full of doubt, the way i think it ought to be
my love, is it so clear?
that you would pick this instance out of the jar?
and what you hold dear
will come around like we are
today is the day we would have celebrated
three years of hate, candles dripping quietly
forever the beast, within you i desecrated
& unleash this feast, for we will forever be
at night, can you still breathe?
your heavy vapors they flood me incessantly
karma, like a vamp,
will come around like we are
it don’t want to leave, my love
it don’t want to ease my hate
it don’t like to feed on me
but it’s gotta shit something…
tell me you fear the day we call an end to it
tell me you want more of my bullshit
say you can’t wait (until) the day we finally call it quits
baby, i need you just to lie a little bit
my love, is it so clear?
that we would pick this moment out of the jar?
and what do you fear?
that we’ll come around like we are…?
Downloads
No need to right-click on audio files – they’ll open a save dialog on their own
Photos
Covers
Contact
- Phone: 859.334.0023
- Email: [email protected]
- Mail: 244 Orville St #11 Fairborn, OH 45324
- Discord: transmothra
Socials