How Jason Ross Found His Way Home on ‘True North’

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**Jason Ross opened up about the making of True North, the personal meaning behind the album, and his vision for the upcoming album tour.**

For Jason Ross, genre has never been the starting point for making music; emotion has. That mindset, paired with his classical and jazz training, has led him to carve out his own lane over the past decade, moving between the euphoric highs of trance and the melodic sweep of progressive house and dubstep. The Los Angeles-based producer has built a catalog defined by genre fluidity, and that blend of precision and emotion came into full focus on his debut album, 1000 Faces, released on Ophelia Records. The record demonstrated his ability to move effortlessly between intimate moments and big room drops.

Over the years, Jason Ross has collaborated with leading figures in the scene, including Dabin, Gryffin, and Seven Lions, with whom he has released multiple fan-favorite tracks, including “Higher Love” and “Ocean.” Now, he enters a new chapter with True North, his latest album on Lost in Dreams Records. While his previous work established his reputation as a master in emotionally charged dance music, this project sheds light on his inner compass. It returns to his roots, allowing him to reflect on what matters most to him as an artist.

Across ten tracks, the album showcases the full breadth of his artistry. Melodic bass, progressive house, future bass, and cinematic electropop each serve the same emotional thread, carrying listeners through different chapters of his life with him. Alongside collaborators KSHMR, William Black, Dabin, Lin was here, babyidontlikeyou, TW3LVE, and Jillian Rossi, the album balances his expansive production style with intimate songwriting.

This fall, Jason Ross will bring True North to stages across North America, with stops in cities including New York, Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Toronto, and more. We caught up with him to discuss the new album, what True North means to him on a personal level, and what fans can expect from the upcoming tour. Read on to get a glimpse into the mind behind his music.

**Stream Jason Ross – True North on Spotify:**

Congrats on your new full-length studio album, True North. You’ve described the album as an internal compass and spoken about reconnecting with the reason you fell in love with making music in the first place. Was there a specific moment when you realized you had drifted away from that compass, and what ultimately helped guide you back?

I don’t think there was one dramatic moment. It was more of a gradual realization. When you’ve been doing this for a long time, it’s easy to get caught up in expectations, whether that’s industry expectations, social media, streaming, or trying to predict what people want from you. At some point, I realized I was spending too much energy looking outward and not enough looking inward.

What guided me back was remembering why I started making music in the first place. I was just a kid who loved dance music and wanted to create something similar to what my favorite songs made me feel. There was no strategy behind it. Just curiosity, passion, and excitement. Once I reconnected with that mindset, the music started flowing naturally again.

One of the things that stands out about the album is how naturally it moves between melodic bass, progressive house, future bass, and cinematic electropop while still feeling like a cohesive statement. How did you approach balancing those different sounds while maintaining a clear emotional throughline?

Genre has always been secondary to emotion. I’ve never sat down and thought, “I need to make a trance song” or “I need to make a melodic bass song.” I usually start with a feeling and let the music tell me what it wants to be. The tracklist order was also very intentional, making sure there was flow between the genres, similar to how I create my live sets.

The album also features an impressive group of collaborators, including KSHMR, William Black, Dabin, Jillian Rossi, and others. Was there a particular collaboration that challenged you creatively or pushed you outside your comfort zone in an unexpected way?

Working with KSHMR, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I put my best foot forward. He has such a strong artistic vision and attention to detail. Collaborations like that challenge you to elevate your own ideas and approach things differently. Truly stoked with how that song came together – feels like a perfect representation of both of us.

Beyond the music itself, you’ve built an entire visual world around True North through a three-part docuseries and individual vignettes for each single. This kind of storytelling feels increasingly important among artists looking to create deeper connections with their audiences. Do you think electronic music fans today are seeking a stronger narrative connection with artists beyond the music alone?

I do. The music will always come first, but I think fans are increasingly interested in the stories behind the music and the people creating it. We live in a world where listeners have access to artists in ways they never did before. They don’t just want to hear a song. They want to understand where it came from, what inspired it, and what it means to the person who made it. For True North, I wanted to create something that felt bigger than a collection of songs. The docuseries and visual vignettes allowed me to share parts of the story that don’t always fit into a three-minute record. I hope that it helps people connect with the album on a deeper level.

You’ve already introduced some of this material to audiences through performances on Groove Cruise and Seven Lions’ tour. How has seeing these songs resonate in a live setting influenced your relationship with them?

It’s honestly one of the most rewarding parts of releasing music. When you’re making an album, you’re spending months or years alone in a studio with these songs. Eventually, you lose perspective on how people might react to them. Seeing fans sing lyrics back, hearing their reactions to new records, and watching them connect with specific moments reminds me why I make music in the first place. There have already been songs on True North that took on a completely new meaning for me after seeing how audiences responded to them live. That’s one of the beautiful things about releasing music. Once it’s out in the world, it starts belonging to everyone.

That leads perfectly into the upcoming True North Tour. This album is rooted in introspection, vulnerability, and self-discovery. These are qualities that can be challenging to translate into a large live environment. How have you approached bringing those quieter, more reflective moments to the stage? What can fans expect from the True North Tour that will make it distinct from a typical Jason Ross set?

That was one of the biggest creative challenges when designing the show. I didn’t want the tour to feel like a collection of songs with visuals behind them. I wanted it to feel like a journey. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about pacing, storytelling, visuals, and how to create moments that allow people to really sit with the emotions of the album before launching back into the bigger, high-energy moments. Fans can still expect all the energy and intensity they’re used to from my shows, but this tour is much more immersive. It’s designed to pull people into the world of True North and take them on the same emotional journey that inspired the album.

To close, if True North is ultimately about finding your way back to what matters most, what is one thing you’ve rediscovered about yourself through making this album that you never want to lose again?

I’ve rediscovered that it’s okay not to have everything figured out. For a long time, I thought confidence came from certainty, but I’ve learned that real confidence comes from trusting yourself even when the answers aren’t clear. That’s ultimately what True North is about. The kid who fell in love with dance music didn’t have a roadmap. He wasn’t thinking about careers or milestones. He was simply following something that felt meaningful to him. Making this album reminded me that some of the best things in life happen when you’re willing to trust that feeling and keep moving forward.