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Friday, August 6, 2021
J Hacha De Zola chats with American Songwriter: “I always challenge myself to do something that makes me uncomfortable.” Plays hometown festival Saturday.
See Jersey City native own downtown NYC in “Faded”
lyric video. “I’ve always been in New York City’s shadow,” he says of clip for
“East of Eden” opener. +++
J Hacha De Zola as photographed by Christine Samaroo +++ J Hacha De Zola | Live
Sat., Aug. 7th, 2021: Jersey
City, NJ @ The Historic JC & Harsimus Cemetery (435 Newark Avenue, 420PM) Goatchella 2021 : The Return of The Goats : A
Fundraiser for The Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery RSVP | TICKETS +++ J Hacha De Zola | “Faded”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaBfI9JWgsg +++ “Having grown up in Jersey City, where I still reside
and will likely die, I have always been in New York City’s long and tall shadow,”
says J Hacha De Zola, chatting about
his stroll through lower
Manhattan in his “Faded” lyric
video. “It’s a complicated and strange feeling. You can run down the street in
New York naked while on fire and no one will notice. There’s a freedom to that
in the sense that no matter how weird you are, no one cares. That’s real
freedom. Despite my complex feelings about the place, there is no other city
that I would rather ‘fade away’ into.” Writer J. Poetcomments
on the song for Rock
& Roll Globe, saying, “On ‘Faded,’
street corner harmonies wash over Hacha De
Zola’s voice as he croons his devotion to a love that’s dissolving in the
mist.” Read more about the heavy influence of New York on Hacha De Zola’s new album in the full Rock & Roll Globe interview here. Hacha De Zola also chatted
withAmerican Songwriter
recently, touching on that theme of freedom from judgment, including when it
comes to criticizing himself. “I’ve never really been comfortable with my
singing voice. I don’t consider myself a singer or much of a musician, to be
honest. I’m more of a conceptual artist,” he says. “To get an understanding of
where I’m going, I have to look back at what I’ve done previously, and I always
challenge myself to do something that makes me uncomfortable.” It’s a technique and an approach to
his artistry that dates back to Hacha De
Zola’s formative years of first being exposed to world music as a child. In
a wide-ranging recent
discussion with Ghettoblaster
Magazine, he vividly remembers, “My first love was Latin music,
particularly Perez Prado. It’s
funny, that’s the first thing I ever heard when my dad was drinking his wine in
the evening. That and a lot of Afro-Cuban music. That was my introduction to
it.” +++ J Hacha De Zola East
of Eden Out Now (Caballo
Negro) Streaming Link: STREAM FULL LP
Track Listing: 01. Faded (LYRIC VIDEO) 02. Lost Space (STREAM | VIDEO) 03. Which Way (STREAM) 04. East of Eden 05. A Viral Spring 06. Shadows On Glass 07. That Pleading Tone 08. Sad Song 09. Green and Golden 10. Meet Me +++ J Hacha De Zola | In The Press
“A wild man.” — Paste “Alluring and unsettling.” — NJ.com “The kind of alluring character found in old
children’s books.” — UTNE “Dangerously delightful.” — The Big Takeover “Bound to light the way forward and inspire a legion
of imitators.” — PopMatters “Beckoning listeners somewhere exciting.” — BTRtoday “Possessed and cacophonic.” — Atwood Magazine +++
“As enticing as it is distant and strange.” — MAGNET “Sits at his own, most likely oddly shaped table.” — Pancakes and Whiskey “No one around left to hit him with any sort of
healthy competition.” — Ghettoblaster “One of the most important and singular artists making
music today.” — Stereo Embers “A challenging, at times daunting, listen.” — BLURT “Mutant blues rock.” — Treble “A modern day Frank
Zappa.” — Adam’s World +++ J Hacha De Zola | About
For his fifth album, East of Eden (Caballo Negro, Out Now), J Hacha De Zola
has left the “urban junkyard” of his previous albums and slipped into a natty
white suit. His look is more accessible this time around – see the
dignified vibes of his latest single and album art – and his sound matches. “This record is unlike any other I have made
previously,” the Jersey City-based artist acknowledges. “I stayed focused on
what was truly best for each song, keeping it somewhat simple – at least for me
– rather than allowing myself to become overly self-indulgent in terms of
running away on tangents.” The result is an album that exemplifies the universe
that Hacha De Zola has built over
his four previous albums (as well as EPs that cover ground from the all-Spanish
“Syn Illusión” to his versions of
hits by female pop stars on “UnPOPular”),
while also charting new territory. East of Eden is some kind of place where Jim
Morrison did downers instead of acid in the control room during the
recording of Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig In The Sky.” As Hacha De
Zola tells it, the creation of this record was actually less frenetic than
all that. “I came into the studio with a developed concept, and
the songs written already,” he says. “This time, I had a clear cut direction
ready to go. I have to be honest, I have never really been comfortable with my
singing voice, and I wanted to do something that would be more challenging.” The push pays off, as Hacha De Zola’s vocals are the focus here. Where previous records
saw him vocalizing in a way that complimented the music, this time the music
compliments the man. “A big inspiration for me on East of Eden was the
vocal group tradition from the 1950s and 60s,” he says. “Especially those from
New Jersey, New York, and Detroit. Doo-wop groups like Sha Na Na, The Temptations,
The Four Seasons, and others. Being
a Jersey boy, I couldn’t help but be influenced in the rich vocal singing group
tradition and history in this area.” Digging into the roots of his musical soul, literally
and figuratively, sounds pure in context throughout the new album, and
especially on its pre-release singles “Lost
Space” and “Which Way,” showing
off a level of maturity and thoughtfulness that can only come from the
development that years of album-making brings. “Even with all of its imperfections, it was very
important for me to bring the nuances of the vocal components of this record
right to the front. I truly feel that I have found my own voice,” Hacha De Zola says. With that, he may never return to the “urban junkyard”
and his method of rendering records via his “reductive synthesis” method (read
about it here) ever again. It is a position that is congruent with the
state of the world that longed to “return to normal,” but may never be able to
find the way back to exactly that. “The title of the record reflects that,” Hacha De Zola explains. “East
of Eden, a sense of being left behind or abandoned, banished from the
‘garden.’ Off to the Land of Nod where Cain was banished for murdering his
brother, Abel. “It’s a bit of a biblical reference that I found was
quite apt,” he continues. “Especially during this moment of divisiveness among
so many people over so many things. Lyrically, I couldn’t help but infuse many
of these feelings into the songs.” Hacha De
Zola’s “Which Way” single is one that best reflects his hard-won ability
to infuse these real emotions into what has become known as somewhat esoteric
work. “That song was a way of taking inventory of the chaos
and confusion of the moment. It’s a somber song, and it wasn’t an easy one to
write. At the time, it was very difficult to focus on anything other than
trying to protect the vulnerable members of my family and not getting sick. I
had to push myself pretty hard to work through the fear.” His new strength and resolve fits Hacha De Zola well, just like the natty new clothes on his back. East of Eden, the fifth album by J Hacha De
Zola, is out now. +++ Also Out Now | J Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits
Obviously, as a songwriter, J Hacha De Zola and John
Denver come from vastly different places, with different musical ideas… As
for the could-be-ironic, mostly inexplicable, definitely fun tribute that is
the J
Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits album cover, a dead-on approximation of
singer-songwriter John Denver’s own
eponymous and iconic John Denver’s Greatest Hits album
image… Hacha De Zola focuses in on,
and connects with what they have deeply in common, saying, “I loved this idea
of being exactly what you are. Whatever you are, be it.” +++ J Hacha De Zola J
Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits Out Now (Caballo
Negro) Streaming Link: STREAM FULL LP
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