“This album is an intentional tribute to 90’s indie-rock.” The March Divide preps sixth full-length “Lost Causes” for June 10th release.

Hear album inspiration “Virginia” now. See Jared Putnam live on one of more than forty spring 2022 dates, just announced.
 
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Jared Putnam of The March Divide as photographed by Short Eared Dog Photography.
 
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
 
The March Divide | “Virginia”
  

[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/TheMarchDivide-Virginia
 
“‘Virginia’ is the first song that I wrote and recorded for the album and it set the tone,” says Jared Putnam of The March Divide about Lost Causes, his sixth album, out June 10^th on Slow Start Records. “This album is an intentional tribute to 90’s indie-rock. I barely touched my electric guitar in years, but this album seemed to demand it. It took me a little while to get reacquainted with my Telecaster, but I loved doing it.”
 
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The March Divide | In The Press
 

“Impressively hooky.” — American Songwriter
 
“Relentlessly catchy.” — Under The Radar
 
“Bittersweet beauty.” — Impose
 
“Putnam’s vocals pop.” — PopMatters
 
“Hits the mark again and again. ” — The Big Takeover
 
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The March Divide | Live
 
03/03/2022: Corpus Christi, TX @ Executive Surf Club
03/04/2022: San Antonio, TX @ The Point Park
03/05/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
03/10/2022: Wichita Falls, TX @ The High Dive
03/11/2022: Wichita Falls, TX @ Gypsy Uncorked
03/24/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
03/25/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
03/26/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
03/27/2022: Corpus Christi, TX @ Executive Surf Club
04/01/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
04/02/2022: Harlingen, TX @ Hop Shop
04/03/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
04/08/2022: Tyler, TX @ ETX Brewing
04/09/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
04/15/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
04/23/2022: Coleman, TX @ Coleman Film Festival
04/27/2022: Clovis NM @ Bandolero Brewery
04/28/2022: Albuquerque, NM @ Canteen Brewhouse
04/29/2022: Madrid, NM @ Mineshaft Tavern
05/01/2022: Salt Lake City, UT @ The Beehive
05/03/2022: Carson City, NV @ Shoe Tree Brewing
05/04/2022: Sparks, NV @ Elbow Room (w/Blunderbusst)
05/05/2022: Mindon, NV @ Shoe Tree Brewing
05/06/2022: Ashland, OR @ Art Walk (w/Blunderbusst)
05/07/2022: Seattle, WA @ Lucky Liquor (w/Blunderbusst)
05/08/2022: Salem, OR @ Infinity Room (w/Blunderbusst)
05/10/2022: Portland, OR @ No Fun Bar (w/Blunderbusst)
05/11/2022: Medford, OR @ Johnny B’s (w/Blunderbusst)
05/14/2022: Landers, CA @ Giant Rock (w/Blunderbusst, Ryan Traster)
05/17/2022: Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
05/20/2022: Bisbee, AZ @ Bisbee Grand Hotel
05/21/2022: Alamogordo, NM @ 575 Brewing Company
05/22/2022: Silver City, NM @ Little Toad Creek
06/02/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
06/03/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
06/05/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
06/11/2022: San Antonio, TX @ The Point Park
06/17/2022: Fort Stockton, TX @ Zero Stone Park
06/23/2022: San Antono, TX @ Fralos
06/24/2022: Fort Stockton, TX @ The Old ‘76
08/28/2022: Cloudcroft, NM @ Cloudcroft Brewing
 
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The March Divide | About
 

I wanna hate you. I’m not perfect. Giving up. King of the lost cause. This world is gonna end.
 
Jared Putnam is a funny guy. No, really, he is. Don’t let the negative words above, which comprise five of the ten song titles on Lost Causes (oops, he did it again!), Putnam’s sixth album as The March Divide, fool you.
 
Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the tenants of comedy and Putnam’s greatest strength has always been to take his everyman, self-effacing character and wrap it in urgent melodies backed by just-slick-enough production to draw you in and keep you there.
 
It’s why over the years music critics have called his songs “impressively hooky” (American Songwriter) with “classic pop hooks” (The Big Takeover) where his “pop sensibility comes entirely to the forefront” (Under The Radar).
 
As a next-door neighbor who you would actually like to know, Putnam doesn’t try to overstay his welcome, either. Even though he is a prolific songwriter, after the release of his appropriately titled fifth album cinc in April of 2021, he figured he was tapped out of ideas for a while.
 
Instead, he started making the best distillation of his talents to date. As Putnam tells it, inspiration returned as he was just out doing Dad stuff.
 
“I was driving my kid to school and Gin Blossoms came on the radio. I’m a forever fan of Gin Blossoms, but this was ‘Hey Jealousy,’ which commercial radio has been running into the ground for 30 years.
 
“But in that moment, it was the greatest thing I’d ever heard! The hooks, the subject matter, and all the rest were as they’d always been, but I was struck by how it was put together. In that moment, that’s what made the song great.”
 
Putnam has spent years deconstructing pop songs in an attempt to discover the formula. This “Hey Jealousy” epiphany may have been destined, because the blueprint of the connection Putnam realized while just doing Daddy duty allowed him to build Lost Causes.
 
“I’ve always been fascinated with dissecting what makes a song great and trying to find the catalyst for the chemical reaction that emotionally connects us to where a handful of tunes are run into the ground for 30 years,” he says of the rarefied air that a timeless hit song occupies.
 
Joining Putnam under The March Divide banner for Lost Causes are friends Ernie Garcia (long-time player with El Vez and Javier Escovedo) on bass and Jason West on drums.
 
“Our mutual love of Cheap Trick has always made Jason the perfect drummer for my songs,” Putnam says. Lost Causes was mixed and mastered by Mike Major (At The Drive-In, Coheed and Cambria.)
 
“Mike also produced a lot of great bands around the southwest,” Putnam explains. “It wasn’t lost on me that Gin Blossoms are from Tempe and have a very staple southwestern sound. Mike knew what I was going for.”
 
Lyrically, the songs on Lost Causes pick up where the last single from Putnam’s previous album left off. At the time, he had started to write in a more stream of consciousness style, even making a promise to himself not to change his words.
 
“It’s pretty satisfying to just say what you want to say, without worrying about how cool it sounds,” he said at the time.
 
This is why Putnam’s humor shines brighter than ever on Lost Causes.
 
I wanna hate you. I’m not perfect. Giving up. King of the lost cause. This world is gonna end.
 
We have all felt these things, but putting them in song, or voicing them at all could seem whiney or at least cynical and pessimistic.
 
Not so, with Putnam, who has become a master of this somewhat sarcastic craft. Instead, these songs are relatable confessions in a candy coating.
 
“Writing sad songs about utter loneliness comes very naturally to me,” he says. “These kinds of songs are very therapeutic for me to write.”
 
These sad songs are the ones that most connect with Putnam’s growing audience, especially those overseas that have propelled tunes such as his 2019 release “Secrets,” to just-shy of a million Spotify spins.
 
“I’m Not Perfect,” the first single from Lost Causes, started out as one of these “downer” tunes, but in sharing his early demo with his collaborators, Putnam was pushed to make it more, while keeping what makes it The March Divide. The tune opens Lost Causes and is a total success.
 
“Even though writing these types of songs is therapeutic for me, it’s also a rut,” Putnam says. “Emotionally, I got so much more out of working on ‘I’m Not Perfect’ by working with others. I’m hopeful that the fans who crave these songs from me will too. Maybe we can all get out of our sad bastard rut together.”
 
He’s a funny guy.
 
Lost Causes, the sixth album by The March Divide, arrives on June 10^th via Slow Start Records preceded by the singles “I’m Not Perfect” (March 18^th), “Tension In The Air” (April 8^th), “I Wanna Hate You” (April 29^th), and “King of The Lost Cause” (May 20^th.)
 
Jared Putnam of The March Divide is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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The March Divide | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE : SLOW START RECORDS
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL

Watch Caitlin Cobb-Vialet perform “Ask Me,” a song inspired by “the safeness and understanding that I felt in my first queer relationship.”

Upcoming Endless Void reminds of Regina Spektor, Kate Bush on songs of “love, heartbreak, consent, mental illness, and coming of age.”
 
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Caitlin Cobb-Vialet as photographed by Lindsey Ruth
 
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
 
Caitlin Cobb-Vialet | “Ask Me”
 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9WUSpY83mI
 
[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/CaitlinCobbVialet-AskMe
 
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“There is something disarmingly real and genuine with her approach to the craft.” — SF Weekly
 
 “The song finds Caitlin at her beloved piano, reminiscent of early Regina Spektor, as she plucks out rich chords to accompany her soaring, heartfelt vocals,” says music discovery site For The Rabbits in its premiere coverage of the music video of “Ask Me,” the new single by Caitlin Cobb-Vialet. “That feeling of closeness, described beautifully throughout the track... is punctuated by the feeling that this love is ultimately fleeting.”
 
“‘Ask Me’ is a song I wrote inspired by the newfound feeling of safeness and understanding that I felt in my first queer relationship,” Caitlin Cobb-Vialet tells Adobe & Teardrops. “At the end of the song, I come to the realization that ‘even in love you’re still alone,’ alluding to the temporary nature of even powerful love.”
 
When Caitlin Cobb-Vialet sits down at her grand piano in San Francisco, it feels like you are sitting on the bench right next to her. The young songwriter and multi-instrumentalist creates immediate intimacy in the opening moments of her upcoming debut album. The songs are often fleeting (album opener “Not Enough” clocking at a slim two minutes, for example), but it doesn’t matter; Cobb-Vialet imparts so much feeling in such a small amount of time.
 
Endless Void, the debut album by Caitlin Cobb-Vialet, arrives on May 6^th via War Chant Records.
 
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Caitlin Cobb-Vialet
Endless Void
(War Chant Records)
May 6^th, 2022
  

Track Listing:
 
01. Not Enough (STREAM)
02. Joan To Catherine
03. Ask Me (STREAM | VIDEO)
04. The Reference
05. Collared Shirts
06. You Don’t Try
07. Useless
08. Disco Ball
09. What’s It With You?
10. Float
 
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Caitlin Cobb-Vialet | Live
 
03/17/2022: San Francisco, CA @ Brick & Mortar
04/21/2022: San Francisco, CA @ Make-Out Room
 
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
 

 
Caitlin Cobb-Vialet | “Not Enough”
  

[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/CaitlinCobbVialet-NotEnough
 
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“I’m moving to Oregon / With Noah forever / I’ll see you on Facebook / Or maybe I’ll mute you / Whatever”
 
Does a proper name ever pop up in an album opener? Or the mention of a social media platform? It doesn’t matter that you don’t know Noah (and you don’t want to know Facebook.) This sentiment is powerful and timeless, even when expressed in the vernacular of the day.
 
CLOUT says the song is “Distinctive and effortlessly engaging... candid and intimate in a really warm and conversational way,” continuing on to proclaim, “‘Not Enough’ feels like a living thing.”
 
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Caitlin Cobb-Vialet | About
 

Discovered by visionary bay area producer, Jim Greer (credits include Foster The People, Macy Gray, Angelo Moore of Fishbone), Caitlin Cobb-Vialet is, actually and truly, a discovery. It even feels like the songs must have been hidden from the songwriter herself, only being recognized and realized as they are being performed.
 
Cobb-Vialet’s studies at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts could have something to do with the dramatic effect of that.
 
“The studio encouraged me to be a well-rounded artist who could write, direct, design, as well as act,” Cobb-Vialet explains.
 
Immersed in what she describes as the “busy-ness” of college, performing and composing as part of several productions at once, Cobb-Vialet’s musical theater background and love of the abstract art that she was exposed to in downtown NYC provided the experiences that she had been readied for as a child brought up in a progressive, blended home.
 
“I was raised by four moms,” she explains. “I had two moms, and then when I was in the fifth grade, they separated and partnered with two moms of kids at my school. So I have two moms, two step-moms, my brother, and six step-siblings who I’ve known since elementary school.”
 
As the oldest child, Cobb-Vialet was bound to be looked to in the household as an example (many of her siblings are also in the arts), but her insights hit home outside of her literal home, too.
 
Especially with Greer, who is effusive about their work together.
 
“At our first meeting, she played me a few songs, and right away I heard shades of so many songwriters I’ve always been a fan of,” he remembers. “Bits of Freddie Mercury, Kate Bush, David Bowie, Regina Spektor – the kind of artists that make their own universe and communicate wide swaths of emotion and beauty.”
 
Accessing for herself these timeless artist’s knack for accessibility is part of the inherent potential Cobb-Vialet’s songs have to connect and convey a unique young life that, even now, isn’t often represented.
 
“Besides love and heartbreak, these songs also explore queerness, consent, mental illness, friendship, and coming of age,” she says. “As an artist I would say I am non-linear, emotional, brutally honest, and relentless.”
 
The fleeting intimacy that takes place at the bench of Cobb-Vialet’s grand piano... It is quite grand indeed.
 
Endless Void, the debut album by Caitlin Cobb-Vialet, arrives via War Chant Records on May 6^th, 2022 preceded by the singles “Ask Me” (Feb. 4^th), “Joan To Catherine” (March 4^th), and “Disco Ball” (April 8^th).
 
Caitlin Cobb-Vialet is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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Caitlin Cobb-Vialet | Links
 
ASSETS : INSTAGRAM : FACEBOOK : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL

“‘Lateral To The Devil’ is an eerily calm track with ambient electronic layers over warm acoustic guitar, and airy, effortless vocals.” — WXPN

 “Stirring new single” from duo of Chet Delcampo, Heyward Howkins (collaborators with members of The War On Drugs, Karl Blau) out today.
 
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Later Fortune (L-R): Heyward Howkins and Chet Delcampo. Photo credit: Mark Schreiber
 
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
 

Later Fortune | “Lateral To The Devil”

  

[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/LaterFortune-LateralToTheDevil
 
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Philadelphia’s NPR-affiliate WXPN says “Lateral To The Devil,” the new single by local duo Later Fortune (Chet Delcampo and Heyward Howkins) is “stirring,” and “an eerily calm track with ambient electronic layers over warm acoustic guitar, and airy, effortless vocals reminiscent of Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen.”
 
“My usual songwriting process is coming up with a mostly realized song on guitar,” says Howkins. “Later Fortune has been a complete departure from that.”
 
Listen to “Lateral To The Devil” now via WXPN’s local music hub The Key or at the link above.
 
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Later Fortune | “Win” (David Bowie Cover)

 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ByhRJB32Y
 
[STREAM]: https://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/later-fortune-win-david-bowie
 
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“A truly stirring rendition that would make Bowie smile.” — Glide Magazine
 
“Ever since the Beatles, b-sides have carried a certain mystique. For the back half of their upcoming single, “Lateral To The Devil,” Later Fortune chose to cover David Bowie’s “Win,” an underappreciated soul-noir classic from 1975’s Young Americans. It’s the first release from the Philly duo — Chet Delcampo and Heyward Howkins — in three years. And the b-side is certainly no throwaway.” — Hobart Rowland, MAGNET Magazine
 
“The video accompaniment to ‘Win’ is meant to be a dark, lo-fi counterpoint to the polished beauty of Later Fortune’s interpretation of the Bowie tune,” explains director, Robert A. Emmons Jr. “Shot completely using two VHS cameras, the video’s protagonist, isolated and pining for a ‘win’ of their own, creates a type of lyric video ‘ransom note’ using the types of ephemera found decaying in cardboard boxes across the country — old magazines and VHS tapes — in the hopes that someone out there gets the message… and maybe reaches back.”
 
Watch “Win” now via MAGNET Magazine or at the link above.
 
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Later Fortune | In The Press

“Wistful, melancholy, and obsessively manicured... crushed-velvet reverie.” — Philadelphia Weekly
 
“Lush, lucid. Warm and ethereal. It contains multitudes.” — WXPN (NPR), Philadelphia
 
“Intriguing indie-folk... sung with a keening voice that grows on you.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
 
“Lovely and moody.” — Philadelphia Daily News
 
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Later Fortune
“Lateral To The Devil” b/w “Win” (David Bowie Cover)
Out Now
 
Streaming Link:
STREAM SINGLE
  

 
Track Listing:
 
Side A. Lateral To The Devil  (STREAM)
Side B: Win (David Bowie Cover) (STREAM | VIDEO)
 
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Later Fortune | About
 
Their names alone spark curiosity: Later Fortune is the Philly-based duo of Chet Delcampo and Heyward Howkins.
 
Both are busy musicians and songwriters working at the front, back, and on stage, as well as appearing on each other’s recordings. This makes their new two-song “Lateral To The Devil” single a rare thing. The previous Later Fortune release dropped three years ago, but patience pays.
 
Even at a mere two tracks and even with one being a cover (David Bowie’s Young Americans album cut “Win,” which Bowie biographer David Buckley called “one of the most gorgeous melodies Bowie has ever written”), it’s enough to underscore the taste and talent that results from decades of adulting in music.
 
Delcampo has two earlier album releases to his name, as well as another pair as Hong Kong Stingray, and in real life, he’s called Chris Madl. His list of current and former collaborators is long, including Kid Congo Powers, Joel RL Phelps, Dave Lovering of The Pixies, and Karl Blau (who contributes the cover art for this release). Maybe Delcampo’s affinity for an alias is an extra wrinkle to the choice of a Bowie deep cut.
 
“I remember hearing ‘Win’ as a kid, lying on the bedroom floor with headphones, Christmas lights flickering,” Delcampo says. “It’s just one of those implanted youth-related feelings that invoke a warm recall, and when we were considering doing a cover, I thought we could do something interesting. Hopefully it’s a fresh take.”
 
“I think my tween Depeche Mode influences crept in,” says Howkins, who has released two full-length albums of his own, co-founded the choral group The Silver Ages with members of Dr. Dog and The War on Drugs, and is known during the day as John. “As a kid, I practiced my singing to Depeche Mode songs. I had never heard David Bowie’s ‘Win,’ but Chet thought we could make it bold. The melody is weird, so it was challenging. I’m psyched with how moody and dark our version is.”
 
Delcampo is impressed.
 
“Heyward wasn’t initially aware of the song,” he explains. “It was a real kick when I heard him carving a space for his voice to reside and owning it.”
 
“My solo music is not typically electronic,” Howkins explains. “This palette gave me freedom to be more emotive and to sing out more.”
 
Maybe the lyric by Howkins that opens “Lateral To The Devil” also harkens back to his life-long love of Depeche Mode. It could easily have come from that band’s mid-career catalog and is satisfying in its intelligence without being too smart for its own good.
 
“Sat lateral to the devil, not above him more on equal,” Howkins sings over quivering electronics and a spare piano figure that gives way to pulsating bass and washes of drums. He continues, singing, “Asked if he knew what it’s like to be human, he said I wouldn’t choose it.”
 
“I enjoy trusting Heyward’s lyrical strengths,” Delcampo states.
 
Coupled with his equally powerful vocals –soulful, stirring, and silent at the right moments – the song is like porcelain. Beautiful and sturdy, but delicate and temporary. It makes the case for brevity.
 
Their names spark curiosity and this brief statement in song does too.
 
Chet Delcampo (aka Chris Madl) is currently in the final stages of wrapping up a new album as Hong Kong Stingray. Heyward Howkins is in the final stages of recording a new solo EP.
 
“Lateral To The Devil” b/w/ “Win,” the upcoming single from their collaboration Later Fortune is out now.
 
Later Fortune is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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Later Fortune | Links
 
ASSETS : INSTAGRAM : FACEBOOK : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL

Members of Cracker, Elf Power join Sloan Brothers on “Songs Like This” single, out today. Pop cut taken from upcoming “System Update” full-length.

Debut (May 13^th, Science Project Records) also features Robert Schneider (The Apples In Stereo), players from Maserati, of Montreal, Drive-By Truckers.
 
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Sloan Simpson as photographed by Sean Dunn
 
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
 

Sloan Brothers | “Songs Like This”
 

[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/SloanBrothers-SongsLikeThis
 
“Punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of power pop... begs to be played on repeat.” — Glide Magazine
 
“The song finds Simpson showcasing his penchant for writing punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of power pop,” says Glide Magazine in its premiere coverage of the Sloan Brothers single “Songs Like This,” out today. “With its bouncy synth and uptempo beat, the song is a fun romp that begs to be played on repeat. In true collaborative fashion, Simpson enlisted some of his favorite Athens musicians to join him on the tune, and the result feels both communal and celebratory.”
 
Simpson says, “I wrote this song after asking Andrew Rieger of Elf Power if he would sing on something, if I wrote one he liked. He agreed. At that point, it seemed like something that was a slight nod to the poppier side of Elephant 6 would be appropriate. Andrew sings the high part in the choruses. After recording basics, I realized it was perfect for Kevin Lane of local pop legends The Possibilities to sing in the verses with me and also add some rhythm guitar. I’ve been friends with Bryan J. Howard of Cracker for nearly 20 years now, and he jumped in here on bass.”
 
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Though Sloan Simpson says that while making his debut album he was “listening to mainly The Cure,” the album’s opening one-two punch of the title track and the instrumental “Cleopatra Echo” feels like Daft Punk invited Herbie Hancock to form a trio jamming with The Grateful Dead during that band’s most spirited era of ever-evolving journeyman collaboration.
 
Somewhat of a local music archivist, Sloan Simpson has been recording for over two decades, and until now, none of the music has been his own. This changes with the release of his debut album System Update (May 13^th, 2022, Science Project Records) under the name Sloan Brothers.
 
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Sloan Brothers
System Update
(Science Project Records)
May 13^th, 2022
  

 
Track Listing:
 
01. System Update
02. Cleopatra Echo (STREAM)
03. Cryin’ Shame
04. Anxiety
05. Songs Like This (STREAM)
06. Love You So Good
07. So Good (Reprise)
08. Amplified
09. Coffee Black
10. Into My Mind
11. Mirrorball
12. Smile Down On Me
 
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Sloan Brothers | About
 

Sloan Simpson has been recording for over two decades. Until now, none of the music has been his own.
 
This changes with the release of his debut album System Update (May 13^th, 2022, Science Project Records) under the name Sloan Brothers.
 
Though Simpson says that while making the album, “I was listening to mainly The Cure,” the album’s opening one-two punch of the title track and the instrumental “Cleopatra Echo” feels like Daft Punk invited Herbie Hancock to form a trio jamming with The Grateful Dead during that band’s most spirited era of ever-evolving journeyman collaboration.
 
Wow, how did Simpson get here?!
 
The Athens, Georgia-based musician played rock and jazz guitar growing up, but was frustrated by the hit his talents took when a serious car accident sidelined him. Simpson sold all of his guitars and quit the instrument.
 
With music still in his blood, if not in his grasp, Simpson began to document, through live taping, the local scene in his new hometown of Atlanta, eventually relocating to nearby Athens after years spent driving between the two as part of his recording endeavors. His new hobby had become a good habit.
 
“I had a permanent recording setup installed and the reality of losing my favorite venue really set in when I had to go remove it,” Simpson says of The Caledonia Lounge, a nationally-recognized Athens club that closed in October of 2020, sidelining him again.
 
Like the life-changing event that inspired his recording career of recording others, the closing of the Caledonia was eerily fortuitous for Simpson. While live music was in shutdown, he wrote and recorded his first song.
 
“It was the first vocals I’d ever sung into a microphone,” Simpson says. With his friend, guitarist Kevin Sweeney contributing solos, the first Sloan Brothers single “For You” was released later that month.
 
Pleased with the experience, Simpson picked up a bass, more microphones, and drum software. Though he returned to guitar, he says that even without formal training, “playing keyboards is what allowed me to start writing songs.”
 
He also started calling up more friends.
 
Simpson explains, “I asked my friend Robert Schneider (co-founder of The Apples In Stereo and Elephant Six Recording Co.) if he would record backing vocals on the song “Into My Mind,” and he agreed. As I kept writing more songs, I would ask more friends I knew from recording shows over the years to contribute guest parts.”
 
In addition to Sweeney and Schneider, some three-dozen or more local luminaries also appear on System Update, including current and former members of Maserati, Olivia Tremor Control, Japancakes, of Montreal, Drive-By Truckers, Cracker, Casper & The Cookies, Camper Van Beethoven, Elf Power, and more.
 
In fact, it was Elf Power’s Andrew Rieger that inspired Simpson’s songwriting on the album’s first single, “Songs Like This.”
 
“I asked Andrew if he would sing on something if I wrote one he liked,” Simpson jokes. “Andrew sings the high part in the choruses and it was perfect for Kevin Lane of local pop legends The Possibilities to sing in the verses with me. I’ve been friends with Bryan J. Howard of Cracker for nearly 20 years now, and he jumped in on bass.”
 
The tune has one the most relatable indie rock crush-couplets you’ll ever hear and is a defining example of the quality of Simpson’s songwriting future.
 
“I saw you buying records and I saw you at the coffee shop
 
I didn’t hear your order but I bought the same record you got”
 
These words provide a mere glimpse into Simpson’s ability to explore emotion with the kind of candor that only comes from experience brought by age.
 
“I had long been avoiding expressing feelings as some sort of misguided version of the ‘cool’ that rock ‘n roll had taught me growing up,” he admits. “Once I lost family, I realized that it’s okay to express pain, trauma, and desires.”
 
After half a lifetime taking home tapes of the personal struggles of others in song, it’s about time that Simpson is giving us the same opportunity with his unexpected, thrilling work.
 
System Update, the debut album by Sloan Brothers arrives on May 13^th via Science Project Records, preceded by the singles “Songs Like This” (Feb. 11^th), “Love You So Good” (March 11^th), and “Anxiety” (April 15^th). Sloan Simpson is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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Sloan Brothers | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE : SCIENCE PROJECT RECORDS
 
+++
 
Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
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J Hacha De Zola’s “Not Acoustic” presents stripped-back, live-to-camera solo versions of faves from his catalog; New album coming late ‘22.

“This is the real me,” Hacha says of “visual” EP feat. false starts, Spanish intros, spare instrumentation. “Let the bones fall where they may.”
 
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J Hacha De Zola as photographed by Christine Samaroo
 
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J Hacha De Zola | “Anarchy (Not Acoustic)”
 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxF3BsFYL3w
 
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Jersey City-based J Hacha De Zola is currently in the studio completing the follow-up to his mid-2021 album East of Eden. After a recent session, he stepped back into the vocal booth to shoot a four-song “visual EP” of songs from his previous releases.
 
The release, entitled “Not Acoustic,” features Hacha De Zola accompanying his solo vocal takes with spare instrumentation, Spanish spoken intros, false starts, and everything else that makes these performances real and compelling. Even though the audio dropped on all streaming services in late January, Hacha De Zola is most excited for the “visual EP” version.
 
“It’s a special distinction that I want to make here,” he explains. “The performance on video is the main focus. I think that hearing the audio of these performances hits differently. Seeing me do these select tunes in a personal, as if you are in the same room with me kind of way… this is how I want to present this EP.”
 
The stripped back versions of songs that have earned Hacha De Zola critical acclaim (“Strange” and “Blue Sky” originally appeared on the debut album Escape From Fat Kat City in 2016, “Anarchy” is from 2019’s Icaro Nouveau, and “Lost Space” is a 2021 East of Eden cut) reveals these compositions in a way that Hacha De Zola’s “reductive synthesis” approach to recording could not.
 
“I want to give a sense of how these songs are fleshed out before ‘studio magic’ comes into play,” he says. “It’s important to see and hear the imperfections. The majority of my songs are written in the studio, but that wasn’t the case with this particular set of tunes, some of my favorite ones at that.”
 
He concludes, “This is the real me – ugly, imperfect, and flawed – and I hope that maybe other folks will be inspired to express themselves as they are and let the bones fall where they may.”
 
J Hacha De Zola is currently completing his sixth full-length album for release later in 2022. His “Not Acoustic” EP, a four-song compilation of favorites from his catalog performed solo in the studio is out now.
 
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J Hacha De Zola
“Not Acoustic” EP
Out Now
(Caballo Negro)
 
Video Streaming Link:
STREAM VISUAL EP
 
Audio Streaming Link:
STREAM FULL EP
 

 
Track Listing:
 
01. Strange (Not Acoustic)
02. Anarchy (Not Acoustic) (VIDEO)
03. Blue Sky (Not Acoustic)
04. Lost Space (Not Acoustic)
 
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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
 
“Possessed and cacophonic.” — Atwood Magazine
 
“As enticing as it is distant and strange.” — MAGNET
 
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J Hacha De Zola | “Faded”
 

 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzzw3aGsoZI
 
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“Irrepressible blues,” says Backseat Mafia in its premiere coverage of the “Faded” music video, going on to call the clip for the opening track on the Jersey City-based artist’s latest album East of Eden, “beautifully shot.”
 
Filmed by Victoria Rio of Pulp Productions in a gorgeous derelict townhouse in the heart of London, the director explains, “J Hacha De Zola’s music is an ode to strangeness, an invitation to dream and wander through dark, deeply poetic tales. We were incredibly lucky to be able to film in this location.”
 
Hacha De Zola says, “‘Faded’ is my personal favorite song off of my latest album, and I was thoroughly enthralled by Victoria’s vision for the video. I am so moved to see that all of these elegant, talented and absolutely beautiful people came together to make this.”
 
Writer J. Poet comments 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 with American Songwriter recently, touching on the 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… 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.”
 
Hacha De Zola is currently finishing up his next full-length, which will continue to refine the mix of his conceptual persona of earlier albums and the more conventional sound of East of Eden. In the meantime, he will release the EP “Not Acoustic” on Jan 28^th. The four-song release, accompanied by live videos for each tune (including Hacha De Zola’s candid spoken intros) offers new interpretations of previously released Hacha De Zola songs.
 
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J Hacha De Zola
East of Eden
Out Now
(Caballo Negro)
 
Streaming Link:
STREAM FULL LP
 
Private Download Link:
DOWNLOAD FULL LP
 

Track Listing:
 
01. Faded (VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO)
02. Lost Space (STREAM | VIDEO)
03. Which Way (STREAM | VIDEO)
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
 
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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.
 
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J Hacha De Zola | Links
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
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