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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