Hacha De Zola works with Fernando Vélez of The Dap-Kings to make
2023’s “spookiest make-out record.” (Jedd Beaudoin, Strange Currency)
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J Hacha De Zola as photographed by Adrian Buckmaster
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J
Hacha De Zola | “A Day In Secaucus, New Jersey”
Track Listing:
02. Do You?
03. I’m High
05. Drunk Again
06. Without A Tribe
07. Running Out Of Time
08. Blood On Gold
09. Carry On
10. Drag Me Under
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J Hacha De Zola | “Stay Away”
J Hacha De Zola | About
“Let’s just say I live in a very different Jersey than
Springsteen’s Jersey.”
J Hacha De
Zola speaks with authority about the
reality that he knows better than anyone who may mythologize his home state
through the songs of The Boss.
“With this album, I want to anchor myself as being
from ‘Dirty Jerzee,’ he jokes. “It’s a badge of honor, really, because this
place isn’t for the faint of heart.”
Hacha De
Zola was born in Secaucus, the
subject of “A Day in Secaucus, New
Jersey,” the opening track of Without A Tribe, his sixth album,
scheduled for release on June 9, 2023
via the artist’s own Caballo Negro
label. Former New Jersey-ian John Agnello,
known for his long career working with Dinosaur
Jr., Son Volt, and more recently Waxahatchee
and Horsegirl mixed Without
A Tribe.
Hacha De
Zola was described early on in his
career as “a wild man” (Paste), “unsettling”
(NJ.com), and “distant and strange”
(MAGNET), with creative genre labels
applied such as “Urban Junkyard,” “Baroque Pop,” “Avant-Indie,” “Downtown Goth,”
and “Boozegaze.” Comparisons to singers and front men ranging from Jim Morrison to Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and Captain Beefheart followed.
On Without A Tribe, Hacha De Zola strips that hyperbole
back a touch and expands on the vocal delivery that he made a centerpiece of East
of Eden, his 2021 full-length.
“We’re doubling-down on what began with the last album
by borrowing heavily from my love of R&B, Soul, and Doo-wop vocal harmonies
and arrangements,” he explains.
To help accomplish this goal, Hacha De Zola reached out to Fernando
Velez, an original member of Sharon
Jones & The Dap-Kings.
“Fernando’s
deep knowledge of Soul music was the key in getting the sound we wanted on this
record,” Hacha De Zola says. “We are
very inspired by the New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey vocal group styles
from the 60s and we hope that we have re-imagined these sounds in a way that
feels fresh.”
With the sonic styling of the record more focused than
ever, Hacha De Zola’s darkness
becomes less “wild,” “unsettling,” or “strange.” Now it lurks, with a kind of
menace and torment that emerges from his vulnerability and pain.
“It’s a place of subtle dread, kinda like some oddball
Stephen King story,” Hacha De Zola says, returning to the
album’s jump-off about his home, “A Day
in Secaucus, New Jersey.”
As a PhD candidate who works in a lab by day, Hacha De Zola can’t help but apply science
to this assessment.
“A cloud of hydrogen sulfide — very toxic — settles
across Secaucus. The source is metabolic waste product from the bacteria put
out by the slaughterhouses in the area. If your car breaks down on those roads,
the gas can easily overcome you. That’s my Jersey.
“The song came to me very early on in my writing, but
I was only able to make it work for this album. It’s a piece of ear candy.
Raucous and noisy.”
Other singles expected from Without A Tribe include
the intriguingly titled “I’m High”
and “Do You?”
“Lyrically and thematically, I am revealing much more
of myself than ever before by facing some of the ‘meat hook realities’ of life,
such as becoming older, watching loved ones pass, and struggling with addiction
and recovery,” Hacha De Zola says.
“Despite one thinking of ‘getting high’ as a euphoric
experience, as any true addict will tell you, it soon stops being fun and
becomes a sickening, nauseating need. ‘I’m
High’ isn’t necessarily about intoxicating substances, but instead about
experiences, people, places, or things that start out positive but unravel into
something different altogether.”
Asked to describe “Do
You?,” Hacha De Zola is blunt.
“If you’re looking for a heart-warming love song, then
you’ve come to the wrong place. This one is a straightforward Motown-ish tune with all of the amorous
feelings of wanting to be loved and desired, but also being thoroughly clueless
and disconnected from the actual dance.”
The album’s closer “Drag Me Under” is something cinematic, with minimal lyrical
content, but heavy on the production. Big horns, baritone saxes, trumpets,
Balkan folk instruments, and banjos conspire to embrace a certain level of
absurdity.
It leaves little doubt that Hacha De Zola’s New Jersey is indeed different from Springsteen’s, but is still something Bruce would love.
Without A Tribe, the sixth album by J Hacha De
Zola, arrives on June 9, 2023
via Caballo Negro (distributed by Slow Start Records / Burnside / The Orchard) and preceded by the singles “A Day In Secaucus, New Jersey” (Out Now), “I’m High” (April 28), and “Do You?” (May 19.)
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J Hacha De Zola | Links
