Listen to “Birds of Brooklyn” B Side “Sunday Jealous” Here!
Don’t Miss Jon DeRosa At Piano’s Wednesday at 3pm at the Tell All Your Friends Showcase!
Jon DeRosa’s Thoughts On The Single:
Most people know, I’m a bartender in Brooklyn, and spend most of my life on *that* side of the bar, though it seems that my entire youth was spent on the other side. The difference in perspective has been endlessly fascinating to me and colors so much of what I write. The late night, hazy, observations. The film noir lighting, the dark characters hiding in shadows, and the women adorned like peacocks, looking for the spotlight amidst those shadows. It’s not always as romantic, but I see romance in it. Or at least intrigue. And that’s really what the song is about. The trumpet fanfares and the swooping strings, courtesy of Claudia Chopek and Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons), just because we’re in 2012 doesn’t mean we’ve lost romance and intrigue.
The B-Side is my cover of an old Stax Records single by Nick Charles from 1962. Nick Charles was a disc jockey in both Memphis and St. Louis, and really only released I think 2 or 3 singles in his recording career. Ever since I heard “Sunday Jealous” a few years ago, I knew I wanted to record a version. My soft spot is teenage lover’s lament kind of songs from the 50’s and 60’s and this one is no exception. Features Jon Natchez of Beirut/Yellow Ostrich on those great mariachi trumpets…
Jon DeRosa (b. 21 December, 1978) is a guitarist, composer and singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, NY. Raised in the small shore town of Manasquan, NJ, DeRosa grew up idolizing Glenn Danzig, while studying classical and flamenco guitar and memorizing the entire output of 4AD and Projekt Records. It was with this eclectic background that he began his approach to writing and recording music. DeRosa has been involved with many musical projects including dark folk/goth band Dead Leaves Rising, followed by the dreamy atmospheric sounds of Aarktica. In 1998 Jon DeRosa lost nearly all hearing in his right ear which sparked the birth of Aarktica (a project that remains active over a decade later) as well as his study of Indian classical vocal music with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela.
In addition to Aarktica, Jon plays guitar with with New York City chamber pop ensemble Flare. DeRosa also briefly recorded under the name Pale Horse and Rider, releasing two albums of urban country songs during this time. Rob O’Connor at CMJ remarked “DeRosa’s not unlike the downcast end of Springsteen. ‘Jersey Coast Line’ [from 2002’s These Are The New Good Times] could very well be Nebraska‘s 11th track.”
In 2006, DeRosa lent his voice to Stephin Merritt’s opera “The Peach Blossom Fan”, as the role of Hou Fang Yu. Some of his contributions were first featured on Merritt’s Showtunes album (Nonesuch, 2006). “The Peach Blossom Fan” became available in its entirety in 2008 (Nonesuch).
DeRosa continues to record as Aarktica, his most recent releases being 2009/10’s In Sea and In Sea Remixes.
In 2011, DeRosa unveiled his first eponymous release, the Anchored EP. Novelist Ed Park (The Believer) said of it: “At first, Jon DeRosa’s Anchored EP, a quartet of gorgeously layered chamber-pop shanties, seems leagues away from the voluptuous Lovecraftian drift he perfected under his moniker Aarktica. But there are dark spaces here, too, room to brood in the sweet gravel of his voice, in Julia Kent’s penetrating cello lines, and in the quiet violence of the lyrics. With a depth that belies its brief running time, Anchored is so perfect that it literally gives you the chills.”
In April 2012, DeRosa self released a limited vinyl edition of his debut full length A Wolf In Preacher’s Clothes in the US, and on November 5/6 2012 DeRosa will release the album on CD internationally via RocketGirl Records.
Pittsburgh Music Magazine 