Inception and early career
Jaffe is from Sharon, Connecticut. [5] He grew up "between two farms in the woods" listening to Bob Dylan and Randy Newman. [6] His parents, Joshua Jaffe and Katharine Holden, are both doctors. [7] His grandmother, the only other artist in the family, lived in Paris and also worked for the Metropolitan Opera for decades. [3] When he was 12 years old, he attended a summer sailing camp in Maine with Maggie Rogers, where they sailed against each other. [3]
He attended Millbrook School, an athletic boarding school in Millbrook, New York but was not good at sports so he turned to music. [7] He had played drums for 10 years. [8] In his sophomore year in high school, age 16, his first girlfriend, a jazz musician and songwriter, inspired him to write music. [8] He then participated in a music program at Berklee College of Music. [8]
By the time he graduated high school in 2012, [7] Jaffe recorded as Del Water Gap. [8] The name, short for Delaware Water Gap, came about after Jaffe saw it handwritten on the back of a box truck in Sharpie at the age of 17, while driving around New Jersey. [9] Jaffe was influenced by Bon Iver and Tallest Man on Earth, who used project names, saying:
"I liked the removal that gave the artist. It just seemed like it had this sort of mystery or maybe some safety, and more room to build a world. So, I decided to take on that name rather than using my name." [8]
At the time of the project's inception, Jaffe was playing drums in a noise rock band in which "they wouldn’t really let me sing." [10]
When he was 18, he moved to New York City to attend the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and study music and sound production with the goal of becoming a sound engineer. [6] He played in several bands as he entered college. He met a manager who encouraged him to take recording music seriously and booked him for a show. [6] He then assembled a band, which he said was easier to do in New York. [6]
He once again connected with Maggie Rogers, a classmate. Rogers played in the first incarnation of Del Water Gap for six months. [3] After two of the people he had started the project with dropped out, Jaffe took on Del Water Gap as a solo project. [9]
In May 2012, he released his first EP, Del Water Gap EP. [11] He released another EP, Sleeping, in May 2014.
He independently released the EP 1 (646) 943 2672 in March 2017; it was named after the number for a burner phone he encouraged fans to call, which he answered personally. [6] [9]
In November 2018, Jaffe released the single "Laid Down My Arms" on Terrible Records. [12]
In 2019, he released the singles "Chastain" and "Theory of Emotion" ahead of his third EP, Don't Get Dark, also on Terrible Records. [13]
He released the EP Alive From Fresno, which included seven tracks recorded live, in November 2019, h. [14]
2020–2024: "Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat" and mainstream success
In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Del Water Gap released "Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat" and "Mariposa" on Atlantic Records. In July 2020, the song gained widespread attention after actresses Margaret Qualley and Kaitlyn Dever posted a video of themselves performing a "socially distant dance party" to the song on Instagram. [15] At the time, Jaffe had been considering quitting music to become a Certified Public Accountant after parting ways with his management and record label and cancelling a tour due to the pandemic. [16] In December 2024, "Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for 500,000 sales. [17]
Also in 2020, Maggie Rogers released "New Song", recorded with Jaffe in 2014, [3] as part of her compilation album Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011–2016 . [18]
Jaffe collaborated with Rogers on her second album, Surrender (2022), co-writing and producing the singles "Want Want" and "Anywhere With You" alongside Rogers and Kid Harpoon. [19] [20] He also worked with Claud on the single "My Body" and co-wrote and produced Claud's "Never Meant to Call". [21]
In 2021, Jaffe released his debut LP Del Water Gap on Mom + Pop Music. He toured internationally to support the album. [22]
In 2023, Jaffe released the album I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet. The recording process took approximately 18 months and 40 studio sessions. It features collaborations with Clairo and Arlo Parks. [23] The album, his second release on Mom + Pop, debuted at number 97 on the Top Album Sales chart. [14]
Jaffe was the opening act for Niall Horan's The Show: Live on Tour in June 2024. [24] [25] The tour included performances at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and The O2 Arena in London. [26]
In January 2024, he and Holly Humberstone released the single "Cigarettes & Wine". [27]
2025–present: Chasing the Chimera
Jaffe played a set at Lollapalooza in July 2025. [28]
Also in July 2025, Jaffe released his first solo single in two years, "How To Live". [29]
In August 2025, he played the first leg of his AU / IE / UK tour, headlining in the UK and Ireland, including a sold out show at Outernet London. The same month, Jaffe released the single "Marigolds" and announced the upcoming release of his third studio album, Chasing the Chimera via Mom + Pop Music. [30] The single "Damn" was released in October 2025. [31]
Chasing The Chimera was released in November 2025, his third release on Mom + Pop Music. [32] The album title is a reference to Italian director Alice Rohrwacher's 2023 film La chimera. Jaffe named the album following a conversation he had with actress Isabella Rossellini at the film club he runs with his 101-year-old grandmother, Patricia. [33] [34]
On December 20, 2025, Jaffe appeared as a special guest during a Jonas Brothers concert on their Jonas20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour at the CFG Bank Arena, singing his single "How to Live". [35]
