Jeremy Craig Shaules,[1] better known as Jeremy Jay, is an American alternative pop musician and singer-songwriter. He has released five critically acclaimed studio albums, including his debut album A Place Where We Could Go in 2008 and Slow Dance in 2009.
Jeremy Jay live at Edinburgh Castle, San Francisco 2007
Jay was born in Chula Vista, California on January 1, 1978 and soon moved to Harbor City, Los Angeles. Jeremy spoke only French with his American father until he was 13. When he was in the second grade, his father moved the family to Monterey, California where Jay lived until he was 18. In the sixth grade, his aunt gave him the sheet music for "La Bamba." He taught himself how to play the music on a school guitar where he was playing trumpet in the band. In 8th grade, he set up a recording studio in his garage to create music using a two track recorder. At the same time, he began writing his own music. At age 18 he moved to Portland, Oregon where he lived for four years and worked as a theater projectionist. In 2001, at age 23 he met Calvin Johnson, a musician, producer and founder of K Records. Johnson was immediately interested Jay's self-produced maxi single, "Dreamland," only containing instrumental pieces. Jay moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and moved to Paris in 2009 with a record deal from the label Differant. In 2011, he moved to London where he currently resides.
His first release on K Records, the Airwalker EP, appeared in 2007. It included a cover of the Siouxsie and the Banshees song "Lunar Camel" and a version of Blondie's "Angels on the Balcony".[2] The EP was described by Pitchfork as a "cryptic, compelling short" with "half-crooned, half-spoken vocals into a bed of interlocking guitars, rigid beats, and analogue synths, creating an air of mystery out of disconnected images."[3]
A video for "Beautiful Rebel" directed by Austin Lovell was shot at the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles. A video for "Heavenly Creatures" directed by Bryce Kass of Daft Arts was hailed by The Fader.[6]
Onstage in Berlin, 2010
In 2009, Jay released Slow Dance,[7] which was critically acclaimed by Pitchfork for its "frail ingeniousness" with "a warm inviting space".[8] To promote the release, he embarked on a tour throughout the year, including dates at the Primavera Festival. The Guardian wrote that Jay's "biggest asset" is songs that "appear to come unpremeditated from his heart" like Jonathan Richman. Critic James Robinson added, "In a world where we've become suspicious of singer-songwriters, Jay gives us reason to keep the faith".[9] After playing in the UK, Jay moved to London and started working on new material.
In 2010, Jay described his third album, Splash,[10] as "Pavement meets Evol-era Sonic Youth played by Siouxsie Sioux."[11]NME welcomed tracks like "As You Look over the City" and "Hologram Feather" and the "jaunty" single "Just Dial my Number".[12] The cover image of Splash showed him at Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. The record was released at the end of May. A tour was later cancelled due to health problems.[who?]
In the spring of 2011, Jay returned with the album Dream Diary,[13] which was a mix of indie-pop and alt-rock.[14] The result was compared to Scottish band Belle and Sebastian.[14] Jay financed the album entirely on his own for the first time, to spend more time on the mixing; the two previous albums had been recorded with full support of K Records.[15]
In 2013, Jay composed the song "Ghost Tracks" for the soundtrack of the film Grand Central.
2014's Abandoned Apartments[16] got a four-star review on Allmusic for its "dreamy surrealism and crisp-edged pop".[17] Its title evokes a time when Jay was 20 years old and was looking for empty buildings in Portland to settle.[15]
After releasing this album, Jay worked as a producer on Spanish singer Bigott's album, Pavement Tree. He then collaborated with other musicians. In November, he formed the band Dyspotian Violet with several musicians including bassist Frank Wright. They released three songs, including "The Mask",[18] via SoundCloud.[19]
The band then changed its name to Invisible Foxx. In March and April 2015, Jay recorded with them. In May, Invisible Foxx released their album online, Monitor Mixx, via Bandcamp:[20]
After these collaborations, a few new tracks by Jay were released on digital download via Mystery at the end of that year.[21][22]
In May 2018, Jay released the album Demons via Spanish label "El Segell Del Primavera": Demons featured ten tracks and was also issued on Vinyl LP.[23]
"Prudence" (for the soundtrack of Belle Épine) (2010)
"Ghost Tracks" (for the soundtrack of Grand Central) (2013)
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References
↑ "A SLIVER OF A CHANCE". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
↑ John-Paul Pryor. Jeremy Jay. Dazeddigital. Retrieved 10-8-2015. Excerpt: "Splash comes from that thing of being away from somewhere and writing about it. It’s a lot heavier sounding than other stuff I’ve done – Pavement meets Evol-era Sonic Youth played by Siouxsie Sioux. I’m really excited about it."
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