Towa Bird
Newman closes the album campaign with a blues-tinged track built on field recordings.
JJerome87, the solo project of alt-J frontman Joe Newman, has shared new single ‘Mr Alligator’, the final preview of his debut solo album ‘The Canyon'.
Out now, the track opens the forthcoming record and is built around field recordings Newman collected from a double dutch group. Describing the song's central character, he says: “The path of a Preacher. The rise of a Predator. Mr Alligator is the story of a grifter with a penchant for coercive control, violence and a soulless indifference towards their fellow man.”
The song arrives alongside a visualiser featuring artwork from Irish illustrator Sally Dunne, who also created the cover for ‘The Canyon'. Filmed in a single take, the video captures Dunne creating a new illustration inspired by the track.
Due on 26th June via Mushroom Music and Virgin Music Group, ‘The Canyon' was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Carlos de la Garza and features a group of local session musicians alongside three backing vocalists. Previous singles ‘Brush Me Like A Horse' and ‘Track and Field' also appear on the record.
Newman says the project emerged after alt-J's 2022 album ‘The Dream', when he found himself continuing to write rather than taking a creative break.
“Traditionally after finishing an album, I’m creatively a bit depleted so I’ll take a break. But after ‘The Dream’ I didn’t stop writing, and I started formulating a lot of ideas that were very personal: things I was experiencing as a first time dad, and the core memories of my partner giving birth,” he explains. “I was beginning to realise this might be a good time for me to take a leap of faith and write something outside the circle of alt-J.”
Ahead of the album's release, JJerome87's London headline show at Bush Hall has sold out, while a new headline date at New York's Bowery Ballroom has been announced for 3rd October. A run of UK and European instore performances will also take place throughout June and July.
The dates in full read:
JUNE
25 Bush Hall, London, UK (SOLD OUT)
27 Concerto Records, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Instore)
28 Ringo Bar (Music Mania), Ghent, Belgium (Instore)
29 Rough Trade Berlin, Berlin, Germany (Instore)
30 Discoteca Laziale, Rome, Italy (Instore)
JULY
1 The Mixtape, Paris, France (Instore)
6 Rough Trade Bristol, Bristol, UK (Instore)
7 Rough Trade Nottingham, Nottingham, UK (Instore)
8 Rough Trade East, London, UK (Instore)
9 Resident, Brighton, UK (Instore)
11 Jacaranda, Liverpool, UK (Instore)
12 Pink Room, Manchester, UK (Outstore)
13 St. John's Church, Kingston, UK (Outstore)
OCTOBER
3 Bowery Ballroom, New York, USA (Headline)
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