Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
“With Spoon bassist Josh Zarbo and various string arrangements providing a fine gray-day backdrop, Simons offers a seamless collection of brooding, Church-meets-Nick Drake melodies and boyish-wonder lyrics. Just when you feel he’s stuck in depressed mode (“I learned to fly when I was 5, I lost the skill at 22’’), the songwriter pulls out life-affirming lines like this: “Turned off the news today/Turned off my fears to say everything’s OK.“
Chris Riemenschneider
Star Tribune, Minneapolis - Star Tribune
“This is a CD that absolutely needs to be listened to with the lights down low, and you just sit and listen to it. Don’t do anything else. Don’t read, don’t talk to others, and don’t play video games. Just enjoy it.”
Erik Deckers
Indie Music - Indie Music
“The disc delivers on many fronts. There is a quote in the bio from a reviewer who likened it to “Pink Floyd in a coffee house,” and I would only add that it’s the “freshest” side of Floyd seeping through the veins of Jon Simon’s work. The best moments are reminiscent of the soul-bearing freedom you can feel inside “Ummagumma” or “Atom Heart Mother,” more so than the Floyd of “Meddle” and beyond.”
Glenn Pfeifer
2 Walls Webzine
- 2 Walls
Discography
Title: Seemingly Dreamingly
Release Date: November 5, 2002
Genre: Folk/ Alternative / Indie
Format: Compact Disc
Written By: Jon Simons (words and music)
Mixed By: Mark Hallman and Jon Simons
The Congress House Studio (Austin, TX)
Mastered By: David Glasser
Airshow Mastering (Boulder, CO)
Performers:
Jon Simons:
(Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Drums, Percussion, and more)
Josh Zarbo:
(Bass Guitar)
Tim Dittmar:
(Drums)
Laura Phelan:
(Vibraphone)
Michal Raizen:
(Cello)
Chelsea Lewis:
(Backing Vocals)
--------------------------------------
Title: Through the Walls
Release Date: December 1, 1999
Genre: Folk / Alternative / Indie
Format: Compact Disc
Written By: Jon Simons (words and music)
Mixed By: Mark Hallman and Jon Simons
The Congress House Studio (Austin, TX)
Mastered By: Mark Hallman
The Congress House Studio (Austin, TX)
Performers:
Jon Simons
(all vocals and instruments)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
A new chapter in the book...
With the release of his second album, Seemingly Dreamingly, Jon Simons continues to cultivate a cult following of fans drawn to music that transcends such modern inventions as the quick hook or fashion show. The sound is undoubtedly mellow – sometimes melancholy – but the messages encoded between the notes are far from subdued. This is not an album that jams, wails, or rocks; let’s just say that Jon’s music is best appreciated after a night on the town, when the mind is seeking asylum from the loud machines of the city. Both the lyrics and the aural atmosphere seem designed to bring the listener into a fresh space.
Seemingly Dreamingly was released on November 5, 2002 by Boulder based Antara Records. Featuring ten new original songs, it seems to pick up where Jon’s last album left off. The mellow aesthetics, lush vocal harmonies, and Jon’s musicianship on many different instruments, remains as a consistency, but this time around Jon invited some of his friends along; among them are Josh Zarbo (of Spoon), Tim Dittmar (of Bo Bud Greene), and Laura Phelan (of Golden Arm Trio). Such textures as cello, vibraphone, and female backing vocals, help to give the soundscape a lush and spacious vibe.
Through the Walls...
Jon’s first release, Through the Walls, often linked to the likes of Nick Drake or “Pink Floyd in a Coffee house” (as one reviewer put it), pulled together a niche following in both the US and UK. Music journalists and fans alike seemed surprised and refreshed to hear such innovation and lush arrangements coming from a songwriter who was born and raised in Texas country. Most notably, Jon recorded that album completely alone; he performed and recorded all of the instruments within a six week spell of isolation. As he says, “there were no clocks, no phones, no computer craziness, no distractions; just my demons and songs.”
A beginning...
Born and raised in the frantic metropolis of Houston, Texas, Jon managed to escape the southern influence altogether. Jon found refuge in local record stores where he discovered such hidden talents as those of the 1960’s british folk circuit. In contrast to the mold of Houston’s roots and rock scence, such artists as Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, and Donovan formed a ghostly support group for Jon’s exploration into the uses of space, simplicity, and poetry in his writing.
Jon surfaced in the Texas music scene in 1994 as drummer for rock outfit, Selling June. This trio of three sixteen-year-old boys sold several thousand discs locally and sold out such venues as Fitzgerald’s in Houston. As Jon was learning the guitar and exploring new avenues of writing, the group changed members, panning out into a popular folk band, The Search.
Jon moved to Austin in 1998 to pursue his music more seriously. He played in several Austin bands but soon settled in to record his first full-length album, Through the Walls.
The history is in the writing. Occasionally, out of the woodwork, comes an innovative and emotion driven artist like Jon Simons. Out of the fog emerges a cult following of people seeking music more meaningful and introspective than that of the main wave
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