Noah Gundersen w/ Armon Jay

NOAH GUNDERSEN

At the tender age of 24, Noah Gundersen is already a young veteran who recorded his first album on his dad’s Tascam Studio 8 reel-to-reel home tape machine at 13. Born in the tiny town of Centralia, WA—about midway between Portland and Seattle—Gundersen has honed his craft through a series of albums, both solo (with his sister Abby, an expert string player) and with their band The Courage. He’s already placed songs on TV shows like Sons of Anarchy (the title track from his 2011 solo album Family, “David” and “He Got Away,” a track he sang written by the show’s creator Kurt Sutter and music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr.), Vampire Diaries (“Family”) and One Tree Hill (“Middle of June” from his 2009 EP Saints and Liars).

His latest album, Ledges, self-produced and recorded at Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard’s Studio Litho in Seattle, represents the latest stop in a journey which began in his strictly conservative, religious home growing up, where he was strictly forbidden to listen to secular music. Instead he grew up listening to Bob Dylan’s gospel albums, along with Christian artists such as Keith Green, Larry Norman and Rich Mullins.

“I’m not a religious person anymore, but I’ve learned that spiritual energy transcends religion and that’s something I’ve attempted to incorporate into my music,” Noah explains.

An impressive personal work, Ledges co-mingles the sensual and the sexual with the spiritual, often using religious and biblical imagery like Leonard Cohen to plumb the depths of everyday emotions and feelings. The album explores doubt and faith, sin and redemption, mortality and transcendence in 11 songs that get underneath the skin and cut to the heart.

From the acapella gospel chant that opens “Poor Man’s Son,” a song that channels poverty’s effect on the soul and the Jackson Browne-like narrative of the autobiographical title track (“I take a little too much/Without giving back.I want to learn how to love”) to the Don Henley-like metaphor of “Cigarettes,” comparing one bad habit to a relationship that just can’t be ended even though we know it’s bad for us, Ledges is a confession that boasts universal appeal.

“This is the first record where I finally got to a comfortable place in the studio,” he says of the experience. “Something about Litho was very inspirational, offering a safe environment to experiment and create. It’s not overly produced; we left a lot of the mistakes in..”

The songs work on different levels, inspired both by a ruptured romance and a questioning of dogma in all its forms.

“The spiritual element of music is something I’m very much draw to and motivated by,” says Gundersen. “Religious imagery was a large part of my upbringing. It’s still beautiful, powerful and timeless. I believe in the elevation that music and art can bring to people, but I’m still trying to define myself as an individual outside of structures or organized religion. I’ve come to a place in my writing where I’m less focused on the outside forces of spirituality and more on how it relates inwardly to my own life.”

To that end, his songs capture snapshots of events in his life, including an encounter with a woman in another relationship (“Isaiah”), whose tattoo is inscribed with a biblical passage that doubles as the song’s chorus (“Fear thou not/My right hand will hold you”). “Poison Vine” tells the tale of a co-worker who succumbed to a drug overdose, pondering the thin line between life and death, while “First Defeat” illuminates the feeling the first heartbreak.

“Much of the album was written toward the end of a period of being single and reckless,” he says. “I’ve lived a great deal compared to most people my own age. I’ve traveled the country playing music, doing what I love for a living. But, in terms of emotional experience, I’ve swept a lot of things under the rug. I started asking questions to people I respect about what it means to be a man and, in a larger sense, a decent human being. This record is the culmination of that process.”

Ledges was also very much a family affair, with Noah joined by his sister Abby, who conveys the wordless emotions through violin, cello and piano, and younger brother Jonathan on drums.

“The chemistry Abby and I have is unlike any other I’ve experienced in music” he says, pointing to the album closer, “Time Moves Quickly,” as a song she wrote the music for and plays piano on. “She’s an essential part of what I do.”

And while major labels have come sniffing around, Noah is determined to maintain his independence as a musician and artist. Having built up a following through touring and online marketing, Gundersen is determined to maintain the kind of creative control that makes Ledges such a powerful, intimate work.

“I’ve had some offers from major labels, but it’s not a direction that’s viable for me in terms of a long-term career and forging a lifetime in music,” he says. “I want to give my fans the music they’ve come to appreciate without going through any other filters.”

Ledges is about making that existential leap of faith, it’s about taking responsibility for the choices you’ve made, with sometimes painful honesty. Noah Gundersen’s voice comes through loud and clear.

“Writing ‘Ledges’ was a purifying process for me,” he says about the album’s epic title track. “In three verses, I was able to sum up exactly where I was in life, with no real answer, but a declaration of hope and uncertainty.”

“How long, how long should it take/For you to learn your lessons from all your mistakes,” he sings in “Dying Now.”

On Ledges, Noah Gundersen goes from a boy to a man before our very ears. It’s a journey well worth taking with him.

Noah Gundersen on Facebook | Noah Gundersen on Twitter | Official Website

ARMON JAY

For Armon Jay, the making of his new album, Everything’s Different, Nothing’s Changed, was a two-year journey from darkness into sunlight, from what he calls desolation to consolation, the culmination of sleepless nights where he saw his faith tested, but his hope ultimately restored, through a set of songs that speaks from the very core of his being.

From the pain of “Edge of the Dark” and “Flight from Sorrow” to the breakthrough of “The Harvest” and “Carry Through,” from the painful self-awareness of “To Be Honest” and “I’m Not Home Yet” to the optimism of “Tomorrow” and “Sunlight,” neatly summarized by the transparently autobiographical title track, Armon Jay lets us glimpse his deepest fears and darkest anxieties, while pointing the way towards salvation. “It’s like I’m stuck in between the cure and the disease,” he sings. “I’m walking straight just in a crooked way.”

Thanks to raising close to $14,000 on Kickstarter from family and friends, Armon was able to travel to producer Joshua James’ idyllic Willamette Mountain on a one-acre farm against the beautiful backdrop of American Fork, Utah, to record the album in two eventful weeks. James, introduced to Armon Jay by mutual friend, singer/songwriter Noah Gunderson, proved a valuable partner, not just producing the album, but serving as “farmer, mountain climber, goat herder, high-tailin’ bike rider and a bit of a wild man,” helping Armon get over his fear of heights as well as failure. The album was mixed in Los Angeles by Todd Burke, who has worked with the likes of Ben Harper and Jack Johnson in his Monrovia studio.

“Joshua is all about creating an atmosphere that inspires genuine and real creativity,” says Armon. “He also has a phenomenal group of musicians on call—his own secret weapon for making great records. We hit the ground running. He just said, ‘If you’re going to sing the song, sing it.’ Almost every track on the record started with just an acoustic guitar and vocal performance and then we built from there.”

“It’s time to come back home/Make right what I made wrong/And it’s time to carry on/And live again.” “Flight from Sorrow”

The Chattanooga, Tennessee-born Armon’s father was a portrait painter (“An ‘eccentric’ artist like me,” he adds), who plucked out songs by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson on a guitar, while his mom, who used to sing around the house, introduced him to the likes of Whitney Houston and Kenny Loggins on the tape deck of the family’s ’89 Buick. Armon sheepishly admits to plinking out the theme to the movie Titanic on the piano by ear before picking up a guitar at 12 and starting to write songs two years later.

After a stint with a major-label Christian band signed to Sony Music’s Provident Label Group, Armon decided he needed to go in a different direction, prompted by a personal crisis that had him terrified to fall asleep at night, questioning his own inability to live up to his ideals, not least of which was a pack-a-day smoking habit he still hasn’t broken.

In that season of internal conflict, his questioning led him to the realization that it was time to “shed the skin” of any preconceived genre label before he felt he could freely move forward. That eventually prompted the decision to redefine his artistry, and begin using his real first and middle name.

“I’ve learned to be careful not to create walls that interfere with the ability of music and art to connect with anyone. Attaching that strong of a label leaves too much room for one to assume that my music is only intended for a certain group,” says the artist formerly known as AJ Cheek. “A song can have so many different layers of meanings for different people. It’s such a precious and beautiful thing, the fact that we all can find a common ground through the language of art and music. But, it all has to come from a genuine place. I can’t muster up the truth. It already exists. I just have to tell it, and it’s up to the listener with how they choose to receive it.”

“It’s the fear of living with/The man I might become” “To Be Honest”

Armon owes his personal and creative breakthrough to finally being correctly diagnosed with Adult ADD and getting married last summer. “I was trying to grow into a man without understanding how my brain works,” he explains. “Learning what I was suffering from was a game-changer because I realized I wasn’t the only one dealing with this sort of thing. The more I let go of trying to be in control, the better I felt. And I couldn’t have done it without the help of my beautiful wife.”

Armon is particularly proud of the album’s centerpiece, the title track, which measures the gap between the man he is, the kind of man he wants to be, and learning to accept the difference. “I will wait…for you,” the song concludes.

“The stars just aligned and I was able to communicate exactly what I wanted,” says Armon of the cut. “If I never write another song nor play another note, if it all ends tomorrow, I’m OK with it, having written this one. You have to realize, whatever goes down, good or bad, your DNA is still your DNA. It’s what makes you unique, and I just accepted that.”

“In the sunlight/Breaking out from the inside/Cause now I can see for the first time” “Sunlight”

Armon found Dutch illustrator Anton Van Hertbruggen’s work on an art bloggers website, and immediately texted him to see if he were interested in creating the cover and inside sleeve art for the new album. After a series of back-and-forth email exchanges, Van Hertbruggen then submitted two original pieces depicting the record’s theme of light traveling into dark. From finding producer Joshua James to discovering the right artwork, Armon has taken a truly modern DIY approach to his first full-length solo album. And if he’s not totally cured of all his mental phobias, the very existence of Everything’s Different, Nothing’s Changed is proof of its therapeutic value—not just for Armon Jay, but any listener who finds himself in a similar place, which, in case you didn’t realize it, is most of us. Armon Jay’s message is that there are second chances which offer the opportunity for redemption.

“It’s been quite a trip,” adds Armon. “But the most liberating thing is to be able to walk in my own skin, whatever that means…the good, the bad or the ugly. And not follow what somebody else thinks I should be. I don’t have to hide my sickness in the dark anymore. This is me. Nothing’s changed.. Even if everything’s different.”

Armon Jay on Facebook | Armon Jay on Twitter | Official Website