Brotherhood is the debut solo album from West Country based singer, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jonah Brody due for release on 11th April 2025 via his new label IL Records. An artist of remarkable pedigree, Jonah graduated from SOAS university in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in ethnomusicology/world music studies for which he completed study placements in India, Tai Wan, Japan and Bali. Following his graduation, he worked as a composer for theatre and was awarded young theatre composer of the year in 2016 and has written for multiple shows at different theatres in London. Alongside his compositional work he has also been part of many notable bands such as Pumarosa, Super Best Friends Club and Hot Head Show as well as having performed with artists such as folk singer Sam Lee. Alongside his composition work Jonah has also trained and practises as a psychotherapist specialising in psychedelic therapy.
Brotherhood was inspired by the death by overdose of Jonah's brother, Tomo, in 2020. Musically the album ranges from the haunting ballads dedicated to Tomo such as The Ancestors are feeling gentle and the ancestors are making a mess again and more deadpan, humorous tunes such as The singularity likes swedish breakfasts which has a bathetic sense of light-heartedness in the face of tragedy, and future nostalgia retro electronica pieces such as One Computer is apple farming. The combination of elegiac electronica and devastatingly understated paens for the lost calls to mind the work of Sufjan Stevens, in particular his 2015 masterpiece Carrie & Lowell. the ancestors are taking workshops and the computers are cleaning see Jonah referencing mavericks Arthur Russell and Frank Zappa with the twitchy, post disco rhythms and surrealist lyrics. the ancestors are taking workshops features American psychologist and peace maker Marshall Rosenberg speaking about love, with a strong nod to rave culture and the endless summer of Love.
Brotherhood is an album of contrasts, between musings on the advent of Artificial Intelligence reaching sentience versus the day to day mundanity of grief and living one's life, when asked about the themes behind Brotherhood, Jonah explains “It’s about finding ways to communicate with the dead, to listen back, and to grapple with how technology, like death, shapes our lives in ways we don’t always welcome but can’t escape.” Jonah now works as a psychedelic psychotherapist and this gives him a fascinating perspective on the processing his grief for his brother. He has used his music making as art therapy in action, a catalyst for him to express his pain and surrender and distil twenty plus years of musical experimentation and creation into a record of exquisite brilliance, a 21st Century masterpiece that tackles the great themes of the day in a deeply personal and reverent manner, joining the dots between rave, electronica, modern classical and 70s disco.
Brotherhood by Jonah Brody. Composed, produced and performed by Jonah at his home studio in Frome, UK, mastered by Dotan Cohen in London.
credits
released April 11, 2025
All tracks by jonah brody, drums on track 5 lovingly played by Vahakn Matossian
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