Photo by Joelle Hannah
Jon DeRosa is a singer-songwriter who has been releasing darkly sweet and sad orchestral pop music since 2011. However, long before this, DeRosa became known for producing albums of glacial guitar-ambient and atmospheric sounds, under the name Aarktica (1998-present). While the signature in all of DeRosa's musical output lies in his distinctive knack for creating an atmosphere, under his own name his sound relies less on guitar effects and more on gentle orchestral arrangements, brass ensembles and DeRosa's unmistakable baritone. The sound is one that is both a tribute and an update to the orchestral pop sounds of the 50's and 60's, recalling echoes of Roy Orbison and The Walker Brothers, and even the quiet melancholy of Sinatra's gloriously impressionistic concept albums.
DeRosa integrates otherworldly elements into his songs, combining chamber pop music with a certain kind of shamanic mysticism. His ability to successfully blend such disparate elements are what makes his music so strikingly original. Collaborators have included Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), Jon Natchez (The War On Drugs, Beirut), cellist Julia Kent, and vocalist Carina Round (Puscifer/Tears for Fears).
Jon DeRosa / A Selected Discography
As Jon DeRosa
Black Halo CD / Rocket Girl (2015)
A Wolf In Preacher’s Clothes CD/LP / Rocket Girl/Mother West (2012)
Anchored EP CD / Silber Records (2011)
As Aarktica:
Eating Rose Petals (with Black Tape for a Blue Girl) / Projekt Records (2020)
Mareación / HanaqPacha Music (2019)
Ceremony EP / Fnord Tapes (Italy) (2016)
In Sea Remixes CD / Silber Records (2010)
In Sea CD / Silber Records (2009)
Matchless Years CD / Darla Records (2007)
Live at KUCI / Silber Records (2006)
Bleeding Light CD / Darla Records (2005)
Pure Tone Audiometry CD / Silber Records (2003)
Or you could just go through your whole life... (Bliss Out V.18) CD, Darla Records (2002)
Morning One CD EP / Ochre Records / (2001)
No Solace in Sleep CD / Silber Records / (2000)
As Pale Horse and Rider:
Moody Pike CD / Darla Records (US)/Agenda Records (UK) (2005)
These Are The New Good Times CD / Darla Records (2003)
The Alcohol EPs CD / Silber Records (2002) (w/Rivulets and Remora)
As a member of Flare:
Big Top/Encore CD/LP / Affairs of The Heart (2011)
Circa+ CD / Mother West (2005)
Definitive CD EP / Mother West (2001)
Circa CD / Subliminal Violence (2000)
As Dead Leaves Rising:
Waking Up On The Wrong Side Of No One CD / Plow City Records (2001)
Shadow Complex CD / Brighter Records / (1997)