J Fernandez

Songwriter J Fernandez gradually assembled a body of understatedly beautiful recordings by shaping expansively arranged pop through his signature bedroom production approach. After relocating from Arkansas to Chicago in the early 2000s, he put out several EPs ahead of his first proper full-length, the 2015 Joyful Noise release Many Levels of Laughter. He promoted the album on the road as an opener for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Alvvays, Mitski, and additional acts while preparing his next effort, Occasional Din, which surfaced in 2018.

Justin Fernandez, who records as J Fernandez, moved to Chicago for a map-making company position in the early 2000s; over the following years he joined friends’ music projects and, in his free time, created rough home-studio recordings of his own. The EP Olympic Village and the 7" No Luck appeared first on the local imprints Teen River and Lake Paradise, respectively, before Morning Ritual Recordings collected both on a 2012 compilation. Atelier Ciseaux then issued the Memorize Now EP in 2014. Some arrangements center on a Vox Jaguar organ and make use of delay, yielding a doleful, anachronistic tone whose post-rock bedroom intimacy is offset by talky melodic tendencies that recall Robyn Hitchcock along with engaging, exploratory songcraft. His debut LP, Many Levels of Laughter, arrived on Joyful Noise Recordings in June 2015 while he was touring in support of Unknown Mortal Orchestra; two years later he delivered the sophomore album Occasional Din.