Jon DeRosa

Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jon DeRosa has pursued an array of shadowy, atmospheric sounds since the 1990s, spanning indie rock and folk alongside ambient and drone explorations. Initial notice arrived through his gothic folk outfit Dead Leaves Rising, while dark country emerged via the duo Pale Horse and Rider; his enduring Aarktica endeavor has delved into guitar-driven instrumental textures, dream pop, and ethereal folk laced with jazz and Indian classical elements. Under his own name, the solo outings A Wolf in Preacher's Clothes (2012) and Black Halo (2015) deliver melancholy chamber pop marked by the influences of Scott Walker and Roy Orbison. Beyond these endeavors, DeRosa has collaborated with Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, as well as Flare, Rivulets, and additional artists.

Born in 1978 in Lodi, New Jersey—the same hometown as Misfits founder Glenn Danzig—DeRosa trained in classical and flamenco guitar before commencing songwriting during his teenage years. Early dark folk projects Fade and Dead Leaves Rising supported various bands on the Projekt roster, with the latter issuing its debut album Shadow Complex in 1997. Following the 1998 loss of hearing in his right ear, he shifted toward primarily instrumental guitar-based work to convey his altered perception of sound. A short phase under the name Still produced more electronic, rhythm-oriented material, after which his first Aarktica album, the glacial ambient rock effort No Solace in Sleep, appeared on Silber Records in 2000. Dead Leaves Rising followed with its second release, Waking Up on the Wrong Side of No One, in 2001, while DeRosa formed the country duo Pale Horse and Rider alongside Marc Gartman, with output on Silber and Darla.

Aarktica’s subsequent Darla releases began with the 2002 album Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life and Be Happy Anyway, which embraced an electronic dream pop direction. After studying with minimalist pioneers La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, DeRosa integrated Indian classical influences into Aarktica works such as 2003’s Pure Tone Audiometry. He regularly performed and recorded with the chamber pop band Flare and took part in Stephin Merritt’s 2006 opera The Peach Blossom Fan, also appearing on the songwriter’s Showtunes collection. Contributions to albums by Vlor, the experimental project led by Silber founder Brian John Mitchell, further marked this period.

DeRosa issued his first solo EP, Anchored, in 2011. Enlisting cellist Julia Kent of Rasputina and Antony and the Johnsons plus horn player Jon Natchez of Beirut and the War on Drugs, the recording evoked orchestral pop from the 1950s and 1960s more closely than his earlier projects. The fuller, more elaborately arranged A Wolf in Preacher’s Clothes followed on Rocket Girl in 2012. Black Halo arrived in 2015, containing a track co-written with Merritt and featuring guest vocals from Carina Round of Puscifer. Activity under the Aarktica banner continued with the 2019 full-length Mareación, shaped by ayahuasca ceremonies, and the 2020 collaboration Eating Rose Petals alongside Black Tape for a Blue Girl.