Biography
Young Jesus operates as a continually shifting, improvisation-driven endeavor led by John Rossiter. The project took shape in Chicago during the closing years of the 2010s after beginning as a conventional emo outfit. Its earliest releases drew parallels with the Hold Steady, yet the 2017 self-titled album marked a decisive turn toward extended, spontaneous composition. That experimental orientation persisted through the sixth full-length, Shepherd Head, which arrived in 2022 as a largely solitary, minimalist effort. Following a temporary withdrawal from music, Rossiter revived the project in 2024 with the more ensemble-oriented and introspective The Fool.
Rossiter started the group while attending high school in Chicago’s northern suburbs. The Maybe Baby EP surfaced in 2011, and the debut album Home followed the next year. He relocated to Los Angeles in 2013. Grow/Decompose, the second album, emerged in 2015 and remained rooted in emo traditions even as it expanded the palette. After those sessions, original members Shawn Nystrand, Garrison Benson, Peter Martin, and Cody Kellogg departed; bassist Marcel Borbon, drummer Kern Haug, and keyboardist Eric Shevrin joined in their place. The new lineup informed the expansive, jazz-tinged approach of 2017’s S/T.
Saddle Creek scouts caught a Young Jesus performance that same year and signed the band immediately, later pressing a vinyl edition of S/T. The label’s first Young Jesus release, 2018’s The Whole Thing Is Just There, was composed and tracked across three months and retained the prior record’s open-ended character, culminating in a closing piece exceeding twenty minutes. Welcome to Conceptual Beach appeared in 2020 as a collective endeavor titled after Rossiter’s personal mental sanctuary. Shepherd Head, issued on Saddle Creek in September 2022, was tracked primarily alone and featured two duets with Tomberlin.
After completing Shepherd Head, Rossiter felt depleted and disengaged from music, prompting him to pursue permaculture studies with the intention of focusing on gardens and landscapes. A letter from Shahzad Ismaily, who sought contact regarding mutual admiration for drummer Milford Graves, altered that trajectory. Although based on opposite coasts, Rossiter and Ismaily began meeting for outdoor work and joint improvisation, which gradually produced reflective material addressing grief, love, and redemption. The resulting album, The Fool, was captured at Ismaily’s Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn with engineers Phil Weinrobe and Alex Lappin, plus contributions from roughly a dozen guests including Aaron Roche, Cameron Wisch, and Alex Babbitt. Saddle Creek released The Fool in May 2024.
Rossiter started the group while attending high school in Chicago’s northern suburbs. The Maybe Baby EP surfaced in 2011, and the debut album Home followed the next year. He relocated to Los Angeles in 2013. Grow/Decompose, the second album, emerged in 2015 and remained rooted in emo traditions even as it expanded the palette. After those sessions, original members Shawn Nystrand, Garrison Benson, Peter Martin, and Cody Kellogg departed; bassist Marcel Borbon, drummer Kern Haug, and keyboardist Eric Shevrin joined in their place. The new lineup informed the expansive, jazz-tinged approach of 2017’s S/T.
Saddle Creek scouts caught a Young Jesus performance that same year and signed the band immediately, later pressing a vinyl edition of S/T. The label’s first Young Jesus release, 2018’s The Whole Thing Is Just There, was composed and tracked across three months and retained the prior record’s open-ended character, culminating in a closing piece exceeding twenty minutes. Welcome to Conceptual Beach appeared in 2020 as a collective endeavor titled after Rossiter’s personal mental sanctuary. Shepherd Head, issued on Saddle Creek in September 2022, was tracked primarily alone and featured two duets with Tomberlin.
After completing Shepherd Head, Rossiter felt depleted and disengaged from music, prompting him to pursue permaculture studies with the intention of focusing on gardens and landscapes. A letter from Shahzad Ismaily, who sought contact regarding mutual admiration for drummer Milford Graves, altered that trajectory. Although based on opposite coasts, Rossiter and Ismaily began meeting for outdoor work and joint improvisation, which gradually produced reflective material addressing grief, love, and redemption. The resulting album, The Fool, was captured at Ismaily’s Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn with engineers Phil Weinrobe and Alex Lappin, plus contributions from roughly a dozen guests including Aaron Roche, Cameron Wisch, and Alex Babbitt. Saddle Creek released The Fool in May 2024.
Albums
The Fool
2024
Shepherd Head
2022
Welcome to Conceptual Beach
2020
The Whole Thing Is Just There
2018
S/T
2017
Singles
