This spring, Jordan Raf—an L.A. singer with a knotty croon and a taste for slurrying, Shlohmo-like production—will release his debut full-length Double Negative via POW Recordings. Today, he has broken off the first taste of that project, a track called "Roses."
In a lengthy note (below), Raf explained to The FADER that he wrote "Roses" after a brief stay in a psych ward, where he found himself in the company of "a lot of beautiful lost and neglected souls who actually made a lot more sense than any of you screen-infatuated fucks in this city." Accordingly, the song finds him sort of sluggishly singing I was gone, I was gone/ I was never here in harmony with the melancholy and meandering guitar riff.
"I just really wanted to write something that was lyrically a little vague and abstract yet simple and precise, but mostly focused on the pure gorgeousity of a melody," he explained. "Something harmoniously divine that would help me escape this big toilet place I wake up in everyday for at least a few minutes. I hope it does the same for you."
Hit play and escape with Raf below.
Jordan Raf's full note about "Roses":
"hey it's Jordan shut up for a second. thanks. yeah shut up. this is a song i wrote and if you don't listen to it I'm calling the cops. maybe not because I don't trust them. On a more sincere note, I made this song after I had been in all seriousness a psych ward for a few days and much to my dismay there was no goofy charismatic male lead with really expressive eyebrows that I could plan an escape with, or a tall strong Native American man that could pick up a water fountain.
"However there were actually a lot of beautiful lost and neglected souls who actually made a lot more sense than any of you screen-infatuated fucks in this city, with the exception of one man who demanded to make unbroken eye contact with me every time he pooped. my depression and anxiety had got the best of me for months, and not only did I distance myself from my friends and family, but the main riff is from the first time I had picked up my guitar for months in similar vein.
"I just really wanted to write something that was lyrically a little vague and abstract yet simple and precise, but mostly focused on the pure gorgeousity of a melody. something harmoniously divine that would help me escape this big toilet place I wake up in everyday for at least a few minutes. I hope it does the same for you. if not honestly even better i love it when people talk shit/shame me in public it's my latest obsession and kind of(a big) a turn on. so yeah thanks I'll let u get back to buying 12 dollar juice that tastes like shrek's piss and then calling your parents for money."
