About JIMKATA
Four years after going on hiatus, Jimkata is back with a renewed sense of purpose and an extraordinary new album. Recorded in Syracuse with producer Jason Randall, Bonfires finds the trio digging deep and stretching their boundaries with bold, intoxicating arrangements fueled by swirling synthesizers and anthemic hooks. The songs here are at once modern and classic, blurring the lines between the organic and the electronic as they reckon with doubt, struggle, and perseverance in a search for truth and meaning. Like much of Jimkata’s catalog, Bonfires delivers transcendence in tight, dancefloor-ready packages, but there’s a sense of freedom at play that pushes the trio’s performances to new emotional heights, a kind of liberation that can only come from learning to let go of expectation and embrace the moment.
“I think the time away brought us all more maturity, more patience, an ability to see the bigger picture,” says singer/guitarist Evan Friedell. “We all gained a lot of perspective on life and the value of being in a band together.”
Indeed, the heart and soul of Jimkata has always been the enduring bonds between Friedell and his longtime bandmates, guitarist/keyboardist Aaron Gorsch and drummer Packy Lunn. Pals since middle school, the three launched Jimkata in 2005 while attending Ithaca College, where they quickly found an audience for their relentlessly feel-good performances, which grew from local house parties to club, theater, and festival dates on the strength of a series of critically acclaimed albums. Popdose hailed the band’s “bubbly sweetness,” while American Songwriter praised their “organic chemistry,” and Relix raved that the trio’s sound “proves that rock-based music still has a place in the world of four-on-the-floor beats.”
About PEAK:
In late 2016 Brooklyn-based guitarist and songwriter Jeremy Hilliard began performing and touring under the name PEAK. In 2018, he released the now critically acclaimed debut album Electric Bouquet, produced by Dave Brandwein (Turkuaz). In 2019 the band took on a life of its own as one by one some of the best musicians in the improv rock scene joined the group including Kito Bovenschulte (Particle) on drums, Josh T. Carter (Hayley Jane and The Primates) on bass, and newcomer extraordinaire Johnny Young on keys. The group’s music, described as Psychedelic Indie Funk, is a mix of poetic, melodic songwriting, moody electrofunk, riffed-out blues-rock, and exploratory danceable improvisations. Some of their many influences include artists such as The Band, The Talking Heads, Phish, The Grateful Dead, Radiohead, James Brown, and Miles Davis, as well as modern songwriters such as Conor Oberst, Mac Demarco, Kurt Vile, and Jack White to name a few.
Jeremy is no newcomer to the scene. He established his songwriting voice as a bandleader and lead guitarist for the band Turbine, with whom he made 4 studio albums and toured nationally for many years, including regular appearances on the some of the country’s biggest stages such as Bonnaroo Music Festival, Telluride Music Festival, Gathering of the Vibes, Moedown, and many others. As a songwriter, he is a lyric-based storyteller and with a wide palette of moods. As a guitarist, he lists as early inspirations BB King and Jimi Hendrix, and using that as a jumping-off point he utilizes jazz concepts to tell longer, more complex sonic stories. Jeremy found his perfect complement in the multitalented keyboardist Johnny Young. Johnny is an established presence on the New York music scene and is highly regarded as a soloist, singer, songwriter, producer, and composer. Friends for many years, Jeremy and Johnny finally got the chance to work together in 2018 when they began writing songs together in earnest. His soulful voice, virtuosity on the keyboards, understanding of harmony, and natural chemistry with Jeremy have taken the band to new heights. All of which is made even more remarkable by the fact that he has been blind since the age of 17. North Jersey drummer Kito Bovenschulte is the heartbeat of the band. Kito began his career in the Tri-State area playing with the regional and experimental rock band, Fikus. As of 2016 he has taken on the role of drummer for Jamtronica pioneers Particle with whom he performed on a national and international level, playing at some of the country’s most notorious venues and music festivals. The newest member of the group is bassist Josh T. Carter (Haley Jane and The Primates, Sundub) who holds the band together with thunderous precision and an impeccable ear. With the addition of Josh on bass, the band found the sound that they had been looking for and begin work on their sophomore album, to be recorded in 2020.