This is J, singer of NYC's The Cloud Room.

Two major events led to this bio being written. Well, three, if you count the beginning of the universe. About 13 billion years later I left Silicon Valley for New York after being offered a job with filmmaker Hal Hartley. I sold my car & all my belongings, left my girlfriend and ditched my little Northern California accent. However, after finally arriving, I discovered my dream job had been inexplicably given to an NYU student. I was, as they say, "screwed" (although, have you seen anything he's done since Henry Fool?). I worked the film industry for a couple years, but after having to fill one too many actors' water bottles with Stoli Vanilla, I drifted back to my original love - Music. "O' Sonic Youth, how hath I forsaken thee" would be a terrible thing to write at this moment.

This leads to the second, much more profound event.

In the winter of 2004, I got extremely sick. After 3 months went by with no improvement, the bewildered doctor said I needed to take an HIV test. I did. It came back positive. They said I should take a different more thorough one. Unfortunately, the doctor was just leaving on a Caribbean vacation for three weeks, and she would only give me the results in person. So I rode the bus home, and locked myself in the apartment for 18 days. After a week or two of self-loathing/pity I picked up the guitar and immediately fell into this melody, almost child-like in it's simplicity. "Hey now now, we going down down..." I recorded what I had on my answering machine. Then the doctor's Caribbean vacation ended, so I rode the bus back for the results. After she got caught up talking about her trip, I blurted out, "Please, THE FUCKING RESULTS." She looked through the file and said, "You're fine. It was a false positive." I broke down right there, and it was in that instant of going from the worst moment in my life to the greatest moment in my life that changed everything, especially music. I wanted to somehow bottle that searing joy.

So that brings us to the music. In 2004, I stole my best friend's rhythm section, which consisted of Jonathan Petrow on Bass and Jason Pharr on drums. We remain best friends. Through craigslist, I found Guitarist David H and electric Pianist Steve Milton.

And finally, a few details about the music. You can hear our collective crush on Beyonce in "Blue Jean". There's a nod to Bill Withers on "Hey Now Now" that I know you'll pick up. "We Sleep In The Ocean" seems to enjoy a slight consensus as the band's favorite Ð although my favorite moment of the album is the bridge on "Waterfall". And, lastly, Philip Glass, who built the studio we recorded in, turned out to be my second cousin! My crazy mother keeps writing him emails trying to get us to meet for coffee at Starbucks, but no response yet. Crazy! Bye!

Coming soon...

Coming soon...