Today, Georgia singer-songwriter Jonah Kagen shares his stirring new EP, Black Dress. The six-song set — which was recorded and produced by Jonah while traveling in his Airstream trailer — takes the listener on a journey through richly detailed writing, evocative guitar play, shout-along peaks, and lonesome valleys.
The project’s campfire intimacy is felt deeply on the previously unreleased “Don’t You Give Up On Me Yet,” a slowly building strummer that casts Jonah as a man on the edge, alone, running on fumes: “I been lost awhile / These tires have seen the miles, and God knows I’m the one who made the mess / But I’m f—-d up and they left me for dead / Don’t you give up on me yet.”
“This EP is the first part of a project that represents a full snapshot of my emotional experience at this moment in my life. In writing all of these songs, I wanted to focus on making them feel inherently present, not reflective or apprehensive. Black Dress also has alternate versions of two of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written, expressed in a different manner in the production and performance. I hope y’all love it and that it sets the stage for this next chapter of music.” – Jonah Kagen.
Those alt takes are for the two singles that kicked off this release. There’s the darkly cinematic and existentially questioning “Matches,” which plays out like a scene from a Western gone film noir. And then, of course, there’s “God Needs The Devil,” a haunting folk/rock song about dependence “on something evil” that has so far garnered over 30 million streams worldwide. Black Dress is rounded out by the slowly rolling, nature-infused send off, “Same Wind.”
Jonah kicked off 2024 with his U.S. headlining Save My Soul Tour; continuing on to a series of festivals including Americanafest, SummerFest, Red West Festival, and Austin City Limits; and then embarking on his second European run in support of Chance Peña’s The Ever-Shifting Continual Blossoming Tour.
Black Dress follows Jonah’s acclaimed 2023 EP The Roads and serves to further cement the growing legacy Jonah Kagen is building for himself.