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On June 30th, New Jersey pop/rock artist Mistine will be releasing her debut EP, “Fade”, on all streaming platforms. Having toured with such pop acts as Conan Gray, WizTheMC, and Zeph, Mistine is ready to share her new nostalgia-inspired tunes with the world. She’s already released two singles from her EP (“Temporary Feeling” and “Everett Park”), both of which have over 24,000 plays on Spotify…
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By Sonia Schnee | Thursday, June 9, 2022
Tomorrow (Friday, June 10), Asbury Park’s David Ross Lawn will be releasing a new 4-track EP entitled “Don’t Be a Stranger” in which he applies his contemplative piano style of music to the tracks of award-winning indie rock singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. The EP will be available on all streaming platforms. Not only is David a composer, musician, teacher, and style icon, he is also the newest addition to the Jersey Indie team, as concert and community event photographer.
So, why cover the music of Phoebe Bridgers?
“Phoebe Bridgers is my favorite artist of all time,” says David. “I thought to myself, there's got to be a way for me to pay homage to her music in my own way. I started doing piano versions of her music and posted them as livestreams on TikTok as well as on YouTube. People who commented kept saying, ‘You have to save these’, so really I’m doing it for my audience. I’m doing it so her fans can hear her music the way that I hear it and experience it the way that I experience it.
When it comes to my piano covers, I do it all in one take. Connor Hanson, who recorded with me, can attest to this. It's almost improvised. It's very fresh. I stay true to the melody. If someone wants to sing along to it, they can. What I change slightly is the energy of the pieces. I take them to a more contemplative, quieter place — subtle, but quietly powerful. It’s almost like a lullaby that can cradle you off to sleep.”
To get a sense of David’s musical style you can check out his playlist of past Phoebe Bridgers covers, here.
David’s new EP will consist of 4 tracks, featuring two songs from Ms. Bridgers’s first album (“Motion Sickness” and “Scott Street”) as well as two of her more recent songs (“Kyoto” and “Garden Song”).
The title of the EP, “Don’t Be a Stranger”, is inspired by the last line of the last song, “Scott Street.” As David explains, “The phrase ‘don't be a stranger’ is one of those things that, to me, is just such a stab to the heart. If you've ever had someone in your life that you wish didn't go away, you’ll understand. It’s like you left the light on for those people, but they never called. If you’re familiar with the song “Scott Street”, there’s this beautiful anthemic uproar at the end with a string quartet and all these beautiful side samples in it. In my version, that’s where I like to showcase my classical training. It definitely ends in an explosion.”
David studied classical and contemporary piano performance and composition as an undergraduate in Scotland at the University of Aberdeen and at Westminster Choir College, in Princeton, NJ where he got his Masters.
In addition to David’s serious talent, though, he also has a fun side.
“My Instagram is more demure and somber and serious, but my TikTok is literally just me being myself, being smiley and happy and waving.” Inspired by his students, who encourage him to post his eye-catching outfits, David’s TikTok account has amassed over 375,000 followers and over 15.8 million likes. Full of fun and flair — and authenticity — you can see why his videos easily garner between 10,000 and 2 million views per post.
But back to Phoebe Bridgers.
I asked David how he first discovered her music and if he remembered when/where that was.
“I was on a walk listening to her song “Smoke Signals”, which is the first song on her first album,” says David. “It came on thanks to Spotify shuffle, and it made me stop in my tracks as I was walking to work. I actually had to sit down. It was that kind of experience. I listened to the lyrics and started crying. I got really emotionally invested in what was going on with the songs, and I remember basically diverting my entire day to go walk on the boardwalk and listen to that album in its entirety. When she released her other album, it was almost the same situation where I said to myself, I'm going to devote an entire day just to listening to this, experiencing this out in nature, away from everyone, away from everything.
So even from that first song, I was invested. I still listen to her music to get through hard times myself. Music can be used to narrate part of your life and your experiences. Her music fills in a large void for me and makes me feel deeply. A big part of why I do what I do on the piano is to help people feel a certain emotion. That's what her music does to me. If you know her music, it's just so deep and cathartic. It takes a hold of your heart, so it's definitely my kind of music.”
So, what’s next on the horizon for David Ross Lawn?
“If Phoebe Bridgers was to see this EP, my life would be completely made. I would be dancing on the street.”
So, Phoebe Bridgers, if you’re reading this right now, know that you’ve got David in your corner. And hey, if you ever want to do a piano collaboration with him, it could be dynamite. ;)
Via Ripa, “While It Lasts” EP. Listen on Bandcamp.
By Deaglan Howlett | Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Via Ripa are a four piece rock outfit based out of Long Branch, New Jersey. Forming in summer of 2019, Via Ripa already has two EPs out; their latest “While It Lasts” was released 2/14/2021. Their blend of influences lead to a unique, energetic sound, with a familiar New Jersey attitude. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, after Via Ripa’s first three shows, venues were shut down and the group was forced back to their practice space. Luckily for us, the group has been hard at work and are showing no signs of stopping. I reached out to the band to see how they have been keeping busy in the wake of their latest release, as well as what is next for Via Ripa.
Via Ripa: Mike and two of our friends (Sam Macpherson and Kyle Kieper<333) had started writing songs together and posting them on YouTube in like 2015/2016, and they called that Via Ripa, but only did that for about a year. Fast forward to the summer of 2019, and Matt, Mike and I (Sean) started jamming together and eventually got our drummer Nick in the mix. We got the okay from Sam and Kyle to use Via Ripa as our name in the beginning of 2020, but I guess you could say Via Ripa has been around for a little while.
As far as influences go, all four of us come from varying backgrounds with varying interests in genres and artists. Personally, mine (Nick) range from jazz artists like Louis Prima, Art Blakey and Benny Greb to bands and artists like Streetlight Manifesto, Jack Johnson, PUP, Vulfpeck and Led Zeppelin. Sean was listening to a lot of Slaughter Beach Dog, Skeggs FIDLAR, bands like that, and Mike was on a big Jimmi Hendrix and The Smiths kick. Matt is more into blues and progressive, like Ariel Posen. That said, we feel that our sound is a result of all of these bands and evolves due to the wide variety of our own personal influences
Over the summer we sat down and kind of just wrote whatever popped in our head. I think in total we wrote 11 songs and ended up recording 10 of them in a two day span, with some over dubbing sessions in the following weeks. “Summer is Dead” was a reworked version of the song Mike wrote in 2015, but all of the writing for the “While It Lasts” was done in the summer.
We had our first three shows in a two week span before COVID shut down live music, so it really sucked going from full steam ahead to doing nothing. We didn’t have practice for the first few months, but we slowly got back into playing and writing. I think the time away from practice for a little allowed us to write material in our own space and bring it to the band and then have it take a whole new shape and sound. The live music shutdown also changed the way we feel about releasing music. We could have put out a ten song album, or two five track EPs, but staggering our releases and creating anticipation for our next songs, that has really been the best way for us to present our music to people.
Sean — Loveseat Pete!!!!!!!!! And I would love to get back to The Saint and The Brighton [Bar], but House of Independents and any 4333 Collective show would be really cool, too.
We would also love at some point to start branching out to NY, Philly, and Boston. Nick’s got a bunch of friends and bands out there from touring and school, which is pretty great.
We haven’t. This band is full of neurotic basket cases who cannot be saved from themselves.
We have a direct-to-vinyl session with Leesta Vall on April 3, and we will be putting out another EP, 5 songs, in the near future. We are also always writing and pumping out new songs, so at some point or another we will record those, too! But definitely give our new EP, “While It Lasts”, a listen.
Via Ripa is
Nick Marinelli — Drums
Michael Pinckney — Voc/ Guitar
Matt Smentkowski — Vox/ Guitar
Sean Cuddy — Bass
