It’s never too late to rekindle a passion for music.

Take it from Jai Agnish.

The indie-electro-pop musician from Montclair, N.J., has been releasing new music for the first time in 13 years. His latest single is called “Moment in Time.” It’s a dreamy song soaked in atmospheric synths, drum machine beats, and subtle acoustic guitar. It calls to mind music by Air, Com Truise, and Sufjan Stevens.

Agnish sings wistfully: “This one moment in time, it’s so sublime. If I could just keep it alive. Was it ever enough, or would I keep wanting it more?”

Agnish wrote, performed, produced, and engineered “Moment in Time” and teamed up with an old friend, Daniel Smith (Danielson, Sufjan Stevens), who mixed the song. The fellow Garden State dweller runs Familyre Studio and brought some psychedelia and smoothness to the project.

The cover art for Agnish’s new single is by Kitchen Dalelio, a long-time friend who made the art for his second full-length, Mechanical Sunshine, released in 2006.

Agnish is no stranger to drum machines, samplers, and electronic bleeps and bloops. And he’s long been intrigued by the razor’s edge that separates the “electro” and “acoustic” components of his electro-acousticism.

“Moment in Time” is the fourth single from Agnish since July and marks his continued foray into the world of DAWS and midi controllers. Lately, he has been constructing music from the synth up, which departs from earlier material that used the acoustic guitar as the primary compositional tool. The guitar is an accompanying instrument for now.

There’s plenty to criticize when it comes to America. Greed and rampant inequality. Hatred and indifference. Is this a land of freedom? A land of liberty?

But if America is broken, who is to blame? Who does it reflect? A people? A person? Me?

Jai Agnish’s new indie-electro single, “Is This My America,” explores these themes with dreamy synth hooks and guitar. It’s out Sept. 26, 2021, across the streaming universe and follows up last month’s “Take Me Back There” – a song also soaked in atmospheric melodies and beats.

Agnish sings: “What would happen now if I held up a mirror to the face of my country? I wonder what I would see. Some days I’d like to circulate a petition to recall this country and take it back for all of us. Whatever happened to those schoolboy dreams of hope and redemption? Of freedom and liberty?”

Agnish, who is part Asian Indian and white, holds dual citizenship in America and Canada. He was born and raised in a New Jersey suburb and lives in Montclair.

“This song questions my country as much as it questions my identity and role within it,” Agnish said. “It’s a personal exploration about how I view America.”

Agnish wrote, produced, and recorded “Is This My America” and teamed up with Daniel Smith (Danielson, Sufjan Stevens), who mixed the song. The fellow Garden State dweller runs Familyre Studio out of Clarksboro, N.J.

Agnish enlisted the help of a long-time friend and guitarist B.D. Lenz to lay down some shimmering lead guitar.

Melissa DeMarco Clark (LAST TRAX) created the cover art.

The movie follows a fictitious up-and-coming ’80s Christian metal band called 316 (think Stryper, Petra), their sound man, a groupie, and uproarious manager Skip Wick. This character is played wonderfully by Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from The Office). The film gets some ’80s sparkle from Judd Nelson, who in 1985 was John Bender in The Breakfast Club.

Call Electric Jesus a docucomedy if you must. Here’s the official “back of the movie box” description from IMDb: “Alabama preacher’s daughter runs off with a touring Christian hair metal band during the summer of 1986.”

There is plenty to love here, including the parodic band caricatures, tongue-in-cheek song lyrics, and playful jabs at the born-again evangelical dialect of the time. The whimsical storytelling allows for a trenchant analysis of its subject matter without cutting too sharply.

Electric Jesus has plenty of fun with the born-again evangelical idioms and oddities of the ’80s. And anyone who grew up listening to ’80s Christian metal will appreciate the film’s attention to detail. There are gigs in churches and roller rinks. A Steve Taylor poster hangs on a bedroom wall. Amy Grant is referenced throughout.

In a memorable scene early on in the film, Erik the protagonist, (Andrew Eakle), interviews for the sound man job with the band. When one of the 316 members asks him what kind of music he likes, Erik rattles off an enormously long list of Christian bands and artists from the ’80s. This is a scene White referenced in the Q&A after yesterday’s screening. He said the film’s music supervisor, John J. Thompson, dropped the knowledge there. Eakle only had one day to memorize the entire list, White said.

The culture represented in the film would’ve been very familiar to your average Christian camp kid from the ’80s. And as it turns out, those were precisely the sort of bunk beds White was sleeping on back then.

“I was raised by devout Southern Baptist parents and fully immersed in (and committed to) Evangelical Christian youth culture—which included Sunday School, Bible studies, summer camps, retreats, choir tours, ski trips—all of it set to an ’80s Christian rock soundtrack,” writes White on the Electric Jesus website. “Honestly, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I revisit that time in my mind, but either way, there’s no looking away.”

The movie should slot in nicely in the pantheon of band movies like This is Spinal Tap and Almost Famous. White said one of his favorites was The Commitments from 1991. And while Electric Jesus casually borrows some battle-tested storytelling motifs from rockstar movies, it’s not so indulgent. The other thing worth noting is that the subject matter explored here is uncharted movie territory, White pointed out.

Check out Electric Jesus! Visit the movie’s website or social media channels to learn more. Also, go listen to the Electric Jesus soundtrack and some Danielson Famile!

Photo: Electric Jesus movie screening at the Indie Street Film Festival in Red Bank, N.J. on Sept. 12, 2021 at Two River Theater. The film’s writer/director Chris White is center and the film’s music composer Daniel Smith (Danielson Famile) is right. (Photo by Jai Agnish)

Childhood fades away, but its magical imprint lives on in our hearts and dreams. Years later, we witness younger generations unfold the mystery of life.

This is the theme explored in Jai Agnish’s latest single, “Take Me Back There,” a nostalgic voyage through backyard childhood memories powered by dreamy synth hooks.

The release is the second single in as many months from the indie-pop musician from Montclair, N.J. and follows up last month’s “Free of This Disease,” – a song also soaked in atmospheric melodies and beats.

Agnish wrote, performed, and recorded “Take Me Back There” and teamed up with Daniel Smith (Danielson, Sufjan Stevens), who mixed the song. The fellow Garden State dweller runs Familyre Studio out of Clarksboro, N.J.

The cover art for the song features the only known family photograph taken in the “dugout” up behind Agnish’s childhood home. The “dugout” was a large area in the woods cleared out for a housing development that was ultimately abandoned. The area conveniently served as a giant playground for Agnish and his siblings and childhood friends. Here they would ride bikes, build forts, dig caves, and sled ride in the winter.

Agnish sings wistfully: “In the backyard by the stream, there’s a bridge that leads to the woods and the fun things. This was our world, our oasis, our magic place, and our own space. Discovering beauty and life in the chase of the fun and the mysteries. These childhood moments of my life I won’t ever forget.”

Pop Matters wrote of Agnish: “There’s an endearing quality to his voice.” And Pitchfork, in a 7.6 rating of his debut album Automata in 2000, said: “Agnish blends electronics, toys, and folk into a chalice and offers it to you as a gift. Both familiar and unlike anything else, you’d be wise to taste it.”

Take it from Jai Agnish.

The indie-electro musician from Montclair, N.J., just released new material for the first time in 13 years. The single, entitled “Free of this Disease,” is a machine-driven electronic tune with melodic synth textures and a lazy drum machine beat. [Click to hear the new single on your preferred streaming service!]

Don’t be fooled by the title. “Free of This Disease” is no anthem for the world’s prolonged exit from the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the song is an introspective journey through addiction, reconciliation, and rebirth.

Agnish sings wistfully: “I’m not going to pretend to have all the answers because I’ve been lost just like anyone else. There’s been some pain. I will not deny that. I will be free of this disease.”

Agnish wrote, performed, and recorded “Free of This Disease” and teamed up with an old friend, Daniel Smith (Danielson, Sufjan Stevens), who mixed the song. The fellow Garden State dweller runs Familyre Studio and brought some psychedelia and smoothness to the project.

Agnish previously produced an instrumental version of “Free of This Disease,” which is the soundtrack for The Stolen Hours Podcast.

The cover-art for Agnish’s new single is by John Ringhofer, another friend and a one-time touring buddy of Agnish’s. Ringhofer records under the name Half-handed Cloud (Asthmatic Kitty Records).

“There’s an endearing quality to his voice,” Pop Matters wrote of Agnish. And Pitchfork, in a 7.6 rating of his debut album Automata in 2000, said: “Agnish blends electronics, toys, and folk into a chalice and offers it to you as a gift. Both familiar and unlike anything else, you’d be wise to taste it.”

Agnish is no stranger to drum machines, samplers, and electronic bleeps and bloops. And he’s long been intrigued by the razor’s edge that separates the “electro” and “acoustic” components of his electro-acousticism.

While that earlier approach – to quote the Toronto Star – “employs electronics to greatly expand the performance potential of folk’s typical guy-with-a-guitar format,” Agnish’s new single is bathed purely in electronically derived sounds. There’s no guitar here.

“Free of This Disease” marks Agnish’s foray into the world of DAWs and midi controllers. It’s the first of a series of singles he plans to release monthly. Have no fear. Agnish’s acoustic guitar will soon make an appearance.

We reminisce about the DIY/indie-rock scene of the ‘90s when I would ambush artists like Liz Phair and Lou Barlow after shows for interviews and compilation tracks for my former fanzine, Flygirl, and independent record label at the time, Blue Bunny Records.

I didn’t realize it then, but these spirited teenage interactions at clubs like CBGB and Maxwell’s in NYC and N.J. were the training grounds for my journalism career.

There was the time I interviewed Doug Martsch (Built to Spill) over the phone, but forgot to turn on the answering machine to record it. Yes, answering machine. I also had an amazing photo shoot with the aforementioned Liz Phair after she played a show at Maxwell’s – or so I thought. Let’s just say that was the last time I failed to correctly load a roll of film into my camera. Whoops.

Dennis was a key contributor to my fanzine back then and we also recorded music on my four-track in my bedroom. We took advantage of an entire snow-week off school one time to make a cassette-only album entitled, “No Cavities, No Frills.” The central song was, “The Road is Melting,” which signified that soon we’d have to go back to school. This was in the same bedroom where we played with G.I. Joe figures when we were nine.

Dennis and I have known each other since we were two, and we grew up on the same street in West Milford, N.J. We’ve also been life-long musical and artistic collaborators. He’s spurred me on in my artistic endeavors, and I in his.

In some ways, this episode of The Stolen Hours Podcast is simply a conversation between two close friends. We also get to hear Dennis discuss some of what spurred him to create the podcast and take up documentary photography.

What’s really cool is that Dennis has been using one of my songs as the theme music for The Stolen Hours Podcast. You can read more about that in my previous blog post here. The song is entitled “Free of this Disease,” and is a machine-driven indie electronic tune. The non-instrumental version is being mixed as we speak and will be released as a single soon. It will mark my first official release in 13 years, and begins a series of new songs I plan to release monthly.

In the latest episode we get into my music and working with drum machines, samplers, and found sounds. We discuss my journalism career, my current creative work for the Archdiocese of Newark, and why I took up flying.

I hope you enjoy the episode and check out the rest of Dennis’ interviews. They are a collection of insightful conversations with known and unknown creators. Guests have included a Hollywood storyboard artist, a travel writer, and a highway evangelist.

One of my favorite episodes is episode 9 (Spotify or Apple Podcasts) which features a great conversation with a retired creative writing teacher colleague of Dennis’. The talented wordsmith reads some of her original poetry for the first time in public. You can read one of the poems on The Stolen Hours Podcast website here.

This is part of what I love about Dennis’ podcast: how it highlights his penchant for encouraging the people in his life to strive for excellence in their work and in their own lives. He also has a knack for discovering interesting and talented artists, including the highway evangelist who creates collaborative art pieces all around the country.

I have to credit Dennis for giving me the swift kick in the butt I needed. Because after he interviewed me, I rushed to get my back catalog up on all the streaming platforms, and to update my website – two things I had put off for some time.

I know I’m not the only person Dennis has inspired, and The Stolen Hours Podcast is a showcase for how he does that, and for how he interacts with his creative community. Dennis has long been a champion of artists.

The song is entitled “Free of this Disease,” and is a machine-driven indie electronic tune with melodic synth layers and a lazy drum machine beat.

The non-instrumental version is being mixed as we speak and will be released as a single soon. It will mark my first official release in 13 years, and begins a series of new songs I plan to release monthly.

Get a taste of the new song by listening to any episode of The Stolen Hours Podcast which features “Free of this Disease” generously throughout.  

The Stolen Hours Podcast is the brainchild of host Dennis Dalelio, a visual artist and high school photography teacher from New Jersey. It’s a collection of conversations with creative or passion-driven people whose mild mannered alter egos range from postal workers, teachers, sales people, moms, dads, husbands and wives.

Dennis is a close friend and artistic collaborator of mine and he and his wife Kitchen’s work has been featured on my album covers and in Flygirl, the fanzine I once published. He interviewed me for an upcoming episode, so look for that soon.

Dennis explores themes of faith and family life in his own work amid the sounds of five children: squeaky toys, laughter, karaoke, and lots of superhero movies. This ambience is heard in the beginning of the podcast, and contributes to its charm as Dennis steals time to carry out the interviews.

Dennis has long been a champion of artists and his guests include former students, colleagues, mentors, and friends he and Kitchen have met on their life’s journey or have admired from afar.

“The recording of these conversations comes from a hope to encourage and appreciate creative and passion-driven people, and to create a legacy of media that is about living honestly and sharing stories and insights from that life with everyone else out there just living life, but trying to do so… in a creative way,” Dennis said of The Stolen Hours Podcast.

One of my favorite episodes is episode 9 (Spotify or Apple Podcasts) which features a great conversation with a retired creative writing teacher colleague of Dennis’. The talented wordsmith reads some of her original poetry for the first time in public. You can read one of the poems on The Stolen Hours Podcast website here.

This is part of what I love about Dennis’ podcast: how it highlights his penchant for encouraging the people in his life to strive for excellence in their work and in their own lives. He also has a knack for discovering interesting and talented artists, including a highway evangelist who creates collaborative art pieces all around the country.

I have to credit Dennis for giving me the swift kick in the butt I needed. Because after he interviewed me for one of the upcoming episodes, I rushed to get my back catalog up on all the streaming platforms, and to update my website – two things I had put off for some time.

I know I’m not the only person Dennis has inspired, and The Stolen Hours Podcast is a showcase for how he does that, and for how he interacts with his creative community.

The Stolen Hours Podcast cover image is by Mike Ferrari and was reprinted with permission.

It’s been 13 years since I went radio silent and pushed music aside for other priorities. We have seasons in life, I guess. And right now, the passion for making music has returned for me in a very real way.

I’m thrilled to share what I’ve been working on with you soon. But, as I stoke the star maker machinery – to borrow a lyric from Joni Mitchell – and dive headlong into this endeavor, I would be remiss not to take this moment.

I want to thank my fans, friends, and family. Also, those who bought my music and came out to shows. The producers and engineers. The ‘zinesters, music writers, bloggers, bookers, promoters, labels, distributors. Anyone and everyone who has ever supported me.

I’m grateful to the amazing visual artists who created album covers and gig posters for me, and everyone who contributed to my fanzine, Flygirl, back in the day.

Thank you to the musicians who performed with me, and to those of you who have sang along. What a gift all of this is. I think of the fellow musicians who have travelled alongside me at one point or other. Many of them continue to make music that resonates profoundly with those around them.

I was prompted to write this because I’ve been looking through old emails, and reconnecting with fans, musicians, and friends in the industry. With age and in this pandemic era, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of human connection. The value of your time is not lost on me.

I’m especially grateful to those who have purchased one of my albums, or streamed or downloaded my music. This simple gesture means more than you may realize. The message of support it sends is magical.

I won’t annoy you with prompts to visit my website or stream my music on your favorite music service.

This is just a note to say, thank you!

I’m excited to share what I’ve been working on soon. Keep in touch, and please drop me a note to let me know what you’ve been up to.

Yours,

Jai Agnish