Jonathan Sibha

Sometimes there is a sound, or perhaps a collection of sounds that captures the bulk of your being, imagination, and the faculties involved while taking in full-length motion picture. Such is the compelling, unusual but intimately enticing earth traveled by Jonathan Sibha, who discovered through bandmate James Krivchenia of Happy You. Our introduction to their February scheduled album, Secret Lovers was about a group who spent copious amounts of time watching Twin Peaks and The Shining in Northern Minnesota when they were recording, bringing us to the grand premiere of the Stephen King-Kubrickian nod and odyssey in its own right — “The Shining”.

As the lead track of Secret Lovers; “The Shining” sets the tone of the album full of mystery, anguish, obfuscation of identity, all making for one hell of an album opener to remember. While other album cuts like “Maria” showcase the atmospheric diversity of the album’s vast arrangements, Jonathan Sibha devastates with “Shining” in new ways you never thought you could be devastated by a song before. Modern comparisons might recall the similar cinemascopic senses from classics like 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love“, but here the piano guided heavy heads and anvil weight hearts of lead crush with misconceptions, miscommunication, and more with the mistakes and missed expectations on the lamentations like, “I’m more than what you want me to be.” Everything on “The Shining” is arranged to the utmost effect of emotional extremity. The unraveling of relationships and the discussions of what each individual in all involved parties wants and desires is brought out through the evocative synths, and serenity that is disintegrating in a slow motion free fall felt like the end of nearly every Kafka story of unimaginable fall-outs and discontinuities. Every lyric and instrumental element reinforces some of the most earth shattering aspects of personal worlds collapsing and falling into crisis while the entire affair remains rumbling in an eerie, dead calm. “And I couldn’t leave you just for anyone, but you’re not the same as you used to be, or who you were supposed to be…” Jonathan Sibha gave us a look into their world in the interview following the meltdown anthem of monolithic proportions; “The Shining”. - SJIMON GOMPERS

Moody rockers Jonathan Sibha debut under the influence of David Lynch and Sigur Rós.

We have the pleasure of premiering their single “Maria” which is one of many stellar tracks from their debut, secretlovers.

The native Canadians headed south to Minnesota, recording the bulk of the album in a giant pull barn with a dirt floor and tin roof. Late night vocal sessions were interrupted by moose mating calls that forced the band to move their studio to a wood shack, but they pushed through, experimenting with toys and sonic manipulators, crafting the atmospheric sound of secretlovers.

The resulting songs make for a compelling first album and Jonathan Sibha’s interesting recording process begs further listens. It takes a certain kind of band to disconnect themselves from everything but themselves—and you got to give them props for returning from the wilderness with something beautiful. - The Vinyl District

Then we turned our attentions to the conglomeration of oddly positioned keyboards, among which were strewn various brass and woodwind instruments, a drum set, and a guitar. Local band Jonathan Sibha (sharing members with Old Abram Brown, Old Soul, and PONCHOS) had composed a solid dozen or so songs based in the musical stylings of Lynch’s television masterpiece. The group starts out with the familiar back-and-forth lull of the Twin Peaks theme, a cool trumpet floating over top. An uplifting piano line picks up the next melody accompanied by an electronic drum kit. A clarinet joins the trumpet in a slow entwining. Through it all are Dylan Vukelich’s spacey, echoing vocals. There’s a whole lot of talent going on here, that much is plain. Among the gritty, futuristic (the Drive soundtrack comes to mind) remix of Lynch’s sleepy town are songs from the band’s self-titled EP. The Twin Peaks songs themselves are laced with lyrics drawn from the show, often thoroughly emotive, filling us with the swells of emotion inspired by the mysteries surrounding Laura Palmer’s death. There are breaks from the lackadaisical, exciting and energetic and brilliantly rendered through the passion of the performance. Finally, Jonathan Sibha falls back into the romantic, nostalgic sway of the end credits. To my knowledge, no one said it couldn’t be done. But if there were any doubts that a night of Twin Peaks-inspired music could be anything short of marvelous, they have long been dispelled. Jonathan Sibha’s good, and we know it; it’s only the owls who aren’t what they seem.

-Laura Brubaker - Allston Pudding

A new play by Allison Vanouse puts the noir mode into a claustrophobic interior space, deconstructing and reconstructing its parameters until they brush the limit of the form. Sam (Dimitri Papadimitriou) is a P.I. without a case, haunted by images, his mind saturated with the cinematic. PROJECTION is a world of his creation, where ghosts of the 1940s and the ever-present hum of a movie projector build a tenuous dreamscape. To this heady cocktail — half David Lynch, half Dashiell Hammett, a dash of the existential — Spirited Magazine’s production introduces the hurricane-force of a femme fatale (played with aplomb by Alix Mauclere). Sitting on the edge of theatrical and performance traditions, PROJECTION is a basement-show chamber-play that consistently performs weird alchemy: two lovers – thirty minutes — one movie — one dirty mattress — a play of images between the filmic and theatrical — live scoring (by Jonathan Sibha) worthy of Eraserhead—and a strangely resonant takeaway that sits squarely between gritty realism and dreams. The play also restores the original ending of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. If you want to see just how, check out excerpts from the script in Noir Generation. - Spirited Magazine

After a cup of coffee and a delicious breakfast, only a few things are really needed on a Sunday. Relaxation, putting your feet up, and good music. Not necessarily in that order. I’m here to provide the music, so sit back, relax, and put your feet up. Yes, in that order. I present to your burning ears, Jonathan Sibha. If you like what you hear, head to their Bandcamp above and snag the rest of their album.

- Taylor - The Burning Ear