Jonathan Something Shares 'The Garden' Single; LP Due October 16

Jonathan Something (born Jonathan Searles) is set to release One More Lonesome Cowboy Song on October 16 via a new Virgin Music-backed label, High Shelter, and returns today with the album's third single, 'The Garden.' Upon release, he will bring the new music to a selection of intimate venues in the New York City and Boston areas.

Of the new single, Searles offers, ''The Garden' is a collection of epiphanies I had regarding self growth while wrestling demons. I kept the conclusions and deeper meaning behind each verse as cryptic as possible to avoid preaching while still resonating as widely as possible. The goal was to offer my hand to hold for those who needed it and a high five for those who just wanna vibe.'

Jonathan Something announced the upcoming record with lead single 'Country Rose,' which has since landed on Spotify playlists like Fresh Finds Folk, Cosmic Country, and Emerging Americana, as well as Apple Music's Indie Folk, Amazon's Breakthrough Folk, and YouTube's Lazy Summer. He followed with 'Gasoline.'

One More Lonesome Cowboy Song follows 2020's full-length Cannibal House Rules, a macabre set of synth-driven mid-'80s-style pop songs structured to play like the soundtrack to a non-existent horror film. Hailed by NPR as 'delightfully bizarre,' the Connecticut-based artist has shed his creative skin repeatedly, with his previous albums ranging in style from blistering garage rock and quirky anti-folk to retro synth-pop and sample-laden neo-soul.

The new music is gentle and hypnotic, drawing you in with an intimate, understated delivery that is at once aching and beautiful. It's an album that manages to feel lush and raw at the same time, a captivating inner monologue that finds comfort in slowing down, tuning in, and making peace with the moment, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.

'Most of these songs are about trying to understand something, about trying to come to terms with some truth about the human condition,' Searles reflects. 'These songs all came to me in little epiphanies when I finally slowed down enough to hear my own thoughts.'

Searles grew up enthralled with music but conflicted about the industry and its rigid constraints. His early albums were well-received, but they were also entirely unpredictable. His 2018 proper debut Outlandish Poetica resulted in a tour supporting Peter Bjorn and John, and subsequent releases received high praise from the likes of NPR Music, Billboard, The Line of Best Fit, Paste Magazine, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, and more. He worked at a rapid clip, often writing and recording entire albums in the span of a month, but by 2020, he realized the whole experience had left him somewhat jaded.

'I was finding it hard to identify with being an artist anymore,' he confesses. 'It didn't bring me the same joy or comfort it used to, and I found that the only way for me to really enjoy music again was to stop making it.'

Searles put his guitar aside and spent the next several years running audio and visual setups, considering alternative creative paths like screenwriting and filmmaking, but a mysterious illness and a painful back injury led to an unexpected reunion with songwriting. When he later suffered a debilitating anxiety attack and subsequent deep depression, he began to write in order to make sense of it all. 'I needed to use it as a catalyst to start thinking more seriously about spirituality and growth and the changes I needed to make in my life,' he explains. 'And that journey became One More Lonesome Cowboy Song.'

Searles' probing self-reflections lie at the heart of the album, but it is decidedly more existential than autobiographical, repeatedly asserting that any time spent wrestling with fundamental questions about our humanity is its own reward. 'The cowboy of the album title is metaphorical,' he says. 'It's that dark, brooding, reclusive part of myself that didn't know how to be happy. This record is my farewell to him.'

One More Lonesome Cowboy Song Tracklisting

1. Country Rose

2. Siren Song

3. The Garden

4. Gasoline

5. Dancer in the Sky

6. One Step More

7. Before I Go

Jonathan Something On Tour

November 4 — Brooklyn, NY @ The Sultan Room

November 5 — Cambridge, MA @ Club Passim

November 6 — Freehold, NJ @ Concerts in the Studio

Photo Credit: Michael Boyle