Stream: J.S. Ondara, ‘Tales of America’

Roy Jurgens on March 5th, 2019

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The first time you hear him, the hair on your arms begins to tingle. That voice, that unmistakable youthful timbre, emotionally brittle, and yet with all the gravity of an old soul. His face is a gentle one, a face representative of a culture and bloodline traversing the Atlantic, adding a layer of depth, pain, and beauty with each crossing. It is the face of a young man named J.S. Ondara.

Arriving in Minneapolis during the dead of winter in 2013 with little more than a dream and a guitar, the native Kenyan took to writing songs about this strange and wondrous place called America. Self-taught and raw, he observed guitar lessons online and began hitting the open-mic circuit in the Twin Cities. It wasn’t long before Ondara was on bills supporting the likes of Lindsey Buckingham and First Aid Kit.

Produced by the Grammy-nominated Mike Viola (Jenny Lewis, Andrew McMahon, Fall Out Boy), Ondara’s debut “Tales of America” (released last month) was recorded in Los Angeles, and features guest appearances by a whole host of local luminaries, including Andrew Bird, Dawes’ Goldsmith brothers and Joey Ryan of the Milk Carton Kids. Viola did not wield a heavy hand during production, letting Ondara’s songs grow in their natural light, going with a minimalistic approach in order to let the kid’s wisdom take root and grow.

His songs are pockmarked with the observations of an immigrant, steeped in love and fascination, but also presenting a innocent fragility and perilous infatuation. These are immigrant songs, but made of foreign cloth dyed in America. While the musical illuminati have placed Ondara in the Americana section of the store, there is a valid argument for him to be reigning in the soul section as well. Indeed, the lyrics of Bob Dylan, the simple harmonies of Neil Young and the emotional fragility of Kurt Cobain seep throughout his music. Yet, the haunting purity of his vocals recall a distant Sam Cooke residing in some far away alternate universe.

There is yearning, hope, disappointment, and promise in these songs, which are reflective of a point of view that cannot be manufactured. This isn’t country, this isn’t blues, or folk. It’s American music refracted through an African prism, old stories sung in a voice that wavers in the wind between tenor and falsetto. That is Ondara’s magic, the instant yet odd familiarity of his voice, as if it had visited you in a past life.

||| Watch: The videos for “Torch Song” and “American Dream”