Joel Zigman Releases First Fully Produced Album

Denver local artist and co-founder of Deeply Rooted Music School Joel Zigman has announced his first fully produced, four-song album. The album, titled Down, will release on Tuesday, April 12.

“This is a collection of songs worked on in meticulous detail over two years of quarantine. I prefer my songs to be more about a feeling than to tell any particular story,” Zigman says.

Zigman prides himself on writing catchy melodies that easily get stuck in your head. His music is inspired by artists like Sufjan Stevens, Imogen Heap, Owen Pallett, JD Samson, Sleater Kinney, Matt Mahaffey, and Tori Amos. Joel likes to create a wide soundscape for his music that mixes both electronics and orchestration, while seamlessly tying queer elements into his lyrics.

“(The song) ‘TDOR’ is about being at a rally for Trans Day of Remembrance and honoring the memory of a friend of mine who passed away, and the last song is about my friend’s cat Max, but I wanted it to be like, you didn’t know if it was about a cute boy or a cat,” Joel says of two of his new songs.

“’Down’ is about meeting my wife and getting married, and ‘The Walls Are Too Thin’ is about feeling trapped and depressed and uninspired in my small apartment in the pandemic.”

He draws from his background in contemporary classical composing and arranging to use a full spectrum of timbre to build out a song and take it in unexpected directions. Joel also tends to the lyrically unexpected, bringing a sense of humor and self-deprecation to words that are sometimes poignant and occasionally surreal. He is a dynamic performer who is constantly striving to bring more interactive energy to his sets.

Stream Down as well as Joel’s previously released music on Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever you get your music by searching Joel Zigman.