Arend’s latest work, “Demo-Listen Derby 2020,” began as a biweekly demo series on Patreon and has evolved into a three-volume EP-set and an ongoing yearly project. For Arend, “Demo-Listen Derby” is an exercise in anti-perfectionism, following after self-recording heroes such as Richard Swift and Sufjan Stevens. Each song from the set is one-take, recorded on one-mic in his home studio, and resultantly, the sonic aesthetic is not unlike ‘60s and ‘70s guitar-and-voice folk records.

Arend Lee Jessurun - songwriter, vocals, guitar, producer, mixing & mastering engineer, artwork

Meet me there, the empty square,
the city planner’s pet
in your darkest clothes, now promise don’t forget.

Those curfew cops and rolling stops
are just a cat and mouse,
like teenage pride, to sneak outside your house.

Homely is this town, and lame.
Lonely is its name.
All this time shopping at the five and dime,
waiting for a shot just to say.

Walk me in the jasmine wind
and orange blossom rows.
Take me out to talk about your woes.

This town is red and jolie laide.
I’ll leave it all behind.
I hear that song, and you get on my mind.

Homely is this town, and lame.
Lonely is its name.
All this time shopping at the five and dime,
waiting for a shot just to say.

The dark and dew, they light on you.
The street lamps softly glow
and light the mist where lovers kiss below.

There’s time to pass, to lie in grass.
You made some room for me.
Your mother’s quilt, it made grass wilt beneath.

Homely is this town, and lame.
Lonely is its name.
All this time shopping at the five and dime,
waiting for a shot just to say.

Lonely Is Its Name (Demo)

(AIR•end lee JESS•ur•un)
Singer-songwriter, producer/engineer, music educator, quiet coyote 🤘🏻