“This is a knock on the window of reality,” sings Stephen Jaymes on his new single TOKYO. The second in his suite of four summer singles, TOKYO is a rousing call to make the journey to a magical place that two people create together, even in the face of certain climate destruction. TOKYO drops just a month after Jaymes made his summer debut with “Chief Inspector,” a song Divine Magazine says is “a testament to Jaymes’ artistic prowess and his ability to craft music that resonates deeply within the listener’s soul.” Pivoting from the shadowy noir of the first single, TOKYO declares its intention to make your head bob from the opening guitar riff. “The Tokyo of this song is not the Japanese city. It’s a place that exists between two people, an avenue for transcendence, and in this case transcending the apocalyptic scenes that make up most of what a conscious person witnesses this year. It feels like a future song to me as a listener, like Tokyo the Japanese doesn’t exist by the time the singer is inviting his lover to go there with him. Maybe to him it’s just a mythical a name from the pre-apocalyptic past picked up along the way.”

Tokyo

Prism in Jeans

Dog Dribble

Tinfoil Hat

Electronic strings (Master Blaster)

The title track from Stephen Jaymes's "I am Waking" EP finds Stephen having a pillow fight with desire and submitting in the end to the role of master. Recorded in Los Angeles in the spring of 2016 on an iPad Pro.

Written, produced, and performed by Stephen Jaymes. Copyright Stephen Jaymes, all rights reserved.

I Am Waking

I Am Waking (Album Version)

The first track from Stephen Jaymes's "I am Waking" EP follows Stephen through the troubadour's mythopsychic journey, from the mountain to the city and back again. Recorded in Los Angeles in the spring of 2016 on an iPad Pro.

Written, produced, and performed by Stephen Jaymes. Copyright Stephen Jaymes, all rights reserved.

To Live (Is To Start All Over Again)

To Live (Is To Start All Over Again) (Album Version)

The closing track from Stephen Jaymes's "I am Waking" EP features Stephen's powerful voice making some unusually forthright demands. Recorded in Los Angeles in the spring of 2016 on an iPad Pro.

Written, produced, and performed by Stephen Jaymes. Copyright Stephen Jaymes, all rights reserved.

Till You Weaken

Till You Weaken (Album Version)

The title track from Stephen Jaymes's "Sweet Violin" EP finds Stephen reflecting on the perfect instrument and making the quantum leap.

Written, produced, and performed by Stephen Jaymes. Copyright Stephen Jaymes, all rights reserved.

Sweet Violin EP

Sweet Violin

Sweet Violin (Album Version)

The second track from Stephen Jaymes's "Sweet Violin" EP follows Stephen and friends from the shelter of a bedroom in the storm to the clean lawn of a breaking dawn.

Written, produced, and performed by Stephen Jaymes. Copyright Stephen Jaymes, all rights reserved.

The Drumming

The Drumming (Album Version)

Floating through this hole of mine, drinking bottles of clementine
Take my hand and a hidden face, swim to the lion for a warm embrace
Walking through the Albert Hall, a day in life is miserable
Out of touch on my dying bed, thinking about what it is to be dead

Tears of love are beautiful, closer to an animal
Observation of the golden one, say your name just to pierce your tongue
Poke your nail in the gramophone, listen for your holy note

Velvet sea
Your love is clean
Velvet sea
Your love is clean
In a velvet sea

Speaking with the president, I'd love to stay here gentlemen
Always trapped in my lively head, I'd touch my knee but my eyes are red
Feeling up your velvet thigh, looking through the monkey eye
Will you be here when nothing dies? Or just a man living in the sky?

Tears of love are beautiful, closer to an animal
Observation of the golden one, say your name just to pierce your tongue
Poke your nail in the gramophone, listen for your holy note

Velvet sea
Your love is clean
Velvet sea
Your love is clean
In a velvet sea

velvet sea

“If folk-punk poetry had a name it would be Stephen Jaymes,” declared Kill the Music after he dropped three creatively explosive singles and music videos over the summer of 2023. It's now 2025 and SJ is about to drop his debut album, King Jaymes. A gifted multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, and producer, Stephen is a self-contained artist. He might be described as Charles Bukowski ditching whiskey for psychedelic mushrooms while feverishly ingesting Rumi poetry and Phil Ochs records. He writes with a strutting, folk-punk sensibility, bringing to life dark realities in order to highlight, with literate and lacerating lyrics, the brightness underneath.

Stephen’s voice draws comparisons to Iggy Pop, Ian McCulloch, and Gordon Lightfoot. His musical style has been compared to Elvis Costello, Beck, and T Rex. His lyrical style is reminiscent of Nilsson, Phil Ochs, and Leonard Cohen.

Tokyo

Stephen Jaymes

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