Born At The Disco (Kiam Records, 2021)

Recorded in large part by O’Connor herself at home, using drum machines and synthesizers as her primary writing tools and sources of inspiration, Born At The Disco took shape over the course of several years.


Born At The Disco is Jennifer O’Connor’s seventh LP. It’s part origin story, part quiet reflection and part angry awakening. It’s about family and love. It’s about gayness and blame and regret. It’s about taking stock and taking responsibility. It’s about exhaustion and relief. It’s about annihilation and reconstruction. It’s especially about uncovering what is true. And then not being afraid to live by it.

 

Surface Noise
(Kiam Records, 2016)

An album of mini-documents, Surface Noise explores the gravity of imminent loss, cautious hope and the touch-and-go nature of daily life.  It also features some of O’Connor’s best songs. You will not find a catchier piece of pop music in O’Connor’s catalog than first single, “Start Right Here”.  Propelled by longtime drummer Jon Langmead’s driving beats and a buoyant bassline from Yo La Tengo’s James McNew (also the band on much of her 2006 Matador debut Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars),  “Start Right Here” is a statement of purpose about hanging on and hanging in despite whatever chaos is afloat.

Check out a 2016 Live Session with Rita Houston on WFUV.

 

I Want What You Want (Kiam Records, 2012)

“O’Connor is what you might call a songwriter’s songwriter. Over the course of five albums and nearly a decade, she’s developed a plainspoken lyrical style that only sounds simple and direct. Her albums are master classes in economy and clairty, both in her language and in the austere accompaniment that highlighets her careful melodies and intimate vocals.” - Paste Magazine

Jennifer O’Connor’s fifth album, I Want What You Want almost didn’t get made. After parting ways with Matador Records in the spring of 2009, after two albums (Over The Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars in 2006, and Here With Me in 2008), O’Connor was discouraged, broke and exhausted from several years of non-stop touring. She put music on the back burner and worked a series of odd jobs: bartender on Broadway, freelance writer, transcriptionist, eBay seller, etc. Occasionally, she would pick up her guitar and write a song about the confusing place she found herself in. “I’ve always written about my life and the people close to me,” O’Connor said. “During the years I wrote this album, I was struggling and doing a lot of questioning about where I was and where I wanted to go moving forward. For a while, I wasn’t really sure I would keep playing music.”

 

Here With Me (Matador Records, 2008)

Jennifer recorded her new LP/CD ‘Here With Me’ (OLE 787-1,2) in early 2008 with John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth) at Brooklyn’s Headgear Studios. It’s a breezier, more upbeat work than 2006’s fantastic ‘Over The Mountain, Across The Valley and Back To The Stars’, but I’d be lying if I told you the new album packed any less of an emotional wallop. Jennifer’s songs have never before sounded this crafted, or hit the listener with such immediacy.

Backed by a crack backing trio of Jon Langmead, Michael Brodlieb and Michael Strandberg (and joined, briefly, by Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay), O’Connor tackles her most evocative pile of relationship-tunes with something approaching surgical precision. Over the past 6 years, Jennifer’s gotten scary good at this sort of thing, so much so that most other contenders for the hypothetical Nobel prize for Witty Pop Songs W/ Heart are either former members of this label’s roster (we’re thinking Manning/Phair/Daniel but if you wanna nominate someone more contemporary, please go right ahead) or they’ve already been embalmed in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

 

Over The Mountain, Across The Valley and Back to the Stars (Matador Records, 2006)

In Matador's storied history, we've had the pleasure of working with some ridiculously talented people. The latest name we're happy to add to the pantheon is the direct, evocative NYC-based vocalist/guitarist Jennifer O'Connor.

"Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars" is elemental and emotionally charged, but suffused with humor and the kind of melodic invention that's as timeless as losing your watch.

 

The Color and the Light (Red Panda Records, 2005)

 

Jennifer O’Connor (Kiam Records, 2002)

  1. Blessed the Hand

  2. You Did

  3. Sister

  4. Pink Florida

  5. Annie

  6. Spiders and Handgrenades

  7. Perfection Is Not An Accident

  8. Beggar’s Cup

  9. Falling Towers

  10. Winter Song

  11. What If I’m Right

 

Truth Love Work EP (Kiam Records 2000)

Originally released in 2000 on a limited edition CD pressing of 100 copies, Jennifer O'Connor's Truth Love Work EP has been unavailable digitally until now. These are bedroom recordings done on 4 track and 8 track cassette. Downloadable liner notes and first ever JO'C press clipping are included with the download.

 
LISTEN/BUY: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Bandcamp, / LYRICS

LISTEN/BUY: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Bandcamp, / LYRICS