STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Musician Jahtiek Long doesn’t just think outside the box, he thinks outside the genre.
The Staten Islander has announced his brand new album is on tap, and it’s one that won’t fit into any mold.
“I wanted to kind of make a new sound for myself,” said the 29-year-old. “I feel like my music really wasn’t connecting, so I wanted to do something different.”
“All The Lines In Between” — an 11-track collection released under Long’s pseudonym, Sir Clifton — takes five years’ worth of relationships and experiences, and casts them into what Long called a “narrative-driven” album that works heavily with an underutilized instrument: the ukulele.
Jahtiek Long, aka Sir Clifton, has a new album called “All The Lines In Between.” (Courtesy of Jahtiek Long)(Courtesy of Jahtiek Long)
“I really feel like [the album is a] storytelling device,” said the artivist. “I feel like it’s about the exploration of self and relationships. It’s about the beginning of the end of a relationship. And I like to think it could be a straight line, story-wise, or it could be a circle, because like sometimes we have ‘aha!’ moments, but we don’t learn from them.”
Long, a ukulele and piano player, produced the album alongside Brandon Bustamante, who did the mixing, mastering and lended some vocals. In additional to Bustamante, Long pulled into the project a few other Staten Islanders when recording the album at Shubox Studios: Gabriella Shlyakh and Monika Nova for vocals, Niall Sullivan for bass and keyboard, and Omnia Hegazy (of the Staten Island band Hegazy, which she headlines with her twin sister, Leila) for strings. Long composed and arranged a majority of the album, and is the sole songwriter.
Jahtiek Long, aka Sir Clifton, has a new album called “All The Lines In Between.” (Courtesy of Jahtiek Long)(Courtesy of Jahtiek Long)
While a cohesive finished product now, “All The Lines In Between” began in piecemeal, with the…
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