In 2021, Jonny Polonsky says he had a “mild freakout” and moved back to his hometown of Chicago from New York City.
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“I went back to Chicago thinking I was going to save money on rent after lockdown,” Polonsky tells American Songwriter. “I love Chicago, but I realized that I also love New York, and I had to be here. So, I broke my lease and moved back a couple of months later and started writing.”
Working inside his New York City apartment, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist began defining pieces of songs he’s had over the years, and writing and recording the initial demos of what would become Rise of the Rebel Angels, out May 13.
Making music as he always had, semi-DIY, Polonsky laid down all the instrumentation, including 11 hours worth of drums—with the exception of drummers Matt Hankle (Soul Asylum) and Frank Black’s original drummer Nick Vincent, who appear on two tracks.
“On about half of the tracks, it is actually my guitar and vocal iPhone demos that you are hearing,” said Polonsky in an earlier statement. “The album is just the right amount of sloppy because sometimes, that makes things sound more interesting.”
After hearing some of Polonsky’s demos for the new album by the summer of 2022, Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, and collaborator Regan Hagar, wanted to get involved and release it on their label Loosegroove Records.
“Stone flipped and he really loved the songs, and he asked if I had any more,” shares Polonsky of Rise of the Rebel Angels, which Gossard also produces. “Then I gave him a playlist of like 40 or 50 tunes, and he loved the record. This was actually one of my most collaborative records. On the surface, it wouldn’t seem to be the case since I play every instrument on everything but two songs, but I get tired of having to think of every little thing.”
Polonsky adds, “I feel like I’ve got a good sense of what works and what doesn’t, and which songs have some juice, but at the same time, as a writer, you don’t want to abandon stuff, but you want to find the new thing, the next project … that next song.”
On Rise of the Rebel Angels, so many pieces fused like kismet, even the title and cover art, inspired by his friend Kenny Young’s painting of the same name. The colorful art is an inverse rendering of the darker 16th-century piece The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Dutch Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Following his dual 2020 releases, Kingdom of Sleep and Power and Greed and Money and Sex and Death, Polonsky gathered a collection of songs that were ready for release, some held for many years. Chanting I don’t even feel afraid / Done enough and now I’m here to stay, the heavier lead single “Let It Rust” was a song Polonsky held for more than 20 years.
“I had it lying around for a long time, and it was pretty much completely recorded—the rhythm tracks, the main guitars, and the lead vocal,” says Polonsky. “Some people have a problem if something is x-amount years old, but if it’s really good there’s no expiration date.”
He continues, “Some songs I remember so clearly — even from when I was 10 [writing] — while other songs I can’t remember the specifics, but ‘Let It Rust’ still rings true for me. It’s just about casting away any critical, negative voice of self-doubt, especially if you’ve fucked up a few times, in whatever aspect of your life, and licking your wounds and keep going.”
The lower fi, acoustic-led “Wrong Dove,” is a sentimental twist. I know the way that you feel / It’s been a long road … We seek love / And in turn, we seek blessing from the beast, he sings on the more meditative track. Written a year ago, “Wrong Dove” came to Polonsky on acoustic guitar.
“I think I had the chorus written,” he says. “I had the verse but didn’t have any words. I remember I was at the Metrograph (movie theater) watching a movie and all of a sudden, all these words started to come in my head, so I left and wrote him down.” He laughs, “That happens a lot. When I’m working on a record and it’s all-encompassing, a song is always in the back of my head, and things will pop up. I feel like it’s even churning away while I’m sleeping.”
Working with a collection of artists across genres throughout his career as a musician has been a series of natural occurrences that lit different musical fires within him. In 2006, Polonsky appeared on Johnny Cash’s posthumous American V: A Hundred Highways, and collaborated on the last song the country legend wrote, “Like the 309,” along with the track “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”
His 1996 debut Hi My Name Is Jonny also inspired the Belgian documentary Hi My Name Is Jonny Polonsky, which chronicled Jonny’s 2020 tour of Belgium. As a writer, some things have changed radically, says Polonsky, in the way a song emerges, whether on acoustic guitar, synth, or piano.
“It’s changed a lot like the way I choose to treat the music in terms of different instrumentation,” says Polonsky. “My album ‘The Other Side of Midnight’ (2015), was very intentional in its stylistic shifts. It was way more electronic. I really love Depeche Mode and Leonard Cohen records from the ’80s, and ’90s, and Nine Inch Nails, but the songs to me are still alive.”
Along with his collaborations with Neil Diamond, the late Mark Lanegan, The Chicks, Tom Morello, Pete Yorn, and Donovan, among other artists who have enlisted his guitar and other musical expertise over the years, Polonsky also wrote, recorded, and toured with Maynard Keenan’s band Puscifer from 2007 to 2010.
“It’s easier when I’m working with a band, or get hired to play with somebody because I’m stepping into someone else’s world,” shares Polonsky. “I can get the gist of what somebody’s about, or what their music is about, and I’m pretty adept at making things work. I love playing with different people, but doing my own thing is also more gratifying. When it’s your thing it’s like ‘Okay, I can do absolutely anything. Here’s a blank sheet of paper.’”
Photo by Mark Seliger / e2 PR
