SONG PREMIERE: Turn up ‘ShhShhShh,’ the imaginative new single from Scranton’s Jung Bergo
Just a few weeks ago, we told you to listen to Scranton alternative roots rock band Jung Bergo – now we’ve got something brand new for you to hear as we exclusively premiere the first single from their new album, “Everything New Is Old Again,” an abstract track titled “ShhShhShh.”
Formed in 2009, Jung Bergo is currently Jeremy Burke on guitar and vocals; David Connors on bass and vocals; Shawn Caden on guitar, keys, saxophone, and mandolin; and James Naylor, “the band’s resident spirit animal,” on drums.
“In April of this year, Dave and I celebrated seven years as writing partners and bandmates. We began writing songs together while we were roommates in college, but we had been friends for a few years before that. Dave has always been a writer that I’ve admired, and we shared a lot of favorite music as friends in high school, so it made sense to try writing with him. Years later, it’s one of the best choices I ever made,” Burke told NEPA Scene.
“We’ve written somewhere around 100 tunes, and him or myself are always hatching something new. To find that kind of a friend that shares a vision and challenges you all the while is something I try not to take for granted. When Shawn and James both joined the band respectively, we gained a greater sense of purpose and a united desire to make this band a priority and something that we care a great deal about and feel is worthy of our time and energy and love. And those are all hot commodities!”
Describing their music as “eccentric tunes that are sometimes self-depreciating or delusional, presented in pop tunes where the singer sounds like a real optimist,” they recorded “Everything New Is Old Again” at Humble Records in Honesdale, with Caden at the helm as engineer and Connors and Burke mixing and mastering the record. “ShhShhShh” was the final song they tracked as they finished up production earlier this year.
“‘ShhShhShh’ is a song with fairly abstract lyrics that are intended to evoke a feeling more so than tell a story. I like to think of the turn-around in the song of ‘I’ve got some imagination’ as a kind of meta reference to the strange verse lyrics,” Burke explained.
“The song started as a guitar part that I was performing in an odd manner, where I continually slapped the strings instead of strumming them. The resulting sound was very hushed, and so we referred to it as ‘ShhShhShh.’ Then the melody came, and sometimes I will sing and hum nonsense words as placeholders for syllables. Well, Dave must have been inspired by some of the nonsense and it became a part of the tune.”
Jung Bergo continue to explore new musical territory on “Everything New Is Old Again,” the follow-up to their 2005 debut “Thieves,” and will throw a CD release party this Saturday, May 14 at 9 p.m. at the Backyard Ale House (523 Linden St., Scranton) with Brad Parks and The Tony Halchak Band. The following week, they’ll be at Peculiar Culinary Company (30 Center St., Hughestown) on Thursday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m. for dinner and a show.
“Thanks for listening to our track; I hope you enjoy it and it makes you want to check out more of our music! We look forward to sharing our new album with you on CD, at a show, on the web – we’ll be there!” Burke enthused.
For more information on these shows, see the Facebook event pages for the release party and the Peculiar concert. The album can be purchased now at all Gallery of Sound locations and on CD Baby, iTunes, and Spotify.
Listen to Jung Bergo’s previous song premiere, “I’m a Wreck,” here and watch them kicking off the “In the Office” music series here.
Photo by John Rocklin Photography
