It’s hard to contain one’s superlatives when discussing J Mahon’s work so far.
After moving from Townsville, Australia, to Berlin, Germany, in 2019, he wrote himself into a frenzy during the Pandemic. This songwriting mania resulted in 230 songs, twelve of which appeared on Mahon’s debut album, Everything Has a Life.
And one of those songs, Deadstar, a thought-provoking reflection on how musicians often romanticise self-destructive behaviour and the «live-fast-die-young» mentality, became Negative White’s best song of 2023.
Even when Mahon is just a contributor like in Frank Popp Ensemble’s Going Going Gone, his performance steals the spotlight.
In today’s exclusive premiere with Negative White, J Mahon offers a cinematic glimpse into his upcoming sophomore album, Begin Again, Again. The song While You’re Travelling not only highlights Mahon’s musical sophistication but also shifts his artistic direction.
While You’re Travelling is a tender anthem, a ballad with grand gestures but intimate emotions. It swings between fragile vulnerability and bittersweet opulence. A song about the spiritual proximity and emotional intimacy between two people even when miles apart. A song about longing and the persistence of love through time and space, conveyed with few but impactful words.
When you travel far
Wherever you are
Look at the sun
I’ll see the one
Underpinning this sensual songwriting is the simplistic video, directed by Ma'ayan Erica Amit. Amit states that the shots on VHS and DV were an intentional choice to embrace their visual kinks. „It was during the fires in LA and having to minimise our time outside the idea really came from utilising my immediate surroundings. I like working in alternative processes and using unconventional film stocks, and for the stills I experimented with repurposed surveillance film and medical X-ray film, along with classic black & white and color motion picture stocks.“
