Jack Van Cleaf
Encinitas, CA
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About the Artist
Jack Van Cleaf was still an independent artist when his song "Rattlesnake" started getting shared widely across the internet, earning praise from acclaimed songwriters like Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan. For Jack, it felt like a pivotal moment in a career that had been building since his teenage years.
"This album is all about the vertigo of growing up," says Jack, who made his Dualtone Records debut with the sophomore release JVC. "It's about re-defining and re-understanding yourself." JVC does more than plant its flag halfway between the worlds of indie rock and Gen Z folk. It also asks big questions about home and identity. Years after penning his first song as a high school freshman in San Diego, he headed east to Nashville, where he studied songwriting at Belmont University and released his debut album, Fruit from the Trees, after graduation. "I met many of my closest friends during my very first week at Belmont," says Jack about his formative years in Music City. "All talented artists in their own right, they went on to help me make my first record everything that it is, and have remained my most trusted collaborators to this day." "Rattlesnake," with its introspective lyrics and atmospheric acoustics, earned him a spot on Spotify's 2024 Best New Artist list and was eventually reimagined and re-recorded with Zach Bryan. But nothing -- not even the praise of his heroes -- could calm the existential freakout he experienced as a twenty-something thrust into adulthood.