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Asked recently how SJD was formed Sean James Donnelly replied, “I

 became a sort of SJD v 2.0.”

The story began with the primal probings of his, no longer available, self–released debut album 3,

which served as a potential–packed punctuation mark to the last

millennium. Sean then hitched up with Round Trip Mars to release Lost Soul Music

in May 2001. With exceptional and unclassifiable tracks like Tree

People and A Boy (supported by NZOA video grants), he began to make a

sizable impact, establishing himself as a unique artist on New

Zealand’s cultural landscape. Amongst the top selling independent

albums of the year Lost Soul Music grazed the lower reaches of the

charts, saw Sean nominated for a veritable swag of b–Net Awards, and

heralded the emergence of a major songwriting and production talent.

Having taken his finger–snapping and crooning solo live shows to their

natural conclusion, Sean set about making SJD a live reality,

incorporating the talents of guitarist James Duncan, keyboard don

Dominic Blaazer and vocalist Sandy Mill, who would later be joined by

guitarist Paul McLaney and drummer Chris O Connor.

Southern Lights was released to a no longer

un-suspecting audience in July 2004, with distribution from Universal

NZ. Led by the contemporary classic Superman You’re Crying and with

other singles waiting in the wings including Rising Falling Rising, The

Witness and the Clean–sampling motorik majesty of From A To B Or Not To

Be (featuring David Kilgour), the landmark album saw Sean and sonic

collaborator Angus McNaughton picking up the Tuis for best Producer and

Engineer at the 2005 NZ Music Awards. French artist and label friend,

Kid Loco remixed the title track to dazzling effect, and a special

Pic‘n’Mix version of Southern Lights was released with further remixes

from Sean and James Duncan as well as Phelps & Munro, Angus ‘Mood

Unit’ McNaughton and others.

Right on time, in July 2007 its successor Songs From A Dictaphone

was unleashed with the help of a NZOA Phase Four grant. The album

reached #11 in the NZ Album Charts, topped the iTunes sales chart and

IMNZ Independent Chart, as well as dominating the Alternative Radio

stats for the year. Two of the singles Beautiful Haze and I Wrote This

Song For You were also licensed for high profile TV ad campaigns.

Eschewing his traditional three year turnaround, SJD’s latest album was

released in October 2008 and in his own words it’s ‘the sound of 21st

Century man banging (or at least knocking politely) on his cage’. Dayglo Spectres

is an assured, direct and firmly focused affair, that carries all of

the trademark SJD songwriting superbness with an after–dark and more

social outlook, and the added input of co–collaborator James Duncan on

the creative and production side. The ‘less obsessive and more to the

point’ process and combination (with Chris O Connor also co–writing and

involved) has revealed another face of SJD, and the quicker produced

and timed, more fun and downright sexier results speak for themselves.

The premier outburst No Telling Where lit up the b–Nets like a Roman

candle amongst Roman sandals, and once again he has produced an album

where almost every listener has a different favourite track.

Is it the dawning of a new era in the SJD camp or just another

tantalizing red herring from an artist who defies labels and travels

his own path Wait and see.

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