EP Release Party on Friday, March 30th at Cameo Gallery In Brooklyn

Debut EP Out Now On Neon Gold / Columbia Records

Even in the urban wilds of Brooklyn, there may be no one else like Jean-Philip Grobler, otherwise known as St. Lucia.

Originally from Johannesberg, South Africa, Jean grew up performing with the Drakensberg Boys Choir School. When the choir wasn’t traveling—St. Lucia toured Japan, Australia, Europe, the US and more—they stayed in an enclave tucked in the South African mountains, learning everything from Bach and minimalist opera to African War Songs and Celine Dion.

A young musician could hardly find better training, but as a young teenager, he started to feel that he’d had his fill of classical music, and it felt like an epiphany when he discovered the music of Radiohead. “In South Africa, we used to be quite limited in what we were exposed to in terms of experimental music, and so hearing OK Computer for the first time was like experiencing a completely new Universe. I think it was also my own little form of rebellion against the rigidity of choir life’, he laughs. Eventually, he left the creative “small pond” of South Africa for England, where he spent three years studying music in Liverpool.

St. Lucia’s journey thus far ended—as many do—in New York City, where he started working on the tracks that would turn into his debut EP, to be released in the spring. The St. Lucia EP will mark the first full-length release on Neon Gold Records, the formerly singles-only label that first released Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding and The Naked & Famous.

Here’s a video of St. Lucia  performing “Closer Than This” (Kick Kick Snare Acoustic Session). Enjoy.