Del Water Gap

The solo project of Brooklyn-based songwriter and producer S. Holden Jaffe, Del Water Gap emerged in the early 2010s with an alluring and intimate indie folk-pop sound. Jaffe issued a string of self-produced releases and collaborations, including the streaming hit “High Tops” (2017) before releasing Del Water Gap’s major-label debut, Don't Get Dark, in 2019. After a pair of features on Maggie Rogers’ 2020 LP Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016, Jaffe issued his self-titled sophomore LP in 2021. He continued to collaborate with Rogers, adding production to her second album before returning with I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet in 2023.
A native of Connecticut, Jaffe officially relocated to New York after attending NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in 2012. That year saw the release of Del Water Gap’s eponymous debut EP, which Jaffe recorded the year prior in a storage closet at his boarding school in upstate New York. He continued to hone his bedroom pop skills on subsequent self-released efforts like Sleeping (2014) and 1 (646) 943 2672 (2017), the latter of which spawned the streaming hit “High Tops.” He made his major-label debut in 2019 with the arrival of Don't Get Dark, which was released on the Universal imprint Terrible Records. The EP found its way to NPR’s All Songs Considered, resulting in a string of sold-out shows in New York and Los Angeles.
Del Water Gap joined the Mom + Pop roster in 2020 and released the lush and propulsive “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat.” Later that year, Jaffe teamed up with fellow bedroom pop producer Claud for the single “My Body,” and in 2020 Del Water Gap issued the dream pop singles “Sorry I Am” and “Hurting Kind” which anchored his eponymous second LP in 2021. The following year Jaffe co-wrote and produced a pair of songs on Rogers’ second album, Surrender, before returning to his own work. The hooky 2023 single “All We Ever Do Is Talk” marked the first taste of his third album, I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet. Released later that year, the album title was inspired by a note addressed to Jaffe’s grandmother that he found in a William Carlos Williams poetry book. The LP is co-produced by Sammy Witte (Harry Styles, Halsey) and Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers) and includes guest spots from Clairo and Arlo Parks. ~ James Christopher Monger