Paul De Jong with Glass Fingers and Computer At Sea

Paul de Jong is best known as the cofounder, cellist, and resident found-sound savant of the beloved collage-pop duo, The Books. Five years after that band delivered their final album, de Jong delivers his first solo album on Temporary Residence Ltd. IF uses The Books’ early material as a jumping-off point, elevating that beguiling sense of wonder and amazement to transcendent new heights. De Jong’s ability to find the musical in the mundane has always been uncanny — it is part of what made The Books so magical — and that gift is what makes IF such a marvelous curiosity, and such a true pleasure to hear. In de Jong’s world, everything around him is a potential instrument: his vast collection of forgotten private-press folk records, spoken-word oddities of indeterminate origin, and various everyday household utensils, to name a few. One man’s trash is de Jong’s tool to craft yet another treasure. Featuring a handful of friends and family as musical guests, IF steers a course from joyously eccentric folk-pop to humorously inside-out jazz, resulting in a refreshing piece of outsider art with a replay value that’s off the charts.

De Jong will be joined by electro-pop maven, Glass Fingers (first show in three years!) and circuit-bending madman, Computer at Sea (first show in over a year!).