Jack Manley

Jack Manley is an indie rock artist from Kingston, NY, crafting emotionally charged songs shaped by addiction, grief, and attempted rebirth. His sound blends shoegaze atmosphere, jagged guitars, and aching pop melodies—lyrics that feel world-weary yet still wide-eyed with wonder.

His debut album Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? was written between pre-sobriety chaos and the post-traumatic clarity that followed. Each song reaches for connection while drifting through detachment and disassociation. Across the record, Manley examines masculinity, shame, and the pursuit of goodness in a time that doesn’t seem to value it. There’s resistance, softness, and, finally, cautious hope.

The album follows a man wrestling with the ghosts of addiction, the search for self-worth, and the slow climb toward healing—a descent and return through lust, guilt, and grace. Drawn from near-fatal overdoses, the loss of his father, and the quiet cost of modern life, it captures the tension and ache of emerging adulthood.

New single “Wind in a Kite” (out Oct 15) stands as the record’s spiritual and sonic core—a suspended moment between relapse and recovery, where everything comes into stark focus and yet nothing feels quite real.

For fans of the brutal pop/introspection of Elliott Smith, the downtown swagger of The Strokes, the woozy surrealism of Deerhunter, and the haunted stillness of MTV Unplugged In New York –era Nirvana .

-Julian Assange