Like a one person factory, Jah PHNX continues to make 2025 his most productive year, ranging from his sophomore album, Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell, to several singles including the recently released “Nostalgia Kills” and “L.A. Girl.”
With a song like “Goth Love Story 666” off of Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell, there’s no mistaking Jah PHNX’s dark intentions. Jah PHNX, short for Jah Phoenix, is a multi-hyphenate from Atlanta who first popped up with the darkwave single “Witches Tale.”
Despite the presence of lo-fi mixing and electronic production in his songs, Jah is more inspired by post-punk bands such as Joy Division and She Wants Revenge than anything else, taking after them aesthetically. When combined, all of his influences make up the vampiric image he’s stuck to since the beginning in 2022.
Although brief in runtime, Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell relies on mood and atmosphere to steer the direction Jah takes. The aforementioned “Goth Love Story 666” is a lo-fi journey to the abyss, with a skeletal guitar following Jah’s plainly spoken vocals. The raw, stream-of-consciousness approach to the track overall shows how Jah feels his way through each song.
Subsequent singles like “Nostalgia Kills” and “Like A Doll” are faster-paced and more club-ready, mixing the melancholic vocals with electrifying synths made for your local goth club. “Nostalgia Kills,” in particular, lets its production charge up the track through a pulsating bass overpowering Jah’s voice. In similar respects, “Like A Doll” also lets its atmosphere take center stage, albeit in a hypnotic manner that contrasts the high energy of “Nostalgia Kills.”
Since Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell dropped, the 13 or so songs that have followed are enough to form another full-length project, eclipsing the nine track album that came before. Jah’s vocals, a stark contrast to his defeated voice on “Goth Love Story 666,” still take on a stream-of-consciousness feel while he takes chances on each passing song’s instrumental.
That sort of method would typically lead to unrefined songs that sink before they could take off. But Jah always sounds as though he knows what he’s doing, never complicating the process and embracing his tracks’ simplicity. Above all else, though, is the inspiration behind his music: his life experiences.
“Life, in general, is my biggest inspiration,” said Jah on his website. “If you can get lost in the experience and it transports you into a different space or it alters your emotional state then I succeeded as an artist and that feeling inspires me to keep going. Creating something that really connects with others is motivating and at the end of the day, that’s what art is about.”
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Aside from music, Jah is also a painter whose work has been shown overseas in places like Japan. When it comes to painting, he tries not to overthink the process or approach a new piece with a set outline, instead letting the process take him to unexpected places. That extends to his music, with the sort of workflow that’s seen him release singles such as “Like A Doll” left and right––an impressive feat for an artist who began just three years ago.
Words: David Sosa
Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell by Jah PHNX is out on streaming services. For more on new music and tickets to potential shows, follow them on Instagram and their website.
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