Jeffrey Lewis

Jeffrey Lewis
Jeffrey Lewis performing at The Luminaire, London, England, 2006.
Background information
Born	(1975-11-20) November 20, 1975 (age 41) New York City, United States
Genres	Anti-folk, folk punk, indie rock
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Rough Trade
Associated acts	Schwervon!, Kimya Dawson, Major Matt Mason USA, Jack Lewis, Adam Green, Diane Cluck
Website	Official website

Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer/songwriter and comic book artist.

Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, New York, graduating in 1997 with a degree in Literature. His Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen.

Lewis also lectured on the topic of Watchmen at the Institute For Cultural Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2000, and the text of his lecture ("The Dual Nature of Apocalypse in Watchmen") was published in the book The Graphic Novel, edited by Jan Baetens, in 2001.

Starting in 2000, he spent about 2 years living in Austin, Texas, playing open mic nights, working odd jobs and distributing his autobiographical comics to local coffee shops.

Several of his musical influences have been acknowledged in his songs such as "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror", "The History of The Fall" and "The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song", concerning the song by Leonard Cohen. Lewis' lyrics are complex and literate, often combining a nihilistic world-view with a hopeful message and sharp wit. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, his songs are also highly informed by his home surroundings, with songs name-dropping places such as Williamsburg, the FDR Drive and the East River.

Lewis is often regarded as part of the antifolk movement, foremost because he was one of the many bands and performers (including The Moldy Peaches, Major Matt Mason USA and Lach) who played in the 1990s at New York's SideWalk Cafe and its biannual antifolk festivals and open mic events. His music also possesses certain traits of a perceived antifolk style - a downbeat self-deprecating humor, an off-kilter singing style, a mixture of acoustic and 'punk' songs which feature themes of everyday occurrences and feelings. Lewis himself does not mind the 'antifolk' tag: "I think it's a cool title. The fact that no one knows what it means, including me, makes it kind of mysterious and more interesting than saying that you're a singer/songwriter or that you play indie rock."