Bio

Public Speaking is the solo project of Brooklyn sound artist and songwriter Jason Anthony Harris. He uses voice, found objects, and electronics to make soulful modern music. He balances adventurous methods with an intimate compositional aesthetic.

Harris grew up on a Christmas tree farm in central Florida, and came to New York City in 2004 to get his start in music. He formed bands ranging from indie rock to instrumental improvisational noise-rock before starting a solo career. The accompaniment of an acoustic guitar eventually expanded into pedals, keyboard, and electronics, before he abandoned the guitar in live sets completely. He improvised his performances with processed voice and found objects, interacting with the space and the audience, trying to create spontaneous moments to share in these intimate small rooms, galleries, and basements. These experiments led him back to songwriting, and equipped with new tools and approaches to sound, he took on the moniker Public Speaking in 2012.

Public Speaking has performed and toured throughout the continental U.S. His music has been featured on the Bandcamp Weekly, The Needle Drop, and in the Museum of Modern Art Magazine. He has released albums on Fabrica, Already Dead, Tape Drift, and Floordoor Records. UK comedian James Acaster interviewed and wrote about Public Speaking in his London Times Bestseller "Perfect Sound Whatever," and covered his music on the BBC podcast of the same name. Harris’ albums merge vocal songs with abstract noise and polyrhythmic process pieces. The instrumental collection “Within Patterns” was named one of the Top Ten Experimental Albums of 2014 by A Closer Listen. Tiny Mix Tapes compared 2016’s “Caress, Redact” to Autre Ne Veut and How to Dress Well, and Brainwashed.com called it “one of this year’s best records.“ Public Speaking has been remixed by Jeremy Bible, Ariadne, More Eaze, Heejin Jang, and more.

Harris released “Six Golden Tumors” in 2019: a record deeply influenced by horror films and their soundtracks, biblical texts and mythologies, early Christian history, and Dante’s “Inferno.” His albums “Songs Need People” and “Songs Need Friends” are comprised of songs he wrote for his Patreon subscribers about their lives during the pandemic. He recently released “An Apple Lodged in My Back” on Whited Sepulchre Records. The album features songs incorporating field recordings of construction during the Museum of Modern Art’s latest renovation.