J.S. Mahlon is a Los Angeles based folk rock / indie rock project created by Jake Schweitzer. A blend of narrative songwriting and old school influences come together to create a sound that is at once familiar and original. 2022’s release of a debut album, “All Across Town”, found the project exploring minimalist, vocal centric songs owing their origins to an eclectic smattering of influences: Think Springsteen’s Nebraska meets Radiohead, with a little Chris Isaak thrown in with Angelo Badalamenti music directing. The album was self-recorded in Genoa Illinois, a small farm town where Schweitzer was raised and whose open fields and quiet rural atmosphere found its way into the sparse and poignant style of songwriting on the album. 

After living in Chicago for ten years Schweitzer packed up and moved to the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, but not before recording one last album with fellow Chicagans and longtime friends Evan Pinter and D.J. Johnson (Dream Cache). “Childhood”, a much more ambitious and wider reaching album than its predecessor is set to be released in late 2024. 

Since arriving in Los Angeles, Schweitzer has wasted no time immersing himself in the vibrant community of East LA songwriters, frequenting songwriter nights and open mics. A chance enrollment in LA based songwriting workshop The School Of Song with Adrianne Lenker connected him with a more immediate approach to songwriting and he is already hard at work on his next collection of songs which will explore a more simple, raw, and acoustic forward approach. Schweitzer often performs solo but also as a three-piece, accompanied by fellow East LA musicians Wolf Trap.