A fractal artwork by Jonathan Hafer with the text "OUR NEIGHBORS THE GIANTS" serving as the album cover for the album Our Neighbors the Giants by Stereo Persona

Stereo Persona

I release music I make by myself under the name Stereo Persona.

My first full-length album Our Neighbors the Giants is a composition for two pianos and two drumsets, and will release soon. In the meantime, enjoy a sample of the first track below.
A colorful abstract fractal artwork by Jonathan Hafer for the cover of the album Our Neighbors the Giants by Stereo Persona
I release music I make by myself under the name Stereo Persona.

My first full-length album Our Neighbors the Giants is a composition for two pianos and two drumsets, and will release soon. In the meantime, enjoy a sample of the first track below.
A pencil sketch of the members of the band The March Hare

The March Hare

Known for uncompromisingly bombastic live shows, three lead vocalists, and unexpectedly catchy complexity, The March Hare was highly active in the Philly and greater North-Eastern U.S. independent music scene from about 2004-2009, and reunited in 2025 to release the Loose Ends EP. I contributed piano, synths, guitar, vocals, lyrics, and arrangements.

I met guitarist Zac Dylan and bassist Chrissy Tashjian by responding to a post by Chrissy seeking bandmates on the University of the Arts message board while she and I were students there. We quickly connected musically and began our search for a drummer. A serendipitous practice space scheduling conflict led to us meeting drummer Charlie Heim, also a UArts student, who promptly joined the band. After recording our debut EP People Dressed As People (now lost to time), Chrissy left the group and was replaced by Ryan Hyde on bass and Alicia Ritter on violin.

The new lineup quickly coalesced, adapted previous songs, and began writing new ones. We recorded our full-length album Mister Nimbus, a chaotic and ambitious concept album, at the legendary Studio 4 just outside Philadelphia with now Grammy-winning producer Will Yip, who was then early in his career working for Phil Nicolo. After releasing the album in early 2009 and making a music video for the opening song, Dial 911!, we disbanded to pursue separate ambitions, but remained good friends.

In 2025, we reconvened to release the self-produced EP Loose Ends consisting of an updated version of Dial 911! and two songs written after recording Mister Nimbus; Bridges and A=B. We had only played A=B at a handful of shows, and Bridges was still in process when we broke up, existing only as a very low-quality recording of a single semi-improvised practice session. What we could not remember or decipher from the recording we re-wrote. With the benefit of a decade and a half of practice and experience, Loose Ends represents the fulfillment our original vision for The March Hare.
A pencil sketch of the members of the band The March Hare
Known for uncompromisingly bombastic live shows, three lead vocalists, and unexpectedly catchy complexity, The March Hare was highly active in the Philly and greater North-Eastern U.S. independent music scene from about 2004-2009, and reunited in 2025 to release the Loose Ends EP. I contributed piano, synths, guitar, vocals, lyrics, and arrangements.

I met guitarist Zac Dylan and bassist Chrissy Tashjian by responding to a post by Chrissy seeking bandmates on the University of the Arts message board while she and I were students there. We quickly connected musically and began our search for a drummer. A serendipitous practice space scheduling conflict led to us meeting drummer Charlie Heim, also a UArts student, who promptly joined the band. After recording our debut EP People Dressed As People (now lost to time), Chrissy left the group and was replaced by Ryan Hyde on bass and Alicia Ritter on violin.

The new lineup quickly coalesced, adapted previous songs, and began writing new ones. We recorded our full-length album Mister Nimbus, a chaotic and ambitious concept album, at the legendary Studio 4 just outside Philadelphia with now Grammy-winning producer Will Yip, who was then early in his career working for Phil Nicolo. After releasing the album in early 2009 and making a music video for the opening song, Dial 911!, we disbanded to pursue separate ambitions, but remained good friends.

In 2025, we reconvened to release the self-produced EP Loose Ends consisting of an updated version of Dial 911! and two songs written after recording Mister Nimbus; Bridges and A=B. We had only played A=B at a handful of shows, and Bridges was still in process when we broke up, existing only as a very low-quality recording of a single semi-improvised practice session. What we could not remember or decipher from the recording we re-wrote. With the benefit of a decade and a half of practice and experience, Loose Ends represents the fulfillment our original vision for The March Hare.
A colorful modified digital photograph of the music group Creative Animals
Waking Up and Paying Attention, the debut album by Creative Animals, can be heard on most major streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon.
A painting of two smilodon skeletons with flowers with an abstract/glitch stylization by Jonathan Hafer for the cover of the Creative Animals album Waking Up and Paying Attention

Creative Animals

Following the breakup of our former band The March Hare in 2009, Zac Dylan and I decided to keep making music together and embarked on what would turn into a decade-long journey of Creative Animals. Starting in a shared moldy basement in Philadelphia and ending in home studios in separate states, we ultimately created the album Waking Up and Paying Attention.

Never particularly satisfied with sitting in a single genre, Zac and I both wanted to expand beyond the limits of standard rock band instrumentation and production but didn’t know where that exploration would take us. I started playing the drums and bass in addition to keys and guitar, and we both started learning about recording, mixing, and mastering. We explored electronic drums, programmable lightshows, microphones, pre-amps, and invented our own instruments. Zac added a bass string to a guitar for Animals Eat Animals!, and I recorded whatever was at hand for percussion on Morning Bird, including my own beard. Unsatisfied with our singing on The March Hare album Mister Nimbus, we started taking professional vocal lessons. Zac learned about orchestral sample libraries, and I returned to the roots of my youth and started writing MIDI for horns, strings, woodwinds, and other accompaniments.

We wrote more than 30 songs before whittling the list down to the final seven now on the album, sometimes improvising, sometimes painstakingly mapping out minute details. We made a lot of mistakes, paused many times for several years in total to get on with our lives, and had to start over more than once, including appropriately rewriting Ship of Theseus one section at a time until there was nothing left of the original concept in the final version.

On this album I was responsible for: final mixing and mastering, almost all the bass, almost all the orchestration and piano, a little more than half the vocals, roughly half of the synths, electronic sounds, percussion, structures, and melodies, and a bit less than half of the guitar and drums.


A colorful modified digital photograph of the music group Creative Animals
Waking Up and Paying Attention, the debut album by Creative Animals, can be heard on most major streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon.
A painting of two smilodon skeletons with flowers with an abstract/glitch stylization by Jonathan Hafer for the cover of the Creative Animals album Waking Up and Paying Attention
Following the breakup of our former band The March Hare in 2009, Zac Dylan and I decided to keep making music together and embarked on what would turn into a decade-long journey of Creative Animals. Starting in a shared moldy basement in Philadelphia and ending in home studios in separate states, we ultimately created the album Waking Up and Paying Attention.

Never particularly satisfied with sitting in a single genre, Zac and I both wanted to expand beyond the limits of standard rock band instrumentation and production but didn’t know where that exploration would take us. I started playing the drums and bass in addition to keys and guitar, and we both started learning about recording, mixing, and mastering. We explored electronic drums, programmable lightshows, microphones, pre-amps, and invented our own instruments. Zac added a bass string to a guitar for Animals Eat Animals!, and I recorded whatever was at hand for percussion on Morning Bird, including my own beard. Unsatisfied with our singing on The March Hare album Mister Nimbus, we started taking professional vocal lessons. Zac learned about orchestral sample libraries, and I returned to the roots of my youth and started writing MIDI for horns, strings, woodwinds, and other accompaniments.

We wrote more than 30 songs before whittling the list down to the final seven now on the album, sometimes improvising, sometimes painstakingly mapping out minute details. We made a lot of mistakes, paused many times for several years in total to get on with our lives, and had to start over more than once, including appropriately rewriting Ship of Theseus one section at a time until there was nothing left of the original concept in the final version.

On this album I was responsible for: final mixing and mastering, almost all the bass, almost all the orchestration and piano, a little more than half the vocals, roughly half of the synths, electronic sounds, percussion, structures, and melodies, and a bit less than half of the guitar and drums.


A colorful abstract fractal artwork by Jonathan Hafer for the cover of the album Our Neighbors the Giants by Stereo Persona

Stereo Persona

I release music I make by myself under the name Stereo Persona.

My first full-length album Our Neighbors the Giants is a composition for two pianos and two drumsets, and will release soon. In the meantime, enjoy a sample of the first track below.
A fractal artwork by Jonathan Hafer with the text "OUR NEIGHBORS THE GIANTS" serving as the album cover for the album Our Neighbors the Giants by Stereo Persona
I release music I make by myself under the name Stereo Persona.

My first full-length album Our Neighbors the Giants is a composition for two pianos and two drumsets, and will release soon. In the meantime, enjoy a sample of the first track below.
A pencil sketch of the members of the band The March Hare

The March Hare

Known for uncompromisingly bombastic live shows, three lead vocalists, and unexpectedly catchy complexity, The March Hare was highly active in the Philly and greater North-Eastern U.S. independent music scene from about 2004-2009, and reunited in 2025 to release the Loose Ends EP. I contributed piano, synths, guitar, vocals, lyrics, and arrangements.

I met guitarist Zac Dylan and bassist Chrissy Tashjian by responding to a post by Chrissy seeking bandmates on the University of the Arts message board while she and I were students there. We quickly connected musically and began our search for a drummer. A serendipitous practice space scheduling conflict led to us meeting drummer Charlie Heim, also a UArts student, who promptly joined the band. After recording our debut EP People Dressed As People (now lost to time), Chrissy left the group and was replaced by Ryan Hyde on bass and Alicia Ritter on violin.

The new lineup quickly coalesced, adapted previous songs, and began writing new ones. We recorded our full-length album Mister Nimbus, a chaotic and ambitious concept album, at the legendary Studio 4 just outside Philadelphia with now Grammy-winning producer Will Yip, who was then early in his career working for Phil Nicolo. After releasing the album in early 2009 and making a music video for the opening song, Dial 911!, we disbanded to pursue separate ambitions, but remained good friends.

In 2025, we reconvened to release the self-produced EP Loose Ends consisting of an updated version of Dial 911! and two songs written after recording Mister Nimbus; Bridges and A=B. We had only played A=B at a handful of shows, and Bridges was still in process when we broke up, existing only as a very low-quality recording of a single semi-improvised practice session. What we could not remember or decipher from the recording we re-wrote. With the benefit of a decade and a half of practice and experience, Loose Ends represents the fulfillment our original vision for The March Hare.
A pencil sketch of the members of the band The March Hare
Known for uncompromisingly bombastic live shows, three lead vocalists, and unexpectedly catchy complexity, The March Hare was highly active in the Philly and greater North-Eastern U.S. independent music scene from about 2004-2009, and reunited in 2025 to release the Loose Ends EP. I contributed piano, synths, guitar, vocals, lyrics, and arrangements.

I met guitarist Zac Dylan and bassist Chrissy Tashjian by responding to a post by Chrissy seeking bandmates on the University of the Arts message board while she and I were students there. We quickly connected musically and began our search for a drummer. A serendipitous practice space scheduling conflict led to us meeting drummer Charlie Heim, also a UArts student, who promptly joined the band. After recording our debut EP People Dressed As People (now lost to time), Chrissy left the group and was replaced by Ryan Hyde on bass and Alicia Ritter on violin.

The new lineup quickly coalesced, adapted previous songs, and began writing new ones. We recorded our full-length album Mister Nimbus, a chaotic and ambitious concept album, at the legendary Studio 4 just outside Philadelphia with now Grammy-winning producer Will Yip, who was then early in his career working for Phil Nicolo. After releasing the album in early 2009 and making a music video for the opening song, Dial 911!, we disbanded to pursue separate ambitions, but remained good friends.

In 2025, we reconvened to release the self-produced EP Loose Ends consisting of an updated version of Dial 911! and two songs written after recording Mister Nimbus; Bridges and A=B. We had only played A=B at a handful of shows, and Bridges was still in process when we broke up, existing only as a very low-quality recording of a single semi-improvised practice session. What we could not remember or decipher from the recording we re-wrote. With the benefit of a decade and a half of practice and experience, Loose Ends represents the fulfillment our original vision for The March Hare.
A colorful modified digital photograph of the music group Creative Animals
Waking Up and Paying Attention, the debut album by Creative Animals, can be heard on most major streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon.
A painting of two smilodon skeletons with flowers with an abstract/glitch stylization by Jonathan Hafer for the cover of the Creative Animals album Waking Up and Paying Attention

Creative Animals

Following the breakup of our former band The March Hare in 2009, Zac Dylan and I decided to keep making music together and embarked on what would turn into a decade-long journey of Creative Animals. Starting in a shared moldy basement in Philadelphia and ending in home studios in separate states, we ultimately created the album Waking Up and Paying Attention.

Never particularly satisfied with sitting in a single genre, Zac and I both wanted to expand beyond the limits of standard rock band instrumentation and production but didn’t know where that exploration would take us. I started playing the drums and bass in addition to keys and guitar, and we both started learning about recording, mixing, and mastering. We explored electronic drums, programmable lightshows, microphones, pre-amps, and invented our own instruments. Zac added a bass string to a guitar for Animals Eat Animals!, and I recorded whatever was at hand for percussion on Morning Bird, including my own beard. Unsatisfied with our singing on The March Hare album Mister Nimbus, we started taking professional vocal lessons. Zac learned about orchestral sample libraries, and I returned to the roots of my youth and started writing MIDI for horns, strings, woodwinds, and other accompaniments.

We wrote more than 30 songs before whittling the list down to the final seven now on the album, sometimes improvising, sometimes painstakingly mapping out minute details. We made a lot of mistakes, paused many times for several years in total to get on with our lives, and had to start over more than once, including appropriately rewriting Ship of Theseus one section at a time until there was nothing left of the original concept in the final version.

On this album I was responsible for: final mixing and mastering, almost all the bass, almost all the orchestration and piano, a little more than half the vocals, roughly half of the synths, electronic sounds, percussion, structures, and melodies, and a bit less than half of the guitar and drums.


A colorful modified digital photograph of the music group Creative Animals
Waking Up and Paying Attention, the debut album by Creative Animals, can be heard on most major streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon.
A painting of two smilodon skeletons with flowers with an abstract/glitch stylization by Jonathan Hafer for the cover of the Creative Animals album Waking Up and Paying Attention
Following the breakup of our former band The March Hare in 2009, Zac Dylan and I decided to keep making music together and embarked on what would turn into a decade-long journey of Creative Animals. Starting in a shared moldy basement in Philadelphia and ending in home studios in separate states, we ultimately created the album Waking Up and Paying Attention.

Never particularly satisfied with sitting in a single genre, Zac and I both wanted to expand beyond the limits of standard rock band instrumentation and production but didn’t know where that exploration would take us. I started playing the drums and bass in addition to keys and guitar, and we both started learning about recording, mixing, and mastering. We explored electronic drums, programmable lightshows, microphones, pre-amps, and invented our own instruments. Zac added a bass string to a guitar for Animals Eat Animals!, and I recorded whatever was at hand for percussion on Morning Bird, including my own beard. Unsatisfied with our singing on The March Hare album Mister Nimbus, we started taking professional vocal lessons. Zac learned about orchestral sample libraries, and I returned to the roots of my youth and started writing MIDI for horns, strings, woodwinds, and other accompaniments.

We wrote more than 30 songs before whittling the list down to the final seven now on the album, sometimes improvising, sometimes painstakingly mapping out minute details. We made a lot of mistakes, paused many times for several years in total to get on with our lives, and had to start over more than once, including appropriately rewriting Ship of Theseus one section at a time until there was nothing left of the original concept in the final version.

On this album I was responsible for: final mixing and mastering, almost all the bass, almost all the orchestration and piano, a little more than half the vocals, roughly half of the synths, electronic sounds, percussion, structures, and melodies, and a bit less than half of the guitar and drums.