In late January 2025, Jacob Sharp returned to Altadena, California, for the first time since the Eaton Fire, making a stop at the National Guard checkpoint to prove that he was not a looter or a gawker. The air was thick with fumes. He wore an N95 mask in his car.
Through his speakers, he listened to gentle piano over birdsong—the latter of which he’d recorded the year prior in his beloved Altadena backyard.
He’d received the masters of Middle Kid, his debut solo record, on January 7, the first day of the fires in LA County and the day he evacuated Altadena, where he’d lived since 2023. He finally had a chance to listen as he passed the checkpoint near his house. “Find your breath and let it slow, like a friend who don’t let go,” he heard himself sing on “Shadows.” “There’s always a way, you know, to live a little easier.”…