Sal Fratto’s grandmother had warned him. His maternal grandfather, in the hospice wing at New York Presbyterian, wouldn’t recognize him. He probably wouldn’t be warm. Don’t take it personally. When Fratto walked past the room, the man he’d been told to expect as a stranger sat up in bed: “Hey Sal! How are you?” He sobbed. He hadn’t expected to be remembered.
He’d buried his other grandfather days before. Both deaths, both from cancer, came within three weeks in 2024. The first happened at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, where visiting hours ended at 8pm and Fratto, surrounded by family, told his cousins there was a zero percent chance of him leaving the room. Exceptions were made. He stayed until the last moment. Papa wasn’t alone, and neither was he.
“’98”, Elephant Jake‘s new single out May 1, is the piece of music he wrote sitting with all of that.
The Philadelphia band’s last decade has been built around guitars. Fratto wasn’t planning to bring this one to them. After he finished working the ’23–’24 school year, he had time to settle into the summer with a 1982 Casiotone 101 he’d recently bought online.
The music came out first, syncopated left-and-right-hand patterns; then the lyrics. He wrote it for his solo project. Then, when Elephant Jake holed up in a cabin in upstate New York for a week to finalize arrangements for their next album, Fratto brought the Casiotone along to see what colors it might add to the full-band songs. One night, before everyone went to sleep, he played Colin Harrison the solo track. Harrison told him it belonged on the Elephant Jake record.
That meant rebuilding around piano and vocals rather than guitars, which Fratto says sat outside his comfort zone. Harrison added guitar layers and harmonies.
Andrew Demarest wrote a bassline and the closing guitar solo, taking direction from the jazzy, legato lines of Masayoshi Takanaka and City Pop more broadly.
Carson Hyde’s driving drum part fell in around it. Lucas Naylor added percussion, then co-produced the recording with the band. “The song was presented as just a skeleton of piano and vocals,” Fratto says, “and Colin, Andrew, and Carson all added their own flair and personality to the track, making it feel like a true Elephant Jake song.”
The title is his birth year. The chorus tells you the rest: “In ’98 I was born / In ’98 I was dead / Never happened before / Will never happen again.” After losing both grandfathers, Fratto started looking inward, thinking about who he’d been, who he is, what they’d taught him through the stories they told and the confidence they gave him when he was a kid. “I really needed to take a step back,” he says, “reflect on the lessons I’ve learned from them, and how I can incorporate them in my day to day life, moving forward with them both in my heart.”
Elephant Jake formed in late 2014, while the members were still in high school. Three full-lengths, an EP, and a split sit behind them. “Give Flight”, “Sustain”, and now “’98” are the three singles that, for Fratto, mark the start of a new chapter for the band.
“’98” was edited by Pablo Prieto, mixed by Justin Bartlett, and mastered by Alan Douches. Graphic design by James Paris. Out May 1.
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