FAIRFIELD — Listening to singer-songwriter, stage actor, and podcaster Jann Klose's latest release Surrender is the equivalent of putting a kaleidoscope up to your ears. The diversity of pacing and stylistic influences represent an amazingly diverse and constantly changing pattern of musical elements.

Sitting down for a mid-morning chat with Klose ahead of his May 4 show at Fairfield's SHU Community Theatre — which will double as a new album release event — the artist admitted he was still functioning on South Africa time, having arrived back from a brief tour there not long before our call from his New York City home.

"It was a whirlwind tour," Klose said of the trip, during which he enjoyed very positive reception to Surrender. "But I gained six hours back coming home to New York, so I was actually up at 4:30 in the morning. So I've been drinking coffee for the last six hours."

Briefly turning to the subject of the artist's influences, Klose, who was born in Germany and raised in Kenya and South Africa, explained how he first discovered the joy of making and performing music when he was a high school age exchange student living in Cleveland, Ohio.

"I started singing in my high school show choir. That was the impetus for performing, and I started writing songs around the same time," he said. "I got myself a keyboard and learned how to play. Later I started playing guitar, but theater was an avenue for me."

That avenue lead Klose to The Big Apple, where he nailed down work in touring companies of Broadway musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Jekyll and Hyde, and The Who's Tommy as well as securing acting gigs in made for TV movies, and doing voice overs and commercials.

"But I really wanted to be a songwriter, much to the disappointment of my voice teacher," he recalled. "She was very upset because she said I could be working forever and ever in theater."

But Klose said was driven to create something all his own, versus showcasing others for the rest of his career.

In listening to Surrender tracks like "Sugar My," "Flesh and Blood," "Here In My Heart" and "Even if it Takes a Lifetime," it was pointed out that they could easily serve as selection to a stage musical.

"Funny enough you ask. I actually am working on a project right now with a director and choreographer that is going in that direction," he said. "It's a little too early to talk much more about it. These things take a long time, but we already did one production of it."

In refocusing on Surrender, Klose noted that he was involved as the writer, performer and/or assisted with production on every track, giving him the creative control that yielded a finished product that, as previously mentioned, is a virtual kaleidoscope of sounds and styles.

Conceived and created during the pandemic with prior collaborator David Schoenwetter and newcomer co-producer Marcus Dembinski Klose marveled at the talent of the 20-something producer. He and Klose started the project programming and swapping initial song elements created by Klose and co-writer Alex Forbes, eventually adding live musicians as time progressed.

"We had a lot of inspiration, but there was also a lot of anxiety that we were feeling about the world," Klose said. "Now looking back, I would work that way again because I loved working in that setting with someone like Marcus."

Klose said his upcoming show at the SHU Community Theatre will not only feature a cross-section of tracks from Surrender, but a number of tracks from his prior release, In Tandem.

And while he is making a number of stops on this current US tour with his band — bassist Sam Weber, drummer Pedro Mila, Dembinski on guitar and keys, and singer Randi Driscoll, who is also opening — the SHU show will be a one-of-a-kind presentation incorporating 58 performers from The Lee Lund Studio of Dance.

Klose also used the restored Fairfield theater as a location to shoot videos for Surrender tracks "Sugar My" and "Flesh and Blood."

Making a full circle back to the beginning of the conversation and noting the many genres represented on Surrender — from straight ahead American contemporary and worldbeat-flavored pop to folk and Broadway — Klose was quick to note his songs are genuinely his own despite the fact that stylistically, one can detect elements of U2, Howard Jones, The Killers, and Matchbox 20, to name a few.

"I'm not so inclined to [borrow] — I really try to reflect from within. I see more of that from producers who may hear something from someone else and want to replicate that," Klose said. "I'm more into instrumentation, sounds, and textures that may be a little different from your run of the mill type of production.

"I try not to lean too much on other artists," he added. "To me collaboration is the key to success, because you take yourself out of it — you don't rely completely on yourself. You let other ideas and influences to come in."

Tickets to Klose's album release concert May 4 at the SHU Community Theatre are still available by visiting jannklose.com/shows.

Check out the Jann Klose video for "Sugar My," from his new album Surrender — which was shot at the SHU Community Theatre in Fairfield:

Jann Klose picks up the tempo in this video for his song, "Make It Better":