Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Jeremy Jay - Splash

Album Review
Pitchfork
May 24, 2010
Link
6.3















The son of a composer father and a French-speaking Swiss mother, Jeremy Jay recently relocated from Los Angeles to London. On third K album Splash, though, the real move is from Jay's usual Land of Nod to somewhere near what used to be called Alternative Nation. This is an elegant place, as Jay envisions it, full of yearning and wonder, but at times it can also come to resemble an empty stage set.
Splash represents only the latest sonic evolution from one of the recent pop underground's more intriguing stylists. After sleepwalking through a cinematic cityscape soundtracked by buoyant 50s doowop and brittle 80s indie on 2008's A Place Where We Could Go, Jay added John Hughes synth romance and swaying winter-formal rhythms on last year's Slow Dance. With Splash, Jay's shift toward the sloppy guitars and meaty chord progressions from MTV's "120 Minutes" heyday is, at least on its surface, no less masterful. His voice remains adrift between the airiness of former tourmates Deerhunter's Bradford Cox and the hiccupy dramatics of Morrissey, while jangling or distorted guitar melodies bound forward with a new sense of purpose, occasionally replaced by piano or streaked with feedback. The drums gallop now, rather than canter; the rollicking title track is perhaps the most urgent song in Jay's small, confident catalog. "Walking down the street at night with your headphones," he whispers at the end of tantalizingly brief "Someday Somewhere", seeming to describe the ideal listening conditions.
However, the increased directness of Jay's latest approach also exposes how thin some of his songwriting ideas can be, resulting-- at a scant 27 minutes-- in what is paradoxically this often-ethereal artist's least substantial album. Although billed as less aloof than previous releases, Splash doesn't really offer any easier way in than its predecessors. Jay still cuts quickly between his typical vivid images, here of street-lit cities, evening BMX rides, and pouncing jaguars, but this time he's no longer in a world all his own, and the artists who've been here before left more memorable impressions. "I was there wishing on a star/ Knowing it probably won't go very far," Jay sings on the draggy "A Sliver of a Chance", for example. With a repetitive, note-bending guitar line that distinctly recalls Modest Mouse, finale "Why Is This Feeling So Strong?" opens up the most-- "It can't ever happen, can it?"-- but it's still basically more of the same, unlikely to win over many new converts. Jay sings at one point of an "elusive angel," and one hopes his next plunge is toward something just as angelic, only less elusive. With Splash, the water's fine; it's merely the flesh that's weak.

People Moves for May 17, 2010

News Article
Ignites
May 17, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Senator Targets Proxy Access, Majority Voting

News Analysis
Agenda
May 17, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Why Motorola, Occidental Lost Their Pay Votes

News Analysis
Agenda
May 17, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Study Makes Case for CFOs to Serve on Own Boards

News Analysis
Agenda
May 17, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Monday, May 17, 2010

People Moves for May 10, 2010

News Article
Ignites
May 10, 2010
Link (subscription required)

IRS Issues Proposal on Tax Risk Disclosure, Makes Outreach

News Analysis
Agenda
May 10, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Resigning Audit Chair Elaborates on Accounting Concerns

News Analysis
Agenda
May 10, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Sears Chairman Calls CEO’s Interim Status ‘Weird’

News Analysis
Agenda
May 10, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Justice Department Creates FCPA Section

News Analysis
Agenda
May 10, 2010
Link (subscription required)

People Moves for May 3, 2010

News Article
Ignites
May 3, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Audit Chair’s Resignation Sheds Rare Light on Board Dispute

News Analysis
Agenda
May 3, 2010
Link (subscription required)

IT Risk, IFRS Transition Top Internal Auditors’ Concerns: Poll

News Analysis
Agenda
May 3, 2010
Link (subscription required)

People Moves for Apr 26, 2010

News Article
Ignites
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Lilly Supermajority Proposal Fails to Win Supermajority

News Analysis
Agenda
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Treasury’s Feinberg Issues Pay Restrictions for Next 75 Officials

News Analysis
Agenda
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Mine Disaster Resounds Through Massey Boardroom

News Analysis
Agenda
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

SEC’s Rules for Asset-Backed Securities to Hit Non-Financial Firms, Too

News Analysis
Agenda
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

One Board Feels Pain of Broker-Vote Ban

News Analysis
Agenda
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

SEC-Goldman Showdown Carries Risks for Both Sides

News Analysis
Agenda
April 26, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Search This Blog

Press Mentions

"Goes over the top and stays there to very nice effect."
-- David Carr, The New York Times

"I wasn't fully convinced. But I was interested."
-- Rob Walker, The New York Times

"...as Marc Hogan wrote in Spin..."
-- Maureen Dowd, The New York Times

Blog Archive