Enjoy!
While we're all in the midst of this terrible epidemic we've seen bands and artists find new ways to reach out to fans and explore new avenues of creativity. One such artist is Justin lee Jamison who has outed his solo project Be Gone Dull Cage and released the aptly titled 'The Isolation Demos'. Five songs instilled with a wistful melon collie, all recorded by Justin at his home studio. I feel this is worth mentioning simply to illustrate the drive to continue to create while staring down the barrel of these uncertain times. The EP is solely acoustic and approached from singer songwriter point of view.
It opens with 'Friends' which sets the tone for the remainder of the EP, emotional songs shot through with melon collie but perhaps not infinite sadness. 'Friends' seems to find Justin looking back with some regret that they'll 'never be friends again' unclear which party is at fault or if either party wants to admit fault. There's a thinly veiled reference to the situation which gave rise to the song. Some nice banjo embellishment on the track and it definitely helps lift the song, providing texture and a hook, helping to expand the sound on the chorus.
Next up 'Complicated', a little more down beat than 'Friends' that to me at least seems to speak of the dangers of opening up and the risk of putting yourself out there for people, that honesty can be brutal. Interestingly after speaking to Justin he told me it was about being there for each other, that's the beauty of art, regardless of intent all art is participatory and it can be dependant on what you bring to it as a listener or as you experience it.
'Make Something Up' is probably the strongest track on the EP with some additional instrumentation which brings some nice textures and expands the sound in a really beautiful way. Lyrically it touches on relationships and how we keep those interesting. The track would benefit from some additional vocals, harmonies and personally I think a female voice on the last chorus could give the track another element to help bring it to a crescendo. Definitely my favourite on the EP.
Unfortunately mental health issues seem to be incredibly prevalent amongst the music community over the past few years and on 'Until I Die' Justin explores some of his personal battles. Being a songwriter and baring yourself to the world is always a daunting prospect and even more so in such a stripped back format. It's evident in Justin's voice on this track, more so than others that its a difficult one to sing but it brings an honesty and vulnerability to the track.
'Red Sky Morning' is the shortest track on the EP and starts to experiment a little with additional vocals. It's a track that seems to reflect the circumstances in which it was written, it feels like a sketch between finishing beers as the sun comes up, slightly bleary eyed and buzzed.
Overall 'The Isolation Demos' is a strong first effort both in terms of song writing for this format and recording. The playing on here is solid and some of the vocals ideas are really great. When the additional instrumentation comes in on tracks it always elevates the part and the track, this is something I think could be explored further on future releases. Similarly vocally it would be nice to hear more backing vocals and possibly different voicings. Justin has said that he's going to take a full band approach to one of the songs, I'd be interested to hear the contrast between the two versions. Its an honest and often vulnerable EP that has well put together songs and some great moments. I would hope that this isn't the last from Be Gone Dull Cage even when we are set free from our cages.
First off congrats on releasing ‘The Isolation Demos’! You mention on your bandcamp page that some of these songs were written as far back as 2011, did you always have it in mind that you’d eventually record these songs, did the current situation act as a catalyst to get them down?
Thank you! Yes, I guess you could say its been a long time coming. I was always the songwriter in bands I was in, and it sucked sometimes! You’d come up with a riff or a melody and you’d get really excited about showing your bandmates it. It was always 50/50 as to the riffs being used or not so they would get put on the ‘backburner’ then forgot about! Some of the songs (Red Sky Morning for example) were dug out of old lyric books and I was like holy shit! I forgot about this!
I guess I always had an idea that I would record these songs one day and the current situation is awful for everyone, but a great opportunity to get round to doing some stuff i’d been putting off for a while.
There’s quite a melon collie feel to the EP, can you talk us through each song and what they mean to you, lyrically what ground you cover with them?
Yeah, I feel sorry for the people who make it to a show and have to listen to these live, they’ll be falling asleep! I’ve always been a little emo boy at heart and I don’t think that’ll change. I have this condition, I just can’t write a happy song! I’ve tried and the closest I guess is ‘Friends’. This is more of a celebratory goodbye than a sad song. For years I played guitar in Crisis, and it was a great experience for me. I love those guys and always will. But you know yourself band dramas can make thing worse than they actually are and I suppose its a song that is like my goodbye to those days? Haha. ‘complicated’ is a weird one. I guess its about how crazy the world is at the minute. There is a lot going on and we all need to be there for each other. ‘Make Something Up’ is your typical relationship song. Its about the fear of relationships going stale and falling apart. ‘Until I Die’ is lyrically the hardest song for me to sing. I suffer from Nervous Anxiety and sometimes it can really interfere with my life. It stops me from trying new things and coming out of my comfort zone, but I’m trying to overcome it . ‘Red Sky Morning’ is a funny little number, it was written at like, 4am maybe? Watching the sun come and having a beer. Back then (Before I was 30) I could stay up a lot later haha
Given that the songs have been written over an extended period of time do you did that when you revisit the songs musically and lyrically that they retain the original meaning and intent or do you find the distance puts a different perspective on them?
Yeah I guess sometimes its nice to revisit old songs, the riff for Friends is actually a really old riff that was a completely different song but I gave it a little rejuvenation... and added banjo haha.
You’ve said this is your first time recording yourself and doing vocals. How did you find the experience of self recording, self producing the EP rather than running things through a band filter of 3 or 4 other people?
I have to confess I really loved the home recording process, really because I could take my time and record at my own pace. If I want to add banjo... I’ll do it or add some silly little guitar line in the background, haha no one to answer to! Good news is I’ll be hitting JSR studios in August to record one of these songs as a full band. I Play bass full time in ForeignWolf, and they are the nicest guys and they support me fully! They are going to be my band for the day haha!
Did you have a specific sound in mind for he EP or was it a case of finding your way as you progressed?
I never really had a sound in mind. I know that I’m not thee strongest singer in the world so I played up the fact that they are demos to hide my dodgy voice haha I’m a big City & Colour fan and William Fitzsimmons too so you’ll get the idea if you are fans of those guys haha
The EP is named The Isolation Demos, it’s been interesting to see bands and artists reach out and find new ways to continue to create in the midst of all this. Again since you took the plunge to record yourself have you any advice or specifics you might want to offer up to anyone thinking of doing the same?
Its great to see bands doing stuff still, that’s the one thing about the Irish music scene, NOTHING stops us from playing our music haha I guess the one bit of advice I would have would be, don’t be so critical of your own material. Just record it and have fun and release it. If people love it, great! If not... who cares! Its art, and its open to opinion
Find and follow Be Gone Dull Cage:
https://www.instagram.com/justin_lee_jamison/
https://www.facebook.com/justinlee.jamison.3
Find and follow Old Crows Promotions:
https://www.instagram.com/oldcrowspromotions/
https://www.facebook.com/oldcrowspromotions/
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment