Thursday, May 18, 2017

Jonathan Cavier - Blue Room

 
Jonathan Cavier releases Blue Room 


After five albums and hundreds of shows played throughout the US, Alan Clark has reintroduced himself under the pseudonym Jonathan Cavier. With one solo album, Premier, already under his belt, Cavier further defines his sound on 2017’s 10-song release entitled Blue Room. In addition to his musical endeavors, Cavier is a semi-professional tennis player and a member of the USTA and IFT. Cavier says practicing and playing in tournaments is “the fountain of youth.” This makes him a seasoned veteran even though he’s gone through this transition he’s actually no new comer. 

Blue Room opens its doors with the title track to sooth the ears of his fans and pick up any new ears in the process. This is one of the best tracks on offer among ten that easily compete with one another, all the way. This might not come into instant impression as one of the more shining moments, but it will take more than one trip through the room, so to speak. Only then can you appreciate this for what it is really worth  as it leads the house off. And if it doesn’t sink in, “When You Come Around” should also grow on your senses as well. These are both hypnotically satisfying in different ways. So is “Hollywood” but it goes in another direction with a look down memory road and where success and all its ups and downs come from. It’s a surreal trip if you take it with enough seriousness, and a fluffy little spot on the album to get your groove on. And at this point you can reflect on the artist as well as the material in all its glory. With hots points like “Phoenix” with risen from the ashes story. It’s a spiritual part of the album and works its way very well into a “Far Away” place that takes on a more dramatic flair. This is deeper than anything else on the album, when it comes down to it. But that doesn’t mean it’s the most accessible, as it might sail above heads for its meaningfulness. But “I Believe” probably has just as much of that depth going for it as it keeps the same tempo but gets the Spanish guitar out for an overall spicy, cerebral song. A true soft rocker with a less pop structured vocal. This is the most experimental piece of music on Blue Room, that much is found along with the closing track to be later described. But not before others get in the way, such as the brooding “Somebody Like You” with its lower register vocals that find Cavier in excellent voice. If you like a whispering tone this has it, but it does surface on a few others. It’s very cool and deals with reflecting upon oneself as a freak.

“Right Place” has an island presence, which is always welcome in any romantic setting. Johnathan Cavier not being of the brasher variety of artist, one will come to expect this, as the track clearly exemplifies. It bodes very well with the much different “Someday” though, which is yet another tale of love and romance, but this one from afar, as the story goes. It’s accompanied by more Spanish guitar. By this time, a pot full of great tunes have melted enough to prove that Blue Room was worth putting every effort into. As the built up ending comes crashing into the extraordinary “Edge Of A Singularity” which goes off the map with an stellar instrumental. It ends Blue Room on a top note.

10/10
 


Kevin Webber

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