One of ANBAD’s sometimes-forgotten (by, err, me) tenets is that consistency is overrated, and the music that crops up on these pages is not necessarily tailored to provide mere predictable pleasure.
Often, I try to feature bands or songs that fall into the “well, yes, but…” category (Note to record shop owners: file that genre under “B”).
It’s as much an admission that I don’t wholly trust my own judgment as it is a recognition that carefully-meted-out sameness is too common in this age of niches, sub-niches, and micro-sub-niches. Other blogs that are All Chillwave! All The Time! are available, by the way.
And thus, Jack Stanton. Ah, Jack, how you tore my fragile judgement asunder. I spent literally minutes in tepid turmoil, wondering if the thoughtful and agile production in Don’t Worry (which I loved) outweighed the mid-era-Depeche-Mode-esque vox (that I was ambivalent to).
In the end, I deferred to the rule mentioned at the beginning of this article, and, well, here he is. And I’m glad I did, because, after a few virtual spins, my suspicions that this was an unusually deft song were correct.
There are many artists recording clean, bright and shiny pop now, thanks to endless VST plugins and endless laptop tweaking – and en route, the importance of actually inventing new sounds has been muddied.
But, in Don’t Worry, Jack Stanton proves he has an ear for good sounds, a lightness of touch when producing worming melodies and boldness in the regard that he is not toeing many of today’s fashionable lines. So what if I don’t care for the vocals? This is good stuff.