This could not wait. This review literally could not wait, simply because I needed to get my thoughts out there as soon as I turned this on.
I found out about Fashion Jackson not even 30 minutes ago and I need some way of getting my thoughts out there because this is a band that you need to listen to, even if it is not your forte, you still need to give this a go because my expectations were absolutely obliterated by the first minute of the first song. I know nothing about this band except there's 4 members, and they self proclaimed that they made music to twerk to, so of course you have to at least give them a shot, because if this isn't twerking music, I don't know what is. Come on, just look at that album cover. Doesn't it look inviting and fun??? From the cover and album title you might think this is either a rock record or a Passion Pit tribute band, but this is far, FAR from that. When I say this EP doesn't sound like anything I've heard before, I mean it. This is nothing like I've heard before.
Going into this project, and judging it off of the first few seconds, I was excited because I thought this was going to be some glass beach Greeting Committee type shit, but they said "yeah, no." This song is a literal conversation between the singer and his ex, however, his ex is portrayed in this ear bleeding pitched up version of the same dude's voice. The verses are barely even verses. There are hardly any rhymes and hardly any full sentences, so you're left with this awkward pause after "oh, okay." That was it. That was the line. I'm here for it. The chorus is an actual chorus and I love the muted guitar solo in the middle of it and how it just goes crazy at the end of the section. Great song. It's magnificent, it's just weird enough to be eye catching but manages to, ya know, not be annoying.
The second song is Plaster of Paris, which now that I think about it, it does sound something off of Skyline from Q over Q... huh... It's short, I love the abrupt transition from the title track to this one, and I love how it's in and out and you don't know what happened to it
Untitled is the funkiest song on here, but not "bust down on the floor" funky, more or less "bumping in the car" funky. The singer shines in on this one, and his performance just sounds so much like a breath of fresh air, even that weird chorus-half rap thing he does occasionally. The song is just constantly setting you up for some type of climax or big finale, but it never happens. It never goes anywhere, and that is what I like about it. It's unpredictable, because I thought this was going to break down, but no. Fashion Jackson is too good for that. Soon enough, the 4 minute mark is here and it only feels like 2, which is something you can't pull off easily with this stuff.
Just Like Baby Jesus closes the thing out in the most... way possible. It sounds like you're hearing this from another room, and there's just something about his voice that just makes it seem like you aalllmost know what he's talking about, but it's just pure gibberish. I actually do like how at the end you can hear him pick up his phone, letting you know, that the entire thing sounds bad on purpose. I know the "putting down your guitar and walking away" thing at the end of an album is so overdone, especially in folk, but seriously. It's a nice touch, only because of the audio quality, it makes you feel like you are really there.
So far, there are so many compliments I gave this EP, but my one biggest complaint is that I don't see myself coming back to this all that often, leaving a whole heck of a lot to be desired. I just wish there were more reasons for me to come back to this because this is really innovative and makes you question what this music even is. I would personally classify it as "rock??" simply because it's the only way I can describe it. Alternative seems like a more fitting word, but alternative knows what it wants to be, this record doesn't. It's a literal kindergarten kid that is like "I want to be CEO of McDonalds" because it doesn't want to be fancy or rich like Amazon and Tesla. All it wants is to run a fast food place in the most special way possible. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this EP is so different, it doesn't know what it wants to be, and that's why its genre is "rock??". Anyways, go listen to this, at the very least, you'll start to appreciate the music you're already listening to now simply because how clean it is. I really really want to see what Fashion Jackson has up next, and they have 3 more EPs and an entire album, and keep in mind, this is their debut, so I don't want to be too harsh on them.
7/10
Comments