I first saw Ramon de Juan opening for Arthur Lee and Love. I remember strikingly original songs done with a chorister's pure voice, holding down a difficult spot in front of a very big audience. He was good.
But how does he come over on this debut recording? Truth being told, he seems more at ease here. Whoever got the Arthur Lee job was going to be overwhelmed in some measure. Set in his own mix of acoustic guitar and stylish additions, Ramon works his listener through eight gently insistent songs of romance, human frailty and bitter-sweet melancholy with great tunes, naturally and seductively extruded from the warmest and most musically sensitive of hearts.
"Girl in Skin" is his high point. In that parallel universe that is chart music, this song would be naturally adopted as a monster number one hit, touching and changing lives in a million private moments. "In My Head" is its artistic equal – the B side that the serious fans would prefer to the A side. Both are fearsomely well-shaped songs, carefully, almost minimally, developed through the gradual addition of percussion. bass, and harmony vocals. With production shared between Ramon de Juan and Choque Hosein, one deeply agreeable feature of this short album is that some of the most enticing chord shifts, melodic counterpoints or instrumental huzzahs come later in the songs. Patience is a virtue, and its reward is all the richer for the waiting.
|
There's something equally self denying in the modesty that only gives us eight songs. Rather than twelve or thirteen versions of the same basic idea we get eight distinct, individually wrapped songs.
Not sure about "Foot of Film", the almost maudlin opener? Well hang on, because there's some uplifting optimism in Omar Puente's fluid violin introduction to "She's Alive". Finding "Slo Train" a bit UK R&B lite? well, get that Flamenco/North African nuance in "This is Real". Even your Butt Hole Surfers hardened sonic criminal reviewer is liking this stuff rather a lot.
And don’t forget to wait for "Girl in Skin". And tingle.
|
