JACKSON WATSON
Numb
Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Jackson Watson impressed me last month and it only "feels like yesterday". Coincidently this is also the title of the track!
Since our last correspondence, the artist has released his sophomore album “Numb” and what a release this is! The 12 tracks take listeners on a journey through the highs and lows of love and insecurities. Of course, as you can imagine, "Numb" promises to offer you a complex story (as are all that addresses the heart and mind).
So, a little bit about the artist then! Jackson Watson is an Indie-Pop artist fresh out of Montgomery, Alabama. The singer/songwriter fills the ears of listeners with nostalgia and peace whilst taking inspiration from nature and personal experience to write empirical themes that come directly from his heart. Whilst taking heavy inspiration from artists such as Michael Jackson, Harry Styles, and twenty-one pilots his sound combines modern pop with good old-school R&B and psychedelic Rock tones to create a sound that is seriously unique!
.
“Numb,” consists of R&B-influenced melodies and tackles themes of hope, patience, trust,
and ultimately loving oneself amidst loving someone else. The album opens with "Let's Surf" a song that goes straight in with some heavy guitar before shocking listeners with a vocal performance that merges sounds of Harry Styles with Labyrinth - I have never heard such a unique mix of rock, soul and even folk before!
"Eye Candy" implements afrobeats and jazz tones with 70s pop twists - Again Jackson's vocals are full of tonal depth to bring listeners into a psychedelic dream that consists of both confusion and admiration!
"Feels Like Yesterday" is a song that I go into depth with here but in short, it's a whole vibe packed with guitar strums and soulful vocals. Moving into the fourth track of the album we are presented with "Running In The Dark", a song that embeds a sprinkle of dream pop with folk twangs and tinges of rock. The electric guitar offers a distorted feel whilst the drums slow the tempo of the overall piece for the vocals to slowly infect us!
"Sweet Talk" offers that classic acoustic guitar around a campfire feels or even the middle of a luscious field in the Summer vibe! This is a song that doesn't sit in one emotion - A really rare gem is found in the form of this song!
"Dragonfruit" continues to offer accompanying backing vocals but lifts listeners into a realm of experimental instrumentation in another psychedelic feeling production before moving into "Things We Can Do" - a song where listeners will lose themselves completely within the lyrical content.
"All Your Love" has an old school R&B feel that is present through the opening chord progression of the melody but in a genre-bending use of instrumentation whilst the guitar has a feel of the Rock legends "Queen" about it! "Chameleon" is a whole load of old-school soul! In the mood for a bit of brass, drums guitar and keys? Check it out!
Track 10 "Get Better" lifts the mood even further through the persistence of keys throughout before heading into the penultimate song "Blood of the Summer". Now, who's ready for a bit of Country and Western? Get your hats out, you're in luck. The guitar riffs here offer Country twangs along with subtle percussion.
Sadly, I have now reached the end but what an ending this is! "Silver" comes in at a mega 5 minutes and 55 seconds of emotive keys and strings. The rawness of this song is so intense that it is guaranteed to leave Jackson Watson's name firmly in your mind for months to come!