(4 / 5)
Canadian singer-songwriter Jasper Sloan Yip drops a third album, seven years after his debut which was released on his 23rd birthday. A self-taught musician who did not step foot onto a stage to perform until 2007, a stage he built in the backyard of his Vancouver home.
Three days later he took a seat on a one-way fight to Paris, and for the next 12 months he visited 15 countries and three continents. In the cafes and and one-star hotels of Europe, he wrote much of his first album, “Every Day And All At Once”. It gave him a profile and charted on college radio, securing bookings for shows across Canada and a network TV appearance.
Three years later came his sophomore album, “Foxtrot” which nodded heavily to Wilco, spawned a hit single “Show Your Teeth”, and an award. The title cut won him a second award. The album and the single featured on many “Best Of 2013” lists.
Now, Jasper delivers his most accomplished and crafted work to date. Reflections of life and loss, offered up in sophisticated arrangements and almost classical sensibilities at times. Bound to bring him to the attention of music supervisors and producers who would do well to book this man to score their next film project.
Eight songs, lush string arrangements. A cinematic ambience. Lots of ethereal goodness across this skillfully crafted record. Light and shade too, with the more stripped down acoustic side. “The Day Passed and the Sun Went Down,” and “In The Living Room”, are the two singles from the album so far.
This is not for the cherry pickers. No, no, no. It must be heard as a full album in track listing order, to fully appreciate the beauty of the work and how it all hangs together with invisible musical glue, to create a self portrait; a series of vignettes that when considered together, give a sense of the whole.
Expertly produced by John Raham, who allows the material to breath and to be King. Leaving lots of space, to create a unique serenity. Over production would be the death knell for these compositions.
Jasper’s one to watch, I’d bet ya…
By Simon Redley
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’ (4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
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