Djesse Vol. 1 – Jacob Collier

Harry

Collier’s ambitious sophomore effort immediately seeks to create a grand, powerful and almost cinematic experience. It opens with some lovely vocal melodies that I honestly found beautiful and rewarded the patient listener. It was apparent that he wasn’t opting for the “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus” strategy on his mission statement. The album continued with some brilliant string arrangements, the closest thing I could compare it to might be Jonny _______ soundtracks. Collier’s ability to generate ___, deep and vast compositions that have the quality of surround sound and complete ___ is no doubt impressive. I would also like to comment on how much I respect him as a musician as he undeniably very skilled. However, like so many, I honestly found his voice relentless by the end. Finally, the ambition with which this album was constructed caused a loss of intimacy. Perhaps he should remind himself of where he started, in his bedroom.

78/100

Zach

In recent years I feel like a lot of Jacob Collier fans only like him because they think they should like him, and for some reason occupy some sort of moral high ground by liking him, despite not understanding his music. Having seen Collier live 3 times now, most recently at his prom in the summer, I have felt like he has become predictable, and after being extremely underwhelmed after his prom, i was nervous for this album. However I have been very pleasantly surprised. Having heard the majority of the trackless before, either live or from singles, the songs come across much better on the recordings, which has absolutely stunning production. When it comes to arrangement and orchestration, this album is unbelievable, the use of the orchestra is varied and dynamic and the balance of acoustic and electrons instruments is well judged. However where I say Collier lets himself down is his songwriting, with maybe one exception (Ocean Wide, Canyon Deep), and similar to his first album a few tracks are forgettable and interesting music features compromise the actual song itself. This is a massive project and I look forward to hearing the rest of Djesse.

Fave Tracks: Ocean Wide, Canyon Deep; All Night Long

78/100