summer sounds

He reminds me of a balmy summer evening, where the gentle breeze makes you smile as it glides over your body. Or a night on a beach on a remote island, sitting around a campfire on the beach with some friends and enjoying each others' company. Or perhaps, a lazy holiday afternoon, looking up at the azure sky, framed by the palm fronds from the trees that are gently swinging your hammock.

I'm talking about Jehro and his self-titled album.

From recollection, Jehro is French (his real name is Jérôme), but if you listen to his music you'd think he was from the islands, with a Caribbean infusion in his melodies, and the rhythms that are laid-back, but upbeat enough to keep you dancing gently. You'll also feel folk and reggae when you hear his music; overall it's a nice mix.

I love unique voices, and Jehro's is no exception. Reminds me of a light coffee colour (not really sure why) - smooth, with a little roughness around the edges.

And it's not just the music; you have to listen to his lyrics, some of which are sung in Spanish, others of which are heavier than my musical description implies. For instance, in "I Want Love" he sings of a child soldier going through tough times. His words are far from the usual, and I also like that uniqueness about him.

Stand-out tracks:
#1. Everything "And I will learn to say / Goodbye a thousand different ways.."
This the opening track, and it really sets the mood for the album. I can picture it being used as an intro for a film, where you're seeing the characters in their environment for the first time, and a story quickly develops without any dialogue. I think it's because the minor chords of the song sound elusive and mysterious to me.

#3. Long Is The Way "Oh Lord, I made it through / I'm gonna lay down my load.."
This song is the reason why I fell in love with Jehro's music. The song begins with a beautiful guitar (?) intro that makes the notes sound as though they're dancing, sparkling on the water on a hot summer's day, and the light reggae-style beat supports the lyrics of lost love and a sad longing.

#4. Sweet "Sweet, sweet / The taste of my lover / Sweet, sweet / The smell of her skin.."
One of the lighter songs on the album, the violins initially pave the way for what really is a sweet-sounding set of vocal harmonies. The lyrics are of the nature-infused romantic kind - and by that I mean that Jehro sings of the little things that we do with lovers, that make life happy and perfect. I love the trumpet interlude in the middle of the song, reminds me of Cuban music! :)

#9. Shantytown Carnival "Tonight is free / Tonight the streets / Echo the sounds / Of the carnival.."
A catchy little song with a more upbeat sound, as the percussion keeps you moving to the rhythm while the guitar paints its colour all over the piece.. can't forget the piano either, providing a lovely background wash to the canvas of the song.

I first discovered Jehro in 2006 through an mp3blog, called aurgasm (the actual post is here).

To digress, I really, really adore this site and the music it offers - I've discovered some real gems from this site that I would have never heard otherwise; and all the other mp3blogs I've come across are usually fairly genre-specific, and/or not as aesthetically pleasing as aurgasm. Even the name looks good when you write it out - although I've had one or two weird looks when I've tried to plug the site in conversations, hehe.

I think Jehro was the first impulse buy I'd made when it came down to music albums and hearing mp3s from blogs. I mean, prior to Paul's post on his blog, I'd never heard of Jehro.

The tracks that were posted on the site were "Everything" and "Long is the Way". As soon as the music started playing, I was intrigued - and seconds after I'd heard both songs, I was totally hooked and very determined to buy the album. And I did not regret the purchase one single bit.

Magnetic and mysterious. Unwind with Jehro.

Additional reading:
http://jehro.free.fr/htmlen/bio.htm
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After writing this blog, I visited YouTube to watch the music video for Jehro's "Everything", and I've just discovered that his song "Master Blaster" (track 13 off the album, it's only a demo version though) is actually a cover of Stevie Wonder's original song! I had no idea!

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Now playing: Jehro - Master Blaster Demo Version