CD REVIEW BY JOEL INGLIS
Jon McKiel
Memorial Ten Count
(You’ve Changed Records 2017)
Jon McKiel’s newest album is a beautiful rock album that isn’t in a rush. It goes at its own pace. It jumps from one energy level to a drastically different energy level in a split second.
The album starts off with “Boss,” a beautiful track with driving drum and bass, meandering guitar licks, and lovely vocals. It’s a great way to start an album that shifts tones so frequently but still remains a beautiful thesis of eloquent high energy low key rock.
Arguably the most catchy song on the album, “Brothers,” may be one of the songs that will be over-staying its welcome in my head. It’s a truly outstanding song that has a beautifully muddy snare drum sound counter-pointed by guitar chords that sound like they were recorded in a mason jar. I can’t describe the song, but I certainly wish I could. The lyrics are beautiful and the mood that the music evokes is beautifully sombre.
“Unknown Source” may be my favourite track of the record. With its bongos and egg shakers, its lyrics that immediately evoke intense emotions (“there is no permanence here…there is still time for forgiveness”), and its quick, delicate guitar trills, this is a song that will stay with me, both mentally and on my phone for when I need to put a smile on my face.
Towards the end of the record is a track called “Turf War.” The song is catchy, has some really cool meandering guitar riffs, and a nice low key surf rock drum beat. But overriding the whole track is a weird one-sided conversation that didn’t do it for me. I feel like the lovely short instrumental track would have held up a whole lot better without the soliloquy about crashing on somebody’s couch and borrowing a cup of sugar and some blood.
The last song on the album, “Not Known,” is another example, in my mind, of a really great song that could have done with the elimination of a single element. The beautiful wandering guitar lines take you on a journey while the vocals tell the tale. But every once in a while a whammy bar is thrown into the mix in an abrupt fashion. If it’s meant to throw the listener out of the comfort zone that the rest of the song provided, then it has certainly done its job. If that’s not the intention… then it just doesn’t sound great.
Overall, this is an absolutely beautiful album. The tracks are wonderfully recorded with just the right amount of retro-sounding mud and the songs are written with artistry and soul. It may have taken me a few listens to love it, and I think that speaks to its complexity.
Tracks I liked: Brothers and Unknown Source
Tracks I didn’t like: Turf War
Tracks I want to keep in mind if I ever get to score a movie: Unknown Source (for a coming of age movie), Conduit (for a high octane action movie, specifically the scene where somebody is on the run with a lot of shakey cam shots)
