Jaguar Sun – This Empty Town
Jaguar Sun is a solo artist from Ontario, Canada. His works focus on blurring the lines between indie folk and dream pop, to various degrees of success. His album, This Empty Town, is a remarkably well produced, yet stubbornly radio-friendly mixed bag.
The title track, This Empty Town, is one light, genuinely delightful opener. While the vocals are very reminiscent of Fleet Foxes, the instrumentation is more subdue and dream-poppy. Sadly, Keep You Warm is too poppy for its own good; dreamy, but repetitive. The aesthetic struggles to hold the listeners attention; only when the angelic acoustics kick in does the song feel more vibrant and alluring. Much the same could be said about most of the track listing, which barely differentiates itself from one another aside from their change in tempo. Thankfully, during the most blissful moments, such as the end serenade of Messed Up, it’s rather mesmerising.
Furthermore, in moments where the pop conventions are stripped back and Jaguar Sun homes in on the intricacies, such as during the subdue moments of Time, it works quite well. Had Jaguar Sun incorporated more instrumentation, it would have gone a long way to give the album more personality. Aside from the conventional framework, the other major critique is in regard to Jaguar Sun’s vocal delivery; while it sounds pleasant and easy to listen to, it’s very difficult to distinguish its range. There’s very little variation in delivery between songs, and electronic manipulation can only go so far before it begins to blur the emotion.
There’s certainly an admirable polish and charm to This Empty Town, though it’s all style over substance. Jaguar Sun could heavily benefit from switching up and expanding upon his compositions, though the songs tend to stick to the pop-format much too strongly. As a result, the album is radio friendly, but boring on subsequent listens. It’s certainly captivating, but once you’ve taken the ride all the way through, there’s not much to return to. Certain bands can get away with it, such as Beach House, due to their admirable vocal performance, yet Jaguar Sun is devoid of anything truly outstanding. Here’s hoping Jaguar can experiment more in the future.
Average
Listen to it here:
https://bornlosersrecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-empty-town
Jaguar Sun – This Empty Town
